Understanding emotions
Why do we feel the way we do?
Every experience we have—whether internally through our thoughts or externally through sensory stimuli—influences how we feel, directly influencing our actions and behaviors and impacting our lives and well-being.
We're living in a world that's evolving faster than we can adapt. With rapidly advancing technology, our emotions are manipulated in more and more clever ways through our ever-increasing interactions with our devices.
Social media algorithms promote polarizing views to maximize engagement. Marketers prey on our most vulnerable feelings in order to sell us more products. Now more than ever before, emotional intelligence, emotional fitness, and emotional resilience are essential for a happy and successful life.
Unfortunately, they are some of the least honed skills in society today.
In fact, they are declining, and rates of emotional disorders like stress, anxiety and depression are at an all-time high.
When you master your emotions, you become less susceptible to manipulation by outside forces and better at using your emotional intelligence to succeed in all areas of your life, including business, relationships, health, creativity and more.
Continue reading to learn more about how emotions work, the ways they impact your daily life, and how they can be channeled towards more meaningful and productive states with the right tools and processes.
Trace the origins
Where do emotions come from?
Emotions are psychological and physiological responses to external or internal stimuli and allow you to process information and navigate your life. Sensory organs––such as the eyes, ears, or skin––capture information from the environment for your brain to process, which it converts into actions.
Emotions are influenced by a network of interconnected structures in the brain that make up what is known as the limbic system, which includes key structures such as the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, the amygdala, and the limbic cortex, all of which play a pivotal role in emotions and behavioral responses.
Hormones and neurotransmitters, such as cortisol, adrenaline, dopamine, and oxytocin also play a role in modulating emotional states.
the echo of emotions
Emotional states have a lasting, real world impact
Psychologists researching “Emodiversity and the Emotional Ecosystem” were seeking to answer a simple question: Is well-being simply the result of experiencing more positive emotions and less negative emotions?
Two cross-sectional studies across more than 37,000 respondents demonstrated that emodiversity (the variety and relative abundance of the emotions that humans experience) is an independent predictor of mental and physical health—such as decreased depression and doctor’s visits—over and above mean levels of positive and negative emotion. These results remained robust after controlling for gender, age, and the 5 main dimensions of personality. Emodiversity is a practically important and previously unidentified metric for assessing the health of the human emotional ecosystem.¹
As stated before, emotions play a far bigger role than most people realize. Being aware of this fact is the first step. Secondly, it’s important to realize that…
Shape your feelings
Emotions are malleable—they can be changed and directed
We often think that our emotional experiences reflect external events and forces that are outside our control, blaming everything from our genes to the weather. However, most people do not realize that emotions aren't strictly controlled by your body's physiology the way that reflexes are.
The process model of emotion regulation proposed by psychologist James Gross emphasizes that people can act to control their emotions at different points in time—including before they feel an emotion (“antecedent-focused emotion regulation”) and after they have already begun to react emotionally (“response-focused emotion regulation”).²
While there are many ways to influence one’s emotional state for the better, emotion regulation often involves what experts call “down-regulation”, or reducing the intensity of emotions. A grieving person might down-regulate his sadness by recalling something amusing. An anxious person may cope by distracting herself from the thought that is causing her anxiety. Emotion regulation can also include “up-regulation,” or amping up one’s emotions, which can be useful when an imminent danger or challenge calls for a healthy dose of anxiety or excitement.³
And while it may seem like the opposite would be true, studies have shown that sad stimuli, like films, videos, and music, can actually relieve symptoms of depression and make us feel better.
But while emotions can be controlled, it takes focus and effort to strengthen your emotional muscles. Just like with physical exercise, the more you work at it, the better and stronger you become.⁴
the power of Sights and sounds
Feel uses techniques similar to stimulus-response patterns used in art, film, music, and storytelling to evoke specific emotional states and responses. By triggering specific domains that operate at a subconscious level, Feel helps you redirect your feelings towards the emotions that you desire.
We experience emotions from on screen stimuli just as viscerally as we do from real-world interactions. Just like in our daily life experiences, what we see and hear on our devices and in the media we consume elicits emotions that influence us in ways we are often unaware of.⁵
Every time we perceive people, objects, and spaces in audiovisual media, we are unconsciously guided by visual and acoustic cues. Images and sounds can activate broad networks of bodily and cognitive associations. This process is known as Synchresis—or the fusing of pictures and sound.⁶
In addition to visual stimuli like imagery and color, as well as story and narrative elements, studies have shown that specific sound frequencies can directly impact our brainwaves and emotional state. For instance, higher frequencies, like those found in upbeat music, can stimulate the brain, triggering the release of neurotransmitters like dopamine, which are associated with feelings of joy and pleasure. While lower frequencies, such as the soothing hum of a cello, can induce a state of relaxation by encouraging the brain to produce alpha and theta brainwaves, which are linked to calmness.
In film, genres such as horror and thrillers attempt to initiate strong and intense emotional and bodily effects in the viewer by producing complex audiovisual metaphors that elucidate affective and physical experiences that go far beyond the communication of cultural symbols.⁷
Emotional communication takes place in several dimensions simultaneously. Stimulus-response patterns activate the same emotional domains in the minds of communication partners. Studies show that mirror neurons enable people to reflexively recognize and simulate the emotions of others.
Far from operating only in face to face interactions, these mirror neurons and stimulus response patterns repeat themselves in audiovisual stimuli as well.
While there can be some differentiation among certain people and cultures, Feel creates experiences using cross-cultural scientific research combined with universal symbols and archetypes that aim to evoke specific emotions in a vast range of people. We aim to find a universal language of emotional experience and expression that connects all of us as human beings, bringing us closer to understanding ourselves as well as each other.
Enhance your mood
Benefits of audiovisual stimuli induced emotional states
Audiovisual content such as films, videos and music have been extensively studied for their effects on well-being. Numerous studies have shown that engaging with emotionally impactful audiovisual content can reduce stress, alleviate symptoms of depression, and even improve physical health markers such as blood pressure and heart rate variability.
Cinema Therapy
Research published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking demonstrated that engaging with uplifting videos and films can significantly boost positive emotions while reducing the prevalence of negative ones.⁸
Music Therapy
Studies in the Arts in Psychotherapy journal have shown that music therapy can lead to notable improvements in mood and significant reductions in anxiety and depression⁹, underscoring the therapeutic potential of auditory experiences.
Physical Health
Findings published in the journal Emotion reveal that certain heightened emotions, such as awe, can improve immune function and decrease chronic inflammation, resulting in lower risk of numerous chronic diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression¹⁰. This insight highlights the profound connection between our emotions and physical health.
Emotional Health
Research published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology investigated the mood-enhancing and relieving effects of crying––considered to be a peak emotional experience––after viewing tear-inducing audiovisual content. Findings highlight the self-soothing effects of crying, including the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), increases in oxytocin levels, and engagement in cognitive reappraisal processes.¹¹
