Emotional Basis of Thought Processes
Any cognitive and thought processes do not occur in isolation—they always carry an emotional coloring. Mental activity is grounded in subjective emotional experiences.
From a physiological standpoint, emotions are not merely a "mood." They perform a strictly defined task, reflecting two key components of vital activity:
- The emergence and presence of the subject's own needs.
- The impact of various environmental factors that are potentially capable of satisfying these arising needs.
Main Functions of Emotions
Subjective experiences serve as a universal evaluation tool. The key functions of emotions come down to the continuous analysis of the most critical aspects of interaction between the organism and the environment:
- Assessment of own needs. The organism must clearly register what it currently lacks (ranging from basic biological drives to complex psychological demands).
- Assessment of environmental factors. An analysis is made of how much the surrounding environment and external stimuli facilitate or hinder the achievement of a goal.
- Assessment of attitude toward others. A subjective perception of external objects and other individuals with whom the person interacts is formed.
- Assessment of satisfaction. Registration of the actual fact that the desired result has been achieved and the need has been fulfilled.
Dynamics of Emotional States
Any need in the process of its development goes through specific stages, each having its own specific emotional coloring. This dynamics is universal for both simplest biological and highest psychological drives.
- Stage of Need Emergence. When a need is just forming, it signals a disruption in equilibrium or a deficit. This state is predictably accompanied by negative emotions. These negative experiences serve as a powerful motivational push for action, forcing the subject to seek ways to solve the problem.
- Stage of Need Satisfaction. The successful fulfillment of a need and elimination of the deficit are always accompanied by various positive emotions. They play the role of reinforcement, consolidating the successful behavioral strategy.
Probabilistic Emotional Forecasting
The organism is capable not only of reacting to stimuli "here and now" but also of looking into the future. Due to accumulated experience (situations of repeated need satisfaction in the past), a person develops the ability to anticipate future positive emotions.
A key mechanism of this process is the inclusion of the emotional component in the memory mechanisms of the action result acceptor. The subject anticipates the result and the associated positive experiences in advance.
However, the system works both ways: in certain specific situations, the organism similarly predicts the emergence of negative emotions to avoid undesired actions. Ultimately, a complex system of probabilistic emotional forecasting of all mental activity is formed.
Summarizing the above, it can be argued that emotions function as peculiar "information bearings." They remain in a state of constant activity, continuously evaluating both the subject's current internal state and the nature of external environmental impacts.