Identifying Emotions, Essay Example

The complexity of human emotions, with their dependence on context and individual experience, tend to make them difficult to understand and define.  As Aaron Ben-Ze’ev explains in The Subtlety of Emotions, “it is easier to express emotions than to describe them and harder, again, to analyze them” (2001, p. xiii).  In attempting to organize and explain these clusters of emotion, Ben-Ze’ev divides them into sections according to the object of said emotions rather than the positive or negative elements of each emotion.  Thus, these emotional clusters could be placed into three categories:  emotions towards the fortune of others; emotions toward the actions of another agent, both specific and general; and emotions directed at oneself (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001).  However, given the difficulty in defining and explaining emotions, concrete examples can often be much more instructive, especially given that “common sense, poems, novels, movies, historical accounts, psychological studies, and philosophical discussions supply us with a host of information about emotions” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. xiii).  While such examples will in no way provide a definitive explanation of emotions, the manner in which they are expressed within popular culture illustrates the crucial role they play in the everyday lives of all people.

In Chapter 10, “Why Do We Feel Bad When You Feel Good?”, Ben-Ze’ev explores the emotional cluster of envy and jealousy.  These emotions are both expressed in relation to the good fortune of others and primarily involve negativity and social inequality.  According to Ben-Ze’ev, “envy involves a negative evaluation of our undeserved inferiority, whereas jealousy involves a negative evaluation of the possibility of losing something–typically a favourable human relationship–to someone else (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 281).  The emotions of envy and jealousy play a major role in the film Bridesmaids (2011), a comedy which explores the complex relationship between two long-time female friends when one of them decides to get married.  After learning that her best friend Lillian is going to get married, single Annie must cope with feelings of extreme envy, primarily because she believes that Lillian is in an enviable and superior situation that she would also like to experience (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001).  Ben-Ze’ev writes that jealousy “is often directed at those we consider to be inferior, but still comparable, to us” (2001, p. 312), illustrating the complexity of this emotional cluster.  Although Annie loves Lillian, she reacts with extreme negativity to her friend’s impending nuptials, largely because she both sees herself as Lillian’s social equal while also viewing her friend as less deserving, perhaps, than herself of finding love and happiness (Bridesmaids, 2011).  Bridesmaids illustrates the intricate way in which a variety of emotions can be relevant to a single event or relationship.  Ben-Ze’ev writes that envy and jealousy are both “concerned with a change in what one has:  either the wish to obtain or the fear of loss” (2001, p. 312).  Annie certainly meets his criteria for this emotional cluster as her feelings of envy and jealousy at Lillian’s good fortune demonstrate her own fear of being abandoned without either a romantic partner or a platonic friend.

In Chapter 11, “Why Do We Feel Bad When You Feel Bad?”, Ben-Ze’ev examines the emotional cluster of pity and compassion.  These emotions tend to arise in reaction to the bad fortune of others and can be expressed in a variety of ways and at different degrees of intensity.  Ben-Ze’ev writes that “pity and compassion are kinds of sympathetic sorrow for someone’s substantial misfortune” (2001, p. 327).  However, the motivation behind expressing pity and compassion and the steps an individual may take to demonstrate their pity or compassion differentiate these two related emotions.  For example, the current drought in Africa has killed many men, women, and children and forced countless others to seek shelter in refugee camps (CBC News, 2011).  A pitying response would be to read an article about the situation or look at pictures of children who are literally dying for lack of water and then turn the newspaper page to the next article.  A compassionate response involves more of an effort and a “far greater commitment to substantial help” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 327).  Thus, one might donate funds to a charity assisting Africans in need or undertake some other effort within the community to provide help during this crisis.  Although both compassion and pity involve an element of sorrow, compassion suggests that an individual is willing to take on an active role in solving the problem, whereas the individual who feels pity remains much more passive and “spectator-like” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 328).

