Emotional person: features of human emotionality

Hello blog readers! Emotions are a part of our life. How we behave, what feelings we show and what we hide is one of the most striking human characteristics. However, a person’s emotional behavior can both attract and repel. Thus, excessive expression of feelings often causes rejection and hostility.

How does an emotional person stand out from the crowd and what is associated with increased emotionality?

Personality quality

It is not uncommon to encounter people who are “literally cut from different cloth.” Some people overreact to everything that happens around them: they are fascinated and inspired by ordinary things. Others, on the contrary, do not show their feelings and emotions. Sometimes it’s even difficult to say whether they like what’s happening or not.

A person’s emotional state is not always expressed openly. Depending on the personality type, a person is either inclined to open communication, or is immersed in his own world, where he is comfortable.

Affect as a psychological state

There are situations when an individual becomes overly aggressive, irritable, screams, and does not control himself. In this situation, a person expresses a high level of emotions; such behavior manifests itself in people in a state of passion. So, affect is strong emotional experiences that arise when it is impossible to find a way out of a difficult situation, accompanied by motor activity. Using the test by Kulikova V.N. “Are you prone to emotions?” You can learn about your own predisposition to affective states.

Header image - Alexey Sokolov

Showing emotion

A person’s emotional world depends on a combination of factors that form his personality type.

1. Level of excitability. Despite the fact that this factor is more neurophysiological in nature, it is also associated with the emotional sphere. We can trace a direct relationship: the more excitable a person is, the more emotional he behaves. His speech is full of descriptions, and the narration constantly gets confused. The fact is that this process is associated with the strength and speed of nervous processes.
2. Depth and strength of experience. Usually creative people are the most impressionable and receptive in life. For creative professions, energy and dedication during work are very important. For example, it is important for an artist to play his role believably, and for an artist to express his thoughts on canvas. However, quite often excessive emotionality and feelings lead to devastation and creative burnout. Therefore, it is very important to replenish energy on time.
3. Emotional stability. Some people leave 10 minutes after an argument, and some people relive this moment over and over again. If nervous excitement persists for too long, it can lead to psychological problems. While rapid changes in mood reveal a person’s fickle nature with increased emotionality.
4. Expressiveness. A person’s reaction to any events may be small, but his desire to show others his attitude and emotions can be many times greater than his own feelings. Quite often, expressiveness is mistaken for excessive emotionality, but in reality a person does not experience emotions, but rather plays them in front of an audience.

The combination of the above factors forms one or another type of personality. In addition to individual characteristics, external factors also influence personality type.

Concept of character

A variety of mental characteristics are manifested in human behavior and activity.
Some of them are not significant and do not affect human behavior and activity. Others are significant in a certain respect, but do not matter for all human behavior (for example, features of perception, attention, memory, etc.). In the human psyche there is also a set of stable essential properties that manifests itself in all types of activity.

Character is the general ways of interaction of an individual with the environment acquired in specific social conditions, constituting the type of his life activity.

Translated from Greek, the word “character” means “to draw”, “to leave an imprint”, and in a figurative meaning - clearly expressed general traits of behavior.

The unique character of each person is determined by:

• its orientation (stable motivational sphere of the individual) and
• features of the activity - volitional qualities.

Motivational sphere of personality

This sphere of personality combines the dominant needs, feelings, attitudes, drives, interests, desires, ideals, beliefs and worldview of a given individual.

A broad system of views, ideas and concepts about the surrounding reality, knowledge of its basic interrelations represents the highest motivational and guiding basis for a person’s behavior - his worldview. The peculiarities of worldview as the most important characterological property of a person are the degree of its awareness, integrity and scientific character. A developed worldview is an indicator of personality maturity.

Associated with the worldview is the formation of a system of beliefs - a stable motivational formation in which knowledge is synthesized with feelings, with deep faith in them.

Beliefs are knowledge that has become the principle of activity.

A person’s relationships are formed on the basis of his knowledge, ideas, and life experience. Thus, the experience of an individual, the system of his knowledge, are the most important substructure of character.

Features of the activity

Another substructure of character is a variety of generalized skills of behavior and activity.

Many forms of personal behavior are habitual and stereotypical - expressive movements, manners, memorized phrases. Habits, as a rule, are formed spontaneously. Initially, certain actions are prompted by some reasons, and then these actions are performed spontaneously, due to the formed need for them. Negative habits in some cases are associated with immoral behavior of the individual.

