12
votes
Accepted
Why do humans cry?
The two main folks in crying research (of whom I'm aware) are Ad Vingerhoets and Jonathan Rottenberg. They've (together and separately) published reviews of adult crying and crying across the lifespan,...
- 4,378
10
votes
Accepted
Is there any good evidence that sadness causes chest pain ("heart ache")?
There is a fairly recently recognized medical condition called stress-induced cardiomyopathy, associated with chest pain and physical damage to the left ventricle:
Because this weakening can be ...
- 19.3k
9
votes
Is fear in response to the sight of predators innate or acquired?
Alright, so my familiarity with this area primarily comes from Vanessa LoBue's work. And what I get from her research is that we don't really know if certain fears are innate or acquired.
LoBue seems ...
- 4,378
9
votes
Accepted
Open-source software for analyzing Electrodermal activity
I have found a list of Python and Matlab packages. I'll summarize them over here. As soon as I have gone through the packages, I'll provide some additional details.
Online
edaExplorer: Also in Python....
- 3,172
9
votes
Accepted
What are the real motives of people helping to each other?
TLDR
While I have provided a full answer explaining Karpman's Drama Triangle, you can skip that and go to the last heading (Your question).
Basis of my answer
If you are approaching this question as a ...
- 12.1k
8
votes
Accepted
What is the difference between affect and feeling?
According to constructionists (e.g., Russell & Barrett, 1999), affect (or "core affect") is a composite of valence and arousal, which underlies all emotional experience. So when I feel good and ...
- 4,378
8
votes
Is a low Emotional Intelligence (EQ) pathological?
Shortly , a low EQ is not a sufficient condition to diagnose a mental psychiatric disorder.
This is the DSM-V Proposal for the Definition of Mental/Psychiatric Disorder
All these features have to be ...
- 1,534
8
votes
Accepted
Can you get sad by sniffing onions, just like you can get happy by forcing yourself to smile?
I assume you're referring to the experiment by Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) in which people rated a cartoon as funnier when they had to hold their face in a smile shape by gripping a pencil in ...
- 361
7
votes
Why is the sound of running water soothing?
There cannot be a single answer to this question which would be entirely correct. Different theoretical approaches to psychology will yield different explanations. This is evident from the other ...
7
votes
Accepted
What causes emotions?
Let's break this down into two terms: affect and emotion.
Affect
Affect corresponds to two dimensions that underlie emotional experience: valence and arousal.
Valence - feelings of pleasantness ...
- 4,378
7
votes
Are psychologists more immune to psychological problems?
Barriers to Psychologists Seeking Mental Health Care by Jennifer L. Bearse, Mark R. McMinn, Winston Seegobin, and Kurt Free of George Fox University asks a similar question.
Professional ...
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7
votes
Accepted
Emotional energy exchange between bodies?
I would not consider David Hawkins to be a credible source. His PhD was from a degree mill that was shut down by court order. He has been flagged by the Cult Education Institute and Quackwatch.
...
- 381
7
votes
Accepted
Can listening to sad songs lead to depression?
If you are talking about clinical depression as an illness, the direct answer to your question is: I don't know.
There was a study of the effect of different genres of music on how people felt (...
- 86
7
votes
Accepted
Is there a scientific explanation for dramatic body shaking and trembling in religious settings? (see videos for illustrative examples)
The exhibited behaviours are episodic glossolalia, collapsing, fainting, trembling, jerking, convulsing, contorting, and shaking. The individuals performing these episodic behaviours report ...
- 1,698
6
votes
What is the relationship between the ego, amygdala and consciousness?
Assuming your question is "Is person's ego a projection of the responses of their amygdala onto the conscious experience?", I think it would translate to "Does the amygdala determines or houses the ...
- 20.5k
6
votes
Are the physical sensations of an emotion due to neural activity strictly in the brain or also in the body?
Psychophysiology is totally outside of my wheelhouse, but here it goes…
Those feelings in your chest, face, arms, etc. aren't an illusion. Indeed, it's long been argued that physiological arousal (...
- 4,378
6
votes
Accepted
Neurophysiological mappings of empathy
In this answer, I'm going to use "self" to describe the person who is empathizing and "other" as the person who is the target of that empathy (the person who's trying to be related to).
The most ...
- 8,833
6
votes
Accepted
Does psychology have a name for emotions that a person can feel but cannot name?
The term used for recognizing emotions is affect labeling (also know as emotions labelling). The act of labelling an emotion requires similar cognitive mechanisms used for labelling a cat or a dog (...
- 2,177
6
votes
Is "Emotional Pain Addiction" real?
There are 2 phenomena that you could be referring to here. One is negativity addiction, and the other is general negativism.
While psychoanalysis is considered by some here to be pseudoscientific, ...
- 12.1k
5
votes
Why do humans cry?
In addition to @mrt's great answer. I feel that the following excerpt from the 'crying' section from the "The Newborn Infant" chapter in my Developmental Psychology classes' textbook would ...
- 1,192
5
votes
Is there a (evolutionary) purpose of self-pity?
Short answer
Self-pity may not have any evolutionary benefit, but may instead be part of the social capabilities allowing to feel empathy. Empathy in turn is a crucial component in social interactions....
- 20.5k
5
votes
Can we identify specific emotions on the basis of fMRI scans?
From meta-analyses that include musical emotion inductions, there is not much evidence that we can reliably distinguish between emotions in the brain, independent of the emotion induction procedure or ...
- 4,378
5
votes
Are emoji smiles also contagious?
Yes. Emoji smiles are contagious just like real human smiles.
As this study suggest the brain activity observed when people look at emojis is the same when we look at real faces, and subsequently ...
- 2,177
5
votes
Accepted
What's a simple definition for reactive attachment disorder?
The beginnings of theories based on attachment regarding long and short term interpersonal relationships is Attachment Theory which was started by John Bowlby. Attachment Theory is primarily applied ...
- 12.1k
5
votes
Accepted
Are emotions needed to make decisions?
Phineas Gage style indeed (is that a precursor to Gangnam style?) - ironically (referring to one large iron rod), Phineas Gage's accident is believed to have entirely removed his OFC, as well as parts ...
- 19.3k
5
votes
Accepted
Is there any disease that prevents a person from being angry?
Short answer
Brain damage is typically associated with increased expression of anger and aggressive behavior. I wasn't able to find any paper reporting lack of anger expression after brain damage. ...
- 20.5k
5
votes
How to ask in a survey for emotional vs. rational personality
I know that Helen Fisher, who is a love researcher, has developed a four factor personality model where two of the factors are quite relevant to your question. See (Fisher et al, 2015) for some ...
- 700
5
votes
Accepted
Does the subconscious mind communicate its analysis through emotions?
First, there's not complete agreement in psychology nor neuroscience: you can find support for most any imaginable position. But in terms of the consensus of recent peer-reviewed work, here are some ...
- 1,498
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