Diana Partida

Ms. O'Keefe & Mr. Crain Davis

English IV

Date of Submission

(Why do people have emotions? and does it affect our lives)

Why Do I Ask This Question

These past few years I have gone through many events that werent so positive. Those

events made me feel certain emotions and those emotions definitely affected my life in many

different ways. When I was given the opportunity to research any question I want I thought about

my emotions because as mentioned before my emotions has impacted my life greatly. I thought

about why people have emotions and how their emotions affected their lives. I asked this

question knowing this is a great opportunity to see what others have to say.

What I knew before: Before I started searching how emotions impact our lives whether

it affects you negatively and positively. I already knew that emotions occur based on the certain

events one goes through good or bad. For example from those bad moments we go through, our

emotions can sometimes takes control over us and makes influence us to make poor decisions.

However, when it comes to positive emotions like being happy or excited, our emotions do take

over our mind and in a positive way as well.

Sources: When it came to looking for sources I just started off by putting my question in

google I found multiple sources. A lot talked about emotions and what they all mean. At one

point it got a bit hard to look for sources because not all sources had the information I was

looking for. I was specifically looking for the meaning to why we have feelings. I got to the point
where I had to change my question a bit. I had to look for sources on how our emotions affects

us. Eventually, I got to this website called www.psychologytoday.com and this website touched

on many topics about emotions. Like for example, what emotions are, how to get rid of those

negative feelings, what are negative feelings, and last but not least how those emotions affect us.

As I read this source I learned that my question is interesting because with this one source I

learned a lot. I learned about different types of emotions and what feelings are. The fact is,

feelings are internal signals. They have no more independent existence than the red in a red

traffic light. They are instructions to behave in certain ways. I found this quote very interesting

because I never thought of emotions/feelings like that and that is how this source contributed to

my knowledge and how it led me to my next source. To find my next source I asked the same

question and explored that same page to see what else I could find. I than found my next source

which is another page (blog) in that same website www.psychologytoday.com. That is when I

realized that this website has became a very useful tool during my research process because I

was able to use this source twice now. The blog I found specifically talked about emotions. Like

for example it states, On top of that, human beings are the most self-conscious animals. This

makes us increasingly invested and crafty in our need for survival. We developed basic emotions

(fear, joy) like the other animals. But then we developed a more complex rational system too, in

which we could imagine our own past and future selves. It was the ability to reason about old

and future selves (to set traps, and not just run from tigers) that allowed us to dominate the food

chain. Rational thought helped us shape the world for our future: rerouting rivers, breeding

plants, caging tigers. I found this information useful because I learned that having emotions is

very normal because we are like self conscious animals.

 I realized that if I word my question differently I would get more sources. Which I did, I

than found my third source which is www.montrealcbtpsychologist.com a Pdf that specifically

answers part of my question (Why do we have emotions). What took from it is that emotions is

what makes us humans feel alive. To support this in the Pdf it states, Emotions do define us as

humans and we do feel when we have emotions. But more precisely, emotions are subjective

internal experiences that involve both a mental state, as well as a physiological state. By

mental state we mean the internal cognitive label we use. For example love, excitement,

anxiety and anger. Emotions have a lot to do with one's mental state. This source was very

useful and contributed a lot to my research because I learned from a different site the answer to

my question. Although, most of my sources repeat the same thing just in different ways, I was

still able to learn from it and everything I learned brought to my new source.

This Pdf led me to my fourth source since it mentioned that emotions have a lot to do

with ones mental state. So I decided to look for more sources based on this information and

found a website that talks about emotions and what triggers them

(http://science.howstuffworks.com). This website talks about the different kinds of emotions that

we all feel at certain point in our lives. For example, fear, sadness,anger,joy,etc are emotions that

trigger our mental state. To prove this in the same source it clearly states, Why a slight impact

to the nose leads to a series of physiological and mental changes has long been a matter of

speculation, but most psychologists agree that a basic emotion like anger exists as an

evolutionary trigger. We humans -- and most other animals -- appear to be equipped with a set of

predictable responses to situations. We call these the basic emotions: anger, fear, surprise,
disgust, joy and sadness, as described in the 1970s by anthropologist Paul Eckman [source:

Changing Minds] This one quote than lead me to my next source.

Based on the information I received and learned from my fourth source I was able to find

my fifth source which is http://www.livescience.com. This source had a lot of useful information

about emotions and how it affects the body.Based on certain situations we go through, we

develop certain emotions either anger,joy,or fear. Those emotions can physically hurt our bodies

and can cause stress and perhaps depression. There many other ways our emotions can affect our

bodies and we need to learn how to control those emotions because they can possibly take

control of us. Based on the information I gave, I learned a lot about emotions that led me to my

next source.

My sixth source is another website http://www.beinghuman.org and this website's talks

about how emotions are like the change of weather. They change based off the situation one

faces which is interesting. This website also makes a connection to Charles Darwins theory of

emotion, Charles Darwin theorized that emotions are evolved expressions rather than purely

cultural conditioned, and research by psychologist Paul Ekman (and others), showing that

emotions are shared across the world supports Darwins idea. Although most people feel that

emotions are one of the most personal, intimate, private expressions, an evolutionary

understanding implies that they are, instead, impersonal mechanisms that we all share.This

quote than lead me to my seventh source.

