I don't know if this has been posted before, but I am curious as to others views about this question.

Do emotions come from biochemical reactions in the body?

Do emotions come from a "radiation of spirit"?

Or is it a combination of both?

Or none of these?

Its physiological.

Billy, are you saying emotions have nothing to do with learned behavior?

they come from emoticons

emotion is primarily determined by the cingulate cortex and, secondly, by other cortical areas. Emotional expression was thought to be governed by the hypothalamus. The cingulate gyrus projects to the hippocampus, and the hippocampus projects to the hypothalamus by way of the bundle of axons called fornix. Hypothalamic impulses reach the cortex via relay in the anterior thlamic nuclei.

emotions? I just do what the voices tell me too.

Humans display the largest web of connections between the prefrontal area and the traditional limbic structures. Perhapas that is why they present, among all species, the greatest variety of feelings and emotions Although some signs of affection can be perceived in birds, the limbic system only began to evolve, in fact, after the first mammals, being practically non-existent in reptiles, amphibians and all other preceding species

WoW, can ya break that down into plainer English? I should say, I don't know where emotions come from, but I do believe the expression of emotions is a learned behavior.

sure

emotions come from here

I think he said my pet frog didn't really love me.

Well done, thank you for that picture.

Question: Is that not the same region of Memory storage? Kind of like a file cabinet of experience storage?

Wow, lot's of responses....

So after the impulses reach the cortex,then...?

Do these impulses signal glands to release hormones or some other chemical that has the end result of "happy", "sad" and so forth.

I ask because I have little background in Biology and Anatomy, but there are fascinating subjects.

Lastly, by your qoute, are you saying that only warm-blooded creatures possess the trait of "emotion"?

Both interesting points.

Billy, if that is so, I have to ask the tired question "Is this all I am?"

Different, I see you point also. Do you think a person would never have to experience an emotion if no outside pressure caused it to be felt?

Take for instance shame, if nothing in your life ever caused you to feel shame, does this mean you can never feel or experience the emotion? Would you have to learn what shame is if something later caused you to feel it or something akin to it? Sorry for the ramble...

they're usually right...

Hey fusion,

I always thought emotions were an instinctual response until I met David.

David was a 6-month-old apparently healthy little boy who had just been adopted by my friends. David had been in foster care his entire life.

Fusion, this baby had no emotion in his eyes. There was no light of curiosity, nothing, just dead-pan eyes. This shocked and bothered me somethin fierce, so I pulled his new dad aside and asked, "Is there something wrong with him" and explained my reaction to his eyes. His response was needless to say and enlightening experience for me.

David had been, as I said raised in foster care. However, his foster parents had experience getting attached to too many children and then having them be placed in permanent homes. To deal with not becoming emotionally attached to these children, they basically cared for them like robots. In this I mean, the child's needs were seen to: eating, sleeping, changing, bathing, etc.; but, NO emotional interaction took place. Hence, David's dead eyes. Yes, his eyes changed as human interaction entered his life.

Thank you for sharing this, different.

I've heard of this response before. Children and adults with those dead-pan eyes you talked about that have lost all semblence of emotion due to trauma or lack of anything in their lives.

Your story shows one important fact: We all need some emotional contact to "function" as humans.

I think we use the term "Emotions" to cover a wide range of "feelings" all of which do not arise from the same source.

I believe that it is quite possible to create our own emotions via sheer power of will. We can simply decide whether we want to be in a good mood, or a bad mood. And moods are indeed a form of emotion.

We can certainly affect the moods of other people, and thus affect their emotions. Conversely we can be emotionally affected by others as well as anything we experience or see on our environment.

I also believe that there are intuitive emotions. Or to put that another way, intuition can affect our emotions on a very deep and profound level.

Also, do all "feelings" count as "emotions"?

This seems like a legitamate question to ponder. I've thought about this quite often. If I am near a woman who has a profound affect on me. Are those feelings feelings of emotion? Clearly they are 'feelings'. Deeply profound feelings that can change my entire metabolism. Yet do those 'feelings' qualify as 'emotion'?

I suppose the answer to that question would be entirely a matter of personal perspective. The only thing that comes to my mind is that this isn't necesarilly the same type of 'feeling' that I would typically associate with 'emotion'. Although, there certainly could be emotion along with it!

In fact, to take this further and possibly better explain what I'm attempting to get at. The "feelings" that are induced in me by sensual attraction, are overridden by genuine 'emotions' that I may feel for a woman.

In other words, I could have the same 'feelings' of physical attraction to a woman that I totally dislike and can't stand to be around (my emotional feelings around her will be quite different). Or it may be for a woman I know nothing about at all (I probably have very little emotional feelings in that case). Or it can be with a woman whom I love, (in which case I have emotions of love over and above the 'feelings' of sexual attraction).

So the question is this; Are all feelings 'emotions'?

If not, then clearly we can have 'feelings' that aren't emotions.

Seperating those out first may help us to better understand the emotions alone, in their own right.

Of course, the example I gave had to do with primal sensual attraction, but almost any 'feelings' can be substituted. For example people who enjoy the rush of mountain climbing or sky diving, or driving a fast race care, etc. Are those 'feelings' based on 'emotion'? Or are they something different from emotion?

If the boogieman jumps out at us in the dead of night. Is the initial wave of fear and excitment emotion? Or is it something else? If we then cling to that fear, does fear then become an emotion? If we let go of the fear and become fearless, is that then the emotion we now possess?

Can use choose our emotions?

I think we almost always do.

However, initial 'feelings' at the deepest level may not be open to choice.

When does a 'feeling' become an 'emotion'?

Do we automatically allow 'feelings' to become our 'emotions'?

I think some people's emotions are indeed driven almost entirely by their 'feelings', whilst other people may make more conscious choices about what 'emotions' they will cling to, or create.

I believe that ultimately