Traits and character types

Character is an individual-typological combination of value orientations and regulatory characteristics of the individual.

There are:

1. character traits - expressed in certain general characteristics of behavior;
2. character type - expressed in general ways of interacting with the environment.

Emotionality and temperament

As described above, a person’s emotional development is influenced by various factors.

As for individual characteristics, they form a person’s unique temperament. It is customary to distinguish 4 temperaments.

However, a person may not fully relate to one of them. This may be an intermediate personality type. Let's look at the main emotional types of people:

• Choleric. Such people are very emotional. They are active and energetic, happy to support a new project, but their passion does not last long. Due to the high speed and instability of psychological processes, they react to everything very strongly, but not for long.
• Phlegmatic person. Such people are reserved and balanced. This is the complete opposite of choleric people. Despite the fact that emotions are not expressed vividly, they are all durable and can even last a lifetime.
• Melancholic. This type has restraint, and his changes in mood are almost unnoticeable. Nervous processes occur slowly, which is why negative emotions persist longer than positive ones. Thus, people of this type are always a little sad. It is difficult for them to create a positive mood on their own, and they are easily upset. Melancholic people feel very well the mood swings of other people, they are very sensitive to other people's grief and empathize with the emotional state of another person.
• Sanguine. The strongest type is the one who is able to experience vivid emotions and retain them for a long time. Sanguine people are better than others at controlling their emotions. Such people are persistent, strive for dominance, and are often aggressive.

Human relationships are never simple. As a rule, a person does not belong to a specific type, but combines several qualities. Therefore, depending on life situations, we may behave in completely unexpected ways.

The emotional sphere of a person can change throughout life.

Managing Emotions

In the process of interaction, it is not easy for many people to overcome barriers of mutual understanding. To avoid problems of misunderstanding with others, you need to know the basic psychological rules of communication, and first of all, learn to manage your own emotions, which most often become a source of interpersonal conflicts. The peculiarity of our feelings is that we can consciously control them. This makes them a powerful tool for successfully achieving any goal. To do this, first of all, you need to realize your emotions as early as possible, develop your innate ability to manage them, accumulate sensory experience and begin to consciously use it in your activities. In order to find out how consciously you use your emotions, we offer you V.V. Bondarenko’s test. “Do you know how to manage your emotions?”

External factors

A great emotional impact on a person comes from outside. Depending on lifestyle, social circle, work and other aspects, a person experiences influences that can change his personal characteristics.

Of course, the main thing that we absorb into ourselves is laid down in childhood. So, upbringing determines who a child will grow up to be: a self-confident person or a hysterical and unbalanced person.

But even an adult individual experiences psychological stress that can turn his emotional processes around. These include:

1. Prolonged stress.
2. Emotional shock or mentally traumatic situation.
3. A state of helplessness and uselessness that occurs in the absence of self-realization.
4. Hormonal imbalance in the body.
5. Alcohol addiction.
6. Head injuries.

Quite often, these factors cause depression and apathy, as a result of which a person begins to be aggressive and embittered.

But it is worth noting that external factors can also restore tone to the emotional state. For example, a person’s experiences of entering a university ended when he saw his name on the list of applicants. In this case, a person’s ability to act proves to him that all his efforts were not in vain. This gives rise to euphoria and a feeling of joy.

This is a natural example when external factors bring events with a “+” sign into life.

But if a person is in this state for no apparent reason, this may mean a mental disorder.

Among the emotional characteristics of a person with a “+” sign, but pathological, one can name moria. This is a condition in which a person constantly fools around, feels no shame, acts chaotically, talks and laughs non-stop.

A person experiences a similar condition when intoxicated by alcohol or when there is damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for control and rationality.

Thus, a long-term change in a person’s emotional mood should alert his loved ones. This may be a serious cause for concern.

Character types

1. A harmoniously integral type, well adaptable in various situations. This type of character is distinguished by the stability of relationships and at the same time high adaptability to the environment. A person with this type of character has no internal conflicts; his desires coincide with what he does. He is a sociable, strong-willed, principled person.
2. Internally conflicting type, but externally consistent with the environment. This type of character is characterized by inconsistency between internal motivations and external behavior, which, in accordance with the requirements of the environment, is carried out with great tension. A person with this type of character is prone to impulsive actions, but these actions are constantly restrained by volitional efforts. The system of his relationships is stable, his communicative properties are quite developed.
3. Conflict type with reduced adaptation. This type of character is characterized by conflict between emotional impulses and social responsibilities, impulsiveness, a predominance of negative emotions, and underdeveloped communicative properties.
4. Variable type, adapting to any conditions as a result of instability of positions, unprincipledness. This type of character indicates a low level of personality development, the absence of a stable general way of behavior.

