I’ve Got A Feeling

Why do we have emotions? Do you think emotions make us human and that they help us feel? These are partly correct. Feelings define us as humans, and we ‘feel’ when we have feelings according to psychologist Danny Gagnon. Let’s look at some more details about feelings.

The good... the bad... and the feelings
As human beings, we have several emotions such as joy, love, excitement, anxiety, sadness and anger. Most of us define joy, love and excitement as good feelings and sadness, anxiety and anger as bad feelings. However, we need to define them as ‘pleasant’ or ‘unpleasant’ rather than good or bad. Here is a useful example using physical pain: If you accidentally touched a hot stove, what would you feel? Likely, you would sense the pain and feel it. Now, what would you do after you felt the pain? Hopefully, you would remove your hand to stop the burning. Now here is the key! Is it good to feel the pain? Yes, it is because it motivates you to remove your hand. However, it is obvious that the pain is definitely unpleasant. Our emotions should be perceived in the same way. Some emotions are unpleasant, but they should motivate us to act. For example, if I am anxious that I may fail a test, I am motivated to study to learn the material and pass the test, hopefully with an excellent grade!

Feelings help to motivate us for action
Emotions help to organise our behaviour and set us in motion to accomplish a goal. For example, if you are crossing the street and you see a car passing at the red light in your direction, you will likely perceive danger, get anxious and run to get out of the way.

Feelings help us communicate with people
Feelings help us communicate with other people, using our verbal and non-verbal behaviour. If you are mad at someone, you will likely raise your voice in a firm tone, stand up straight and look directly in the other person’s eyes. In turn, emotions also help us recognise what others are feeling. For example, if the other person is looking at you, smiling and nodding his or her head during a conversation, you will likely perceive that he or she is listening to you and is interested in what you are saying.