Emotions

There are many emotions we experience. We have experienced fright, anger and happiness. They arouse us in different ways.

When we are frightened, we feel fear. Fear also gives us a motion to stay away from danger. Infants “learn from their falls and near-falls and become increasingly afraid of heights.” (Campos & others, 1992). Susan Mineka (1985) suggested that our fear does not only come from our past knowledge, however we learn fear from our parents and friends. “The amygdala plays a role in associating various emotions, including fear, with certain situations.” (Barinaga, 1992b). The amygdala is nerves that carry out messages to the brain; it gives us fear in a life-threatening case. However “if they have suffered amygdala damage, they will remember the conditioning but will show no emotional effect of it.” (Schacter, 1996). Our genes play a part in our fears. “Scientists have isolated a gene that influences the amygdala’s response to frightening situations.” (Hariri & others, 2002).

Anger is what we feel when we are frustrated. There are many things that makes us angry such as “friends’ or loved onesвЂ™Ð²Ð‚¦traffic jam, aches, and pains.” (Berkowitz, 1990). Even the little things with nobody to blame can make us angry. Gender also plays a role in our we deal with anger. “boys more than girls reported walking away from the situation or working it off with exercise; girls more often reported talking with a friend, listening to music, or writing.” (Ray, 2005). Anger is can also “harm us- chronic hostility is linked to heart disease.” (Smith & Ruiz, 2002; Williams, 1993). We should not hold anger internally because it can cause diseases. When we gain emotional relief it is called catharsis. However to gain emotionally release we must let out our anger. “Compared with those who had not vented their anger, those who had let it all out exhibited more hostility. Even when provoked people hit a pinching bag believing it will be cathartic, the effect is the opposite- leading them to exhibit more cruelty.” (Bushman & others, 1999). There are two suggestions about how to handle anger. First is to “bring down the level of physiological arousal of anger by waiting…Second,

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