So, character is a general regulatory feature of a person, which is formed in appropriate living conditions. The basis of character education is a system of influences on the orientation of the individual and the corresponding organization of the ways of human life.

A person’s character is formed gradually, in the process of active, systematic activity. However, significant changes in character sometimes occur abruptly, as a result of mental shocks, in a difficult conflict situation. Character is especially clearly demonstrated in critical circumstances.

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Pros of highly emotional people

Of course, a person’s emotional activity is largely determined in childhood and it is very difficult to change it. But human emotional needs are the same. Everyone wants to have fun and enjoy their free time. It’s just that some people prefer a large and noisy company, while others prefer to spend the evening at home listening to their favorite TV series or book.

Emotional people always attract attention. This can be intimidating for introverts, but vice versa for extroverts. But there are definitely advantages to communicating with such people. And here are some of them:

1. They are friendly. With them you can always find a common topic and not experience awkward silence.
2. Love for everything joyful is their distinctive feature. They look for the good in everything, and, oddly enough, they find it.
3. They don't manipulate people. Playing behind-the-scenes games is not their thing. Due to their fast stream of consciousness, they are quite simple-minded.
4. Sincerity. If they think highly of someone, they will tell you. And if they think bad about someone, they will tell you too! This is their nature; keeping thoughts to themselves is not about them.
5. Easy to climb. Trying something new is something they enjoy. After all, new hobbies always cause a storm of new emotions.

Who is an empath

And now about empaths, what empathy is and why not every emotional person is empathic. Psychologists began to study empathy as a personality quality at the beginning of the twentieth century. The term defines a person’s ability to absorb emotional flows from the surrounding world (people, animals) and experience them as their own. In this case, the object does not have to be nearby. Just learning about someone's joy, and especially about someone's grief, an empath begins to worry. Such people do not watch or listen to the news, because it is emotionally difficult for them to cope with themselves after hearing stories about incidents, wars, disasters and other horrors happening in the world.

A little more about empaths:

1. An empathic person sympathizes with everyone - people and animals, acquaintances and strangers, and is easily moved. He is able to give his last to help someone. Therefore, it is better for empaths not to see messages from charitable foundations, such as “the child urgently needs surgery” or “the dog was hit by a car.” This is not stupidity. They just feel the pain of others fully and even more strongly and cannot do anything about it.
2. They have special knowledge, greater than intuition. They recognize lies and suffer when loved ones deceive them.
3. In crowded places they feel depressed, because other people's emotions roll over them like a wave.
4. If loved ones are sick, then empaths may experience the same symptoms, since they take everything on themselves.
5. They often become a “vest” for those around them, and their soul turns into a “dumping ground” for other people’s problems. This is a heavy load.
6. They are often used, so fatigue and emotional burnout are constant companions of empaths.
7. Loneliness is like medicine for them. Only by hiding from the world can these people rest.
8. They are always sincere and fair.
9. Empathetic individuals are constantly searching for answers and have a thirst for new knowledge.
10. They hate clutter and love cleanliness. But at the same time, strict rules for them are like shackles that deprive them of freedom.
11. Such people speak little, but are excellent listeners.
12. They don't buy used items because they feel the energy of the previous owners.
13. Most empaths are vegetarians, as they acutely feel the fear and pain of a killed animal or fish.
14. They try in every possible way to renounce the world, so they may seek solace in alcohol, tobacco or even drugs.

Empaths are considered by many to be strange, headstrong, overly shy or unsociable. After all, they avoid large companies, are always unaware of the news, do not like to discuss others, do not put a smile on their face and do not feign happiness. Almost all the time they look unhappy and depressed, which is not surprising when you feel all the emotions of those around you.

Do we need over-emotional people? Definitely yes! Without them, this world would be gray and insipid. Understanding such a person is not easy, and getting used to him is even more difficult. But if he is nearby, then it will definitely never be boring.

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