What is the affect or why sometimes we can not stop

PonyatiemVyrazhenie investigated with the "heat of passion" was transferred from the criminal and psychiatric practice in our daily lives. But the passion is different from the usual emotions and when it becomes a pathology? To properly use this term, remember its origin and the history of its interpretations in psychology and philosophy.





Emotion - psychophysiological process that reflects the unconscious personal assessment of the current situation. Positive changes cause us pleasure, trouble - sadness or anger, aggression someone else - anger or fear. A passion - it is a very intense emotional state, which does not last long, but it is pronounced somatic symptoms - changes in heart rate and breathing, spasm of peripheral blood vessels, sweating, poor coordination of movements. The name "passion" comes from the Latin word affectus, meaning "emotion, passion».

the heat of passion interested in the ancient Greeks - for example, Plato considered it one of the innate spiritual principles, which also include lust and reason h4> Depending on the type of impact, affects divided into sthenic (from the Greek σθένος - force) and asthenia (from ἀσθένεια - impotence). Sthenic passions - anger, delight - encouraged to be active and contribute to the mobilization of forces. A asthenic affects - sadness, terror, powerlessness - relax or paralyze any activity. If situations of affect, periodically repeated stress gradually builds up, which may subsequently lead to the rapid "explosion." This condition is called a cumulative affect (not to be confused with a cumulative effect, which is also connected with the process of accumulation, but it's not just emotions).

But the heat of passion of a man who gave of anger fist on the table, and the man who killed someone in a fit of rage, and now can not remember how it happened, very different. The first option - the so-called physiological affect, which is natural for homo sapiens, and not accompanied by a loss of self-control. Usually we beat on the table, because we understand that it will help us to let off steam - but under certain conditions would refrain from this. Much more dangerous pathologic affect caused by disruption of the normal functioning of the mind - is short (30-40 minutes), a psychotic state, during which the mind is darkened, the person starts to behave on "autopilot" and can not stop. This condition stops as suddenly as it began, and after the subject feels a sharp exhaustion, falls into prostration and often does not remember what happened to him during the "loss of reality". All that was done in the heat of passion, after the patient is often perceived as having been committed by someone else. Good kinoillyustratsiya pathological passion - Hulk: Green Monster occurs when a certain degree of psychological stress of the hero, which can be tracked by physical indicators.

From a legal standpoint, a proven pathological passion - it is a mitigating factor: according to the Criminal Code, the maximum penalty for murder committed in a state shall not exceed three years in prison. But physiological affect is unlikely to soften the judge - it is taken into account only in the "cumulative" when a person has suffered a long time illegal or immoral behavior of the victim, and finally lost his temper.

Interested in the heat of passion by the ancient Greeks - for example, Plato considered it one of the innate spiritual principles, which also include desire and reason. The three parts of the human soul correspond to the three estates in the ideal state: if the person in the nature of a dominant tendency affects, he should devote himself to the cause of the military, the dominant class has shaped the mind of the rulers, philosophers, and lust - class of peasants, artisans and merchants. One way or another, affect was considered inferior in comparison with the beginning of mind, clouding the mind and therefore dangerous. It was assumed that with the passions is to fight by force of will and the arguments of reason. The Christian concept of work on myself and assumed control of the emotions.

The shift in the perception of the condition occurred when Descartes, Spinoza, and then began to talk about the role of emotions during heavy playing relationship of body and soul. Descartes in his "passions of the soul," suggested that the intense emotional states represent both mental and physiological processes, and Spinoza went further, concluding that affect the intense emotions through pure reason impossible - affect can be destroyed only by the stronger affect. "The true knowledge of good and evil, since it is true, can not prevent no affect; it is capable of this only insofar as it is considered as an affect, "- considered a philosopher. However, Spinoza the term "affect" has a broader meaning and integrates any changes in the body (including the mind), resulting from the interaction with the outside world.

At the end of XIX - early XX century, the concept of affect has undergone even more serious reassessment. Scientists of the French school of sociology Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss found that the influence of society on the perception of the individual depends on the strength of affectation. A French anthropologist Lucien Levy-Bruhl found that induction of affect was of great importance in the ancient rituals, such as initiation and sacrifice. He believed that the primitive mentality was very different from our modern logical thinking that emotions play in it a much larger role.

Affect interested in Freud - he concluded that depressed affects cause mental illness: they remain in the subconscious of man and continue to disturb him vaguely. Sometimes they are expressed in physical symptoms - paralysis, pain, and other involuntary sensations.

via theoryandpractice.ru/posts/8288-chto-takoe-affekt