Emotions Talks
Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is no scientific consensus on a definition. Emotions are often intertwined with mood, temperament, personality, disposition, or creativity.
Research on emotion has increased over the past two decades, with many fields contributing, including psychology, medicine, history, sociology of emotions, and computer science. The numerous attempts to explain the origin, function, and other aspects of emotions have fostered intense research on this topic. Theorizing about the evolutionary origin and possible purpose of emotion dates back to Charles Darwin. Current areas of research include the neuroscience of emotion, using tools like PET and fMRI scans to study the affective picture processes in the brain.
From a mechanistic perspective, emotions can be defined as "a positive or negative experience that is associated with a particular pattern of physiological activity." Emotions are complex, involving multiple different components, such as subjective experience, cognitive processes, expressive behavior, psychophysiological changes, and instrumental behavior. At one time, academics attempted to identify the emotion with one of the components: William James with a subjective experience, behaviorists with instrumental behavior, psychophysiologists with physiological changes, and so on. More recently, emotion has been said to consist of all the components. The different components of emotion are categorized somewhat differently depending on the academic discipline. In psychology and philosophy, emotion typically includes a subjective, conscious experience characterized primarily by psychophysiological expressions, biological reactions, and mental states. A similar multi-componential description of emotion is found in sociology. For example, Peggy Thoits described emotions as involving physiological components, cultural or emotional labels (anger, surprise, etc.), expressive body actions, and the appraisal of situations and contexts. Cognitive processes, like reasoning and decision-making, are often regarded as separate from emotional processes, making a division between "thinking" and "feeling". However, not all theories of emotion regard this separation as valid.
Nowadays, most research into emotions in the clinical and well-being context focuses on emotion dynamics in daily life, predominantly the intensity of specific emotions and their variability, instability, inertia, and differentiation, as well as whether and how emotions augment or blunt each other over time and differences in these dynamics between people and along the lifespan.
Title | Speaker | |
---|---|---|
May 16th, 2002, Serial No. 01010, Side A Soto Zen, Composure, soto, Daily Life, Tassajara, Offering, Emotions, Rinzai,... |
May 16 2002 |
|
March 21st, 2002, Serial No. 00469 Karma, Birth-and-Death, Attachment, Describe, Six Realms, Precepts, Renewal, Nirvana... |
Mar 21 2002 |
|
Harmonizing Breath, Body, Mind and FeelingsSerial: BZ-00141A Sesshin Day 1 Birth-and-Death, Posture, Concentration, Daily Life, Buddha Nature, Emotions,... |
Mar 15 2002 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
2002.03.11-serial.00073 Impermanence, Lineage, New Year, Intuition, Teacher-and-Student, Buddha Ancestors,... |
Mar 11 2002 |
|
2002.03.10-serial.00114C Daily Life, Anger, Meditation, Zendo, true dharma, Chanting, Emotions, Ego, Vows,... |
Mar 10 2002 |
|
February 14th, 2002, Serial No. 00470 Passions, Attachment, Gratitude, Intuition, Concentration, Instruction, Religion,... |
Feb 14 2002 |
|
No Fault-Finding--Sixth PreceptSerial: BZ-00062A Skillful Criticism, Saturday Lecture Precepts, Precepts, Big Mind, Bodhisattva Ceremony, Oneness, Mahayana, Buddha Nature... |
Feb 02 2002 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
Sixth and Seventh Precepts and ContentionSerial: BZ-00066B One-Day Sitting Precepts, Anger, Precepts, stubbornness, Separation, Subject-and-Object, Attachment,... |
Jan 12 2002 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
ZazenSerial: BZ-00064A Rohatsu Day 3 Zazen, Concentration, Posture, resistance, Right Effort, Mindfulness, Samadhi,... |
Dec 04 2001 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
December 2nd, 2001, Serial No. 00097, Side A Buddha Mind, Dragons, Posture, Emotions, Instruction, Concentration, Karma, Big Mind... |
Dec 02 2001 |
|
2001.05.19-serial.00046 Posture, Daily Life, Don't Know Mind, Ego, Four Noble Truths, Silent... |
May 19 2001 |
|
May 5th, 2001, Serial No. 00100, Side A Berkeley Zen Center, Rumi, Priest, Impermanence, Birth-and-Death, Instruction,... |
May 05 2001 |
|
Releasing Ourselves in Life and DeathSerial: BZ-00100B Saturday Lecture Birth-and-Death, Posture, Emotions, Karma, Attachment, Zoom, Observe, Continuous,... |
Apr 28 2001 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
December 9th, 2000, Serial No. 00127, Side B Posture, Monastic Practice, Emotions, Continuous, Attachment, Enthusiasm, Liberation... |
Dec 09 2000 |
|
Hongzhi's Second MethodSerial: BZ-00127A Rohatsu Day 5 Hongzhi, Buddha Nature, Emotions, Aspects of Practice, Instruction, Lay, Echo,... |
Dec 08 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
Preparing/Not Preparing for SesshinSerial: BZ-00124B Saturday Lecture Sesshin, Ego, Demons, Emotions, Posture, Equanimity, Buddha Nature, Obstacles,... |
Dec 02 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
November 16th, 2000, Serial No. 00487 Birth-and-Death, Continuous, Duality, Oneness, Karma, Sixth Patriarch, Emotions, Ego... |
Nov 16 2000 |
|
How Love Drives the WorldSerial: BZ-00122B Saturday Lecture Love, Emotions, Hate, Anger, Buddha Nature, War, Ego, Attachment, Peace, Cultivation... |
Nov 04 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
The Whole World Is MedicineSerial: SF-00078 "The Four Nourishments" Practice Period, Teacher-and-Student, Samadhi, Continuous, Commitment, Passions,... |
Sep 30 2000 |
|
Codependent Chain of Origination: Why We SitSerial: BZ-00082B Sesshin Day 2 Dependent Origination, Zazen, Dependent Origination, Birth-and-Death, Attachment, Ego... |
Sep 03 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
Genjokoan CommentarySerial: BZ-00082A Sesshin Day 1 Genjokoan, Subject-and-Object, Continuous, Renunciation, Lay Practice, Absolute-and-... |
Sep 02 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
2000.07.05-serial.00158 Emotions, Delusion, Soto Zen, Greed, Precepts |
Jul 05 2000 |
|
Branching Streams Flow in the DarknessSerial: BZ-00160A Polishing Tiles, Sesshin Day 5 Sandokai, Branching Streams, Emotions, Rinzai, Religion, Bodhidharma, Nirvana,... |
Jun 18 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
ZazengiSerial: BZ-00055A Sesshin Day 1 Zazengi, Concentration, Posture, Samadhi, Emotions, Attachment, Buddha Ancestors,... |
Jun 14 2000 Berkeley Zen Center |
|
March 9th, 2000, Serial No. 00932 Lotus Sutra, Dream World, Doubt, Buddha Ancestors, Emotions, Impermanence, Karma,... |
Mar 09 2000 |
|
February 3rd, 2000, Serial No. 00926 Buddha Ancestors, Buddha Nature, Bodhidharma, Karma, Transmission, Teacher-and-... |
Feb 03 2000 |
|
Marathon Practice of IntentionSerial: BZ-00199B Saturday Lecture Practice, Intention, Renunciation, Subject-and-Object, Big Mind, Zazen Mind,... |
Nov 06 1999 Berkeley Zen Center |