My seventh source was a survey I created on google . I created this survey because I

wanted to know what others thought about emotions and what emotions meant to them. I asked

question like how old are you, male or female , what emotion do you mostly feel throughout the
day, how often do you feel mad, What makes you feel certain emotions, etc. I posted the link to

my survey on schoology and had a lot of feedback and support from my teachers and peers.I had

a total of 46 responses from my survey and I enjoyed reading each and every answer. I feel like I

learned a lot from what people had to say and I learned that emotions developing based on ones

surroundings, family, and relationships. I learned that all these emotions can be a negative and

positive impact because we all learn something regardless. Emotions are developed based on our

story, our life. I asked a very detailed question in my survey and the responses I received were

remarkable.I asked , In your own words, What makes you feel certain emotions? Here are the

responses I received,

What makes us feel certain emotions will be depending on how are day is going

and the surrendering of people around can affect our mood.

my family and close friends.

music, people, my surrounding.

The things I do, or the things other people do. As well as my surroundings.

The people around me and how they act.

The influence of others and affects the actions we do

I than asked, In your opinion, do you believe that your emotions are based on your

surroundings? Why or why not? I got many great responses, here are a few,
 Yes I do. Almost anything can alter your mood. If it's raining you occasionally

feel tired or drained. If there is drama around you you feel stressed. It all depends

on what exactly you're involved with.

I kind of do believe that emotions are based on my surroundings cause

sometimes if i'm around a negative area i try to make it positive by just being my

natural funny and upbeat self.

yes because if you surround yourself in a negative surrounding, you're most

likely going to be influenced to feel negative.

Yes and no. Your very own mind can make you depressed. And it is up to you to

decide how you are going to act towards something and let something affect you a

certain amount.

Yes, emotions are based on surroundings because that is what influences you to

be who you are. If others are positive, then people will start to feel positive and

learn how to respond to things. They will start to learn to be themselves no matter

how they look or feel.

These responses were so helpful because I learned from others opinions and I was able to use

those opinions to support my claim and find new sources.

 The eighth source is webiste https://familydoctor.org and this source specifically talks

about how the body reacts with these emotions we feel during certain situations. Like for

example in the source its states, Your body responds to the way you think, feel, and act. This is

one type of "mind/body connection." When you are stressed, anxious, or upset, your body reacts

in a way that might tell you that something isn't right. For example, high blood pressure or a

stomach ulcer might develop after a particularly stressful event, such as the death of a loved one.
The following can be physical signs that your emotional health is out of balance: Poor emotional

health can weaken your body's immune system, making you more likely to get colds and other

infections during emotionally difficult times. Also, when you are feeling stressed, anxious, or

upset, you may not take care of your health as well as you should. You may not feel like

exercising, eating nutritious foods or taking medicine that your doctor prescribes. Abuse of

alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs may also be a sign of poor emotional health. This source was

very helpful because it gave me another way emotion can affect your health which than leads to

my ninth source.

The ninth source I found based on the information I learned is a website

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu that basically talks about how emotions can affect your life

at your job. In the website I learned that emotions can be caught from certain people and

places.You know the type: coworkers who never have anything positive to say, whether at the

weekly staff meeting or in the cafeteria line. They can suck the energy from a brainstorming

session with a few choice comments. Their bad mood frequently puts others in one, too. Their

negativity can contaminate even good news. We engage in emotional contagion, says Sigal

Barsade, a Wharton management professor who studies the influence of emotions on the

workplace. Emotions travel from person to person like a virus.

Based on the information I learned from this source I was able to get my tenth source

which is a video https://es.coursera.org explaining what emotions are and what they mean when

it comes to certain situations.I learned a lot from this video like, So, what is an emotion? The

truth is that there is a strong disagreement about what emotions are because of several, several

pro, pro, problems. For example, there are very strong disciplinary divergences regarding
methodologies, instruments, models, used for the studies of, of emotion, emotions or emotional

events. Now, that come from different research areas. For example, philosophy, psychology,

neurology, sociology, anthropology. And it implies that there is not agree, and agreement about

what really an emotion is and about the, the nature of emotions. At the same time, there's a

second problem, that emotions imply something very, very where that is the private experience.

We feel the emotions but it, it's very difficult to explain what I really feeling at the special

moment.

Based on the information I learned from the previous sources, I was able to get my

eleventh source which is a Pdf explaining how our emotions can affect you when making

decisions.I learned that making decisions can be hard especially when you are making a decision

while being sad or angry. Those emotions dont help at all, they take over you and sometimes

affect our decision making in a negative way. That is why it is important to try and understand

our emotions and control them. This source was very helpful and helped me understand my

question more and more.

Based on the information that I learned I was able to get my twelfth source

http://go.galegroup.com . This source gave me basic information about emotions and how facial

expressions can show some of the emotions we are feeling. Facial expressions do not contain

all of the information we need to recognize emotion in others, says Barrett. In fact, she notes, it's

context that "constrains what we expect to see and where we look?' Even without our awareness,

factors such as social environment, body posture, voices, scenes, words, and even culture

routinely influence which emotion we see on the face of another person. This source talks about

the influence of emotions on our bodies.

 What I learned: With all the sources I gathered I learned a lot from each and every one

of them.For example I learned that emotions can affect us physically & mentally. I also learned

that emotions develop based on the certain situations one goes through good or bad and the type

of company one chooses to surround themselves with. Last but not least, I learned that we have

emotions because we are the most self conscious animals and it is normal to have them. Those

emotions that we feel can affect our lives/bodies in many positive ways and negative as we were

the ones who created those emotions. At the end of the day we always learn from those emotions

and learn to understand why we have those emotions.

What I still want to know: All this research was very useful and insightful. I am glad

that I asked this question because now I would like to hear more from the people. I would like to

know which emotion do you feel the most and why. I get that emotions develop because of our

surroundings but which emotion do you feel the most is the real question 9
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