Do emotions only exist within our minds?
Human emotions, influenced by neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin, are universally recognized. Basic Emotion Theory identifies six core emotions but the more complex emotions are impacted by environmental and cultural factors, leading to varied behaviours and physiological responses.
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Since the onset of civilization, emotions have pulled the strings behind human action while remaining a mystery to us. Some attributed emotions to the soul, seeing them as the antithesis of logic and reason, but this approach only complicated matters further.
Since then humanity has made countless scientific breakthroughs including in fields that investigate the processes behind human emotions. They discovered neurotransmitters, chemicals that influence our feelings following our experiences or thoughts.
A product of all this is suggested by the Basic Emotion Theory, every basic emotion has a specific brain locus.Studies with fMRI (body scan used to map neural activity in the brain or spinal cord) provided evidence for this theory. However, a number of recent studies have shown that while a single basic emotion may be linked to several brain structures, multiple basic emotions may be linked to a single location.
The most widely-accepted notion in Basic Emotion Theory lists six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. What makes these six distinct is the fact that humans from anywhere around the world can inherently recognize them. You could show a tribe member from the Amazon rainforest a picture of someone angry and they would be able to recognize the emotion being displayed. It is moreover evident as someone who was born blind will use the same facial expressions as everyone for these emotions albeit never having seen them worn on the faces of other people.
This reinforces why our emotions work with the same mechanisms. The various components of neurotransmitters have accelerated our understanding of how emotions work. Since its discovery, monoamine has been regarded as the basis for emotions. Some well-known monoamine neurotransmitters are dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin for the three basic emotions of joy, fear and disgust. Antidepressants that target monoamine neuromodulators have been utilised to treat practically all affective disorders . Even decades later, monoamine-targeted medications remain the primary pharmacological treatment for affective disorders such as anxiety, phobia, and depression. What makes this possible is how different neurotransmitters do not just have their sole influences, but also combine to have different ramifications. This allows the introduction of these neurochemicals to be able to occupy the synapses against other neurotransmitters.
Numerous neurotransmitters may be important emotional substrates, as evidenced by recent research. This is how the basic emotions we have branch off to more complex emotions such as guilt or jealousy; emotions that are not easily comprehensible by even our own minds when we are going through them. Slightly contrary to the inclusivity of the basic emotions, the more complex emotions over time get influenced by our environment and culture, resulting in variation between our behaviours. Emotions develop from a subjective experience which makes us go through physiological responses, and the output of these emotions are behavioural responses.
If you have ever wondered why so many stereotypes exist,\ and if we have the same neurochemicals going around our nerves,here's your answer: it is because the environment we live in has an influence on the physiological processes in our body, where emotions and responses travel in a two-way street.