In Chapter 12, “Why Do We Feel Good No Matter What You Feel?”, Ben-Ze’ev illustrates how emotions that embody elements of happiness can also take on negative characteristics. While both happy-for and pleasure-in-others’ misfortune involve positive evaluations, the difference lies in the intention of the emotion.  As Ben-Ze’ev writes, in happy-for the focus of concern is the person enjoying good fortune.  In pleasure-in-others’-misfortune the focus of concern is our comparative position” (2001, p. 353).  The contradictory elements of this emotional cluster can perhaps best be understood through the current North American obsession with celebrity.  The manner in which the media covers the lives of celebrities from the most mundane of details to the most profound illustrates that people enjoy celebrating both the success of celebrities and their downfalls.  For example, the annual Oscar Awards ceremony provides an opportunity for viewers to experience both emotions of happy-for, such as when a film we admire wins an award, and pleasure-in-others’ misfortune, as demonstrated by the next-day coverage of celebrity bloopers, poor choices in outfits, and missteps on the red carpet (Pederson, 2011).  Our collective interest in celebrity events such as the Oscars demonstrates the mixed feelings that many individuals have for famous people and also represents a safe outlet for the experience of both happy-for and pleasure-in-others’ misfortune emotions.  The celebration of the successes and failures of celebrities, who are largely strangers to us except for their presence in the media, is a safer way to experience potentially negative emotions than in face-to-face situations with people who are familiar to us.  The “comparative position” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 353) of these emotions are almost meaningless when experienced through the highs and lows of celebrities, giving such an emotional experience much less impact than it would have were we to experience this emotional cluster with a friend or family member.

In Chapter 13, “When You Are Bad, I Feel Mad,” Ben-Ze’ev explores the emotional cluster of anger, hate, disgust, and contempt.  These emotions come in response to both the specific actions of another agent and the agent as a whole (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001).  Ben-Ze’ev differentiates between hatred and anger by attributing a much more personal attitude to anger, which he describes as one in which “the harm is often a kind of personal insult, and thus the wish for revenge is personal” (2001, p. 381).  Hatred is a more generalized attitude, as demonstrated by the reaction of certain religious organizations to lesbians and gays in their community.  While groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church may protest gay marriage and gay rights by attending high profile events such as military funerals (Westboro Baptist, 2011), their activities seem based on a broad hatred of gay people rather than a specific anger “triggered by a personal offense” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 381).  This is illustrated by their appearance at events which seem to have little to do with their specific grievances, demonstrating that their deep hatred for gay people is the motivating force behind many of their actions.

In Chapter 14, “The Sweetest Emotions,” Ben-Ze’ev (2001) discusses the difference between romantic love and sexual desire, emotions which fall into the same cluster because of their use of evaluative patterns which take into consideration the appealingness and attractiveness of individuals.  Ben-Ze’ev writes that “different kinds of love carry different weight” (2001, p. 406), and examples of this are myriad throughout pop culture.  For example, the reality television program “The Bachelor” sets up a scenario wherein the female contestants vie for the attention and ‘love’ of the affluent, attractive male contestant who is ostensibly seeking a wife (The Bachelor, 2011).  While the program purports to support the notion of romantic love through the manufacturing of candlelit scenarios and heartfelt conversations, the performative elements of this reality show demonstrate an overwhelming interest in the “attractiveness halo [wherein] what is beautiful is good” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 409).  The failure of many of the matches made on this longstanding program is unsurprising given that there is no real attempt to build the foundation for a long-term relationship by nurturing both romantic love and sexual desire.

In Chapter 15, “Caring About Oneself,” Ben-Ze’ev turns his attention to emotions that are directed to our own fortunes, both good and ill.  In exploring happiness and sadness, he associates happiness with proactivity and sadness with passivity while also pointing out that both  happiness and sadness can take the form of long-term and short-term emotions.  However, although sadness may be associated with “passivity and resignation in the face of everyday affairs” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 466), the expression of deep sadness can also take an active form.  For example, Ophelia’s deep grief at losing the affections of Macbeth (Macbeth, 2011) leads to her suicide, a non-passive act that illustrates the traumatic effect that can occur when one loses the object of their happiness.  As joyous as she was at the plays beginning, when considering a life spent as Macbeth’s wife, Ophelia experiences devastating sadness in the face of Macbeth’s rejection.  This demonstrates the intricacy of this particular emotional cluster, for it seems as if one emotion cannot exist without the other; indeed, had Ophelia not first known happiness, then it seems unlikely that she would have been able to experience the true depths of sadness in the absence of happiness.

In Chapter 16, “Caring About Our Future,” Ben-Ze’ev continues his exploration of emotions that are connected to our own fortunes by examining the emotional cluster of hope and fear.  The importance of hope and fear “stems from the importance of the personal concern in emotions.  For example, while North Americans might not generally be intensely fearful when they read of violent conflicts in other countries, the appearance of such conflict in their own country elicits intense feelings of fear.  This was demonstrated after the attack on World Trade Center in 2001.  Not only did the event trigger immediate terror for the people directly affected by the attacks, but it also spawned a series of political and social changes meant to protect Americans from future attacks (Knowlton, 2006).  While both hope and fear are usually defined in relation to the future, Ben-Ze’ev also points out that these emotions “may also be directed at any event unknown to us” (2001, p. 474).  Our inability to know for certain whether the impact of 9/11 will be positive or negative, and what its long-term effects will be, provides the potential for both hope and fear:  hope that the future will be safer and fear that there are unknown terrors on the horizon (Knowlton, 2006).

In Chapter 17, “Taking Account of Our Specific Deeds,” Ben-Ze’ev examines pride, regret, guilt, and embarrassment, an emotional cluster that is concerned with our own personal deeds, rather than those of the people around us.  Our evaluation of these deeds plays a large role in the emotions we subsequently experience.  Ben-Ze’ev writes that “when we negatively evaluate our past deeds we may experience the emotions of regret or fear; when we positively evaluate them, the emotion of pride may emerge.  Our present deeds may evoke in us the emotions of embarrassment, guilt, and pride” (2001, p. 491).  For example, the thriller Se7en (1995) demonstrates the complicated relationship between this emotional cluster by using the concept of the seven deadly sins to illustrate how people’s actions are affected by their self-concept.  In the film, the killer mutilates a model who he feels is guilty of feeling pride in her good looks.  Her reaction to this attack is to commit suicide, so deeply does she feel embarrassment and regret at the loss of this defining feature (Se7en, 1995).  This example is also relevant to Ben-Ze’ev’s discussion of pridefulness and shame in Chapter 18, “Caring About the Self.”  While the model may have been guilty of vanity, as displayed in the pride she felt for her appearance, her emotional attitude was affected by her perception of the attitudes of those around her.  Ben Ze’ev writes that pridefulness and shame are “global emotional attitudes toward oneself; these attitudes are correlated with love and hate, which are global emotional attitudes toward others” (2001, p. 509).

The Subtlety of Emotions attempts to differentiate the emotional clusters that define an individual’s life by contributing to their relationship with themselves and others.  A comprehensive understanding of emotions is complicated by the manner in which emotions cluster together, creating situations where “grief may involve anger, guilt, and shame; guilt may be associated with fear; love may incorporate jealousy hope, and admiration; and hate may be connected with fear, envy, and contempt” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 4).   Although emotions are “something people think they can recognize when they see them” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 11), Ben-Ze’ev’s exploration of the many nuances within these clusters illustrates that it is impossible to understand one emotion without taking into account the impact of related emotions.  However, as Ben-Ze’ev makes clear throughout The Subtlety of Emotions, his mission is not to fully explain every aspect of every emotion but instead to provide a framework that will better allow for the reader to understand the rich complexity of  our emotions.

References

Apatow, J. (Producer) & Feig, P. (Director). (2011). Bridesmaids (Motion picture). United States: Universal Studios.

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

Carlyle, P. (Producer) & Fincher, D. (Director). (1995). Se7en. (Motion Picture).  United States: New Line Cinema.

CBC News. (2011, July 12). Drought in Africa puts pressure on UN aid. Retrieved from    http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2011/07/12/africa-drought-aid.html

Fleiss, M. (Creator). (2011). The Bachelor (Television program). United States: Next Entertainment.

Knowlton, B. (2006, Sept. 11). In America, a day to reflect on impact of 9/11. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/11/world/americas/11iht- prexy.2771492.html

Pederson, E. (2011). Worst Oscars ever? Highlights and lowlights from the show. MSNBC. Retrieved from http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/41817860/ns/today-entertainment/t/worst- oscars-ever-highlights-lowlights-show/

Shakespeare, W. (2011). Macbeth. London:  Oxford University Press.

Westboro Baptist Church. (2011). Picket schedule.  Retrieved from www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html.