Business of Emotions: Unit 2, Essay Example

Part One

I found that Ben-Ze’ev’s The Subtlety of Emotion helped me to define and categorize emotions in a way that I hadn’t ever been able to before.  This might be because emotions are so ambiguous–even something that seems ostensibly simple, like happiness, has a variety of meanings depending on the context.  What does it mean to be happy?  Why can an individual have all of the physical trappings that our society determines to bring happiness (a car, a house, a family, friends) and still feel unhappy?  I appreciate that Ben-Ze’ev doesn’t try to answer questions such as these definitively, instead acknowledging that emotions are both subjective and relative to individual circumstances.  He writes that “some emotions are related to several types of discrepancies at the same time.  For example, anger and gratitude often involve a comparison with a previous state and with an ‘ought’ state (namely the situation in which we think we ought to be)” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, pg. 20).  This discussion helps me to understand, if not totally explain, why my own emotions are often at odds with what’s going on in my overall life.  Ben-Ze’ev’s discussion of “comparative concern” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, pg. 20) in which he discusses how our emotional states are entirely relative because “one person’s ceiling is another person’s floor” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, pg. 20) was very useful in helping me to understand that I can’t always judge other people (and their emotions) by my own set of standards.  This seemed to correspond with Alan Bryman’s discussion on “emotional labor” (Bryman, 1997, pg. 381) where he talks about the ways in which a corporation (in this case, Disney) works to “control [the behavior of their employees] through scripted interactions and encouraging emotional labor” (Bryman, 1997, pg. 388).  I am studying to become a nurse, and one of my concerns is that the emotions that I’m meant to present–such as compassion and mercy–may be difficult for me to authentically present to the public and my patients if I don’t actually feel them.

References

Ben-Ze’ev, A. (2001). The Subtlety of Emotions. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Bryman, A. (1999). The Disneyization of society. Sociological Review, 47 (1), pp. 25-49. Retrieved from http://fasnafan.tripod.com/disneyization.pdf

Part Two

Response to Student 1 (Taywah)

I agree that the concept of feelings versus emotions was very intriguing, and definitely something I’d never considered before.  People often talk about controlling their emotions like they’re a faucet that can be switched on or off.  I found it liberating to read about the separation between emotions from feelings and to learn from Ben-Ze’ev that “feelings are not subject to normative appraisal” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, pg. 67) and therefore can’t be reasoned with or sometimes even explained.  His toothache analogy really does help to explain the difference between emotions and feelings and the idea that our feelings operate at a deep level that can be difficult to articulate to other people.

Response to Student 2 (Michelleba)

What a great reason for taking a course like this–your husband must be proud (and maybe a little scared!) that you’re taking steps to try and define and understand some of the obstacles you encounter in your relationship.  There are definitely more than the three emotions your husband lives by, as Ben-Ze’ev’s book points out.  Your question about ‘why do I feel this way’ when you encounter certain emotions is only answered to a certain extent by The Subtlety of Emotion, as our reading guide illustrates.  Marsden critiques Ben-Ze’ev’s lack of discussion about cause, writing that “emotions are subtle precisely because they are a rat’s nest of causes and effects that are difficult to disentangle. Emotions are complex precisely because they have multiple causes, the understanding of which requires an interdisciplinary approach” (Unit 2).  I think, sometimes, that if I could understand the cause of my feelings and emotions, I’d be able to solve all of my problems and keep those feelings and emotions in check when necessary.  But, realistically, I don’t think human beings work that way–we’re driven by our emotions, and often controlled by them.

Response to Student 3 (Jianzhuch)

I also found that Ben-Ze’ev’s distinction between schematic and deliberative evaluations to be a useful way to better understand the thought process that is involved in the experiencing of various emotional states.  It is rather empowering to learn that there are ways in which we can control our emotions, to a certain extent.  This also raises interesting issues in terms of the gender discussion we had in the previous unit, since women are often accused of being ruled by their emotions.  Emotions can be powerful sources of strength for an individual, and I sometimes think (especially after reading about Hilary Clinton’s tearing up and the controversy it caused) that men in power are intimidated by the ways in which women seem to find it easier to access these emotions.  However, as our course guide states “emotions are processes, not fixed states” (Unit 2), which raises interesting questions about how we’re conditioned to repress our emotions in public, depending on the situation.  But since schematic evaluations are largely unconscious, there are obviously other elements at work which assist us in concealing our internal responses to external situations.

Response to Student 6 (Sarake8)

I found that despite the title of Ben-Ze’ev’s book, his point in the first few chapters is that emotions really aren’t all that subtle, there are just multiple ways of interpreting and understanding them.  Perhaps the important distinction to make isn’t that emotions are subtle, per-se, but that they are very dependent on contextual and situational aspects.  I agree that the clustering of emotions seems to be one of the most significant parts of Ben-Ze’ev’s overall argument.  His statement that “an emotion involves an ongoing activity in which we are constantly evaluating new information and acting accordingly” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, pg. 5) demonstrated to me the difficulty in trying to isolate one emotion from another.  For example, I sometimes get angry when I’m stuck in traffic and may take those feelings out on other drivers by honking my horn or driving aggressively.  However, my anger has less to do with other drivers than it does with my own fear of being late for an important appointment and frustration at myself for not budgeting my time appropriately.  Clearly, it’s impossible to understand an emotion in isolation, due to the huge number of warring factors that shape our experience of these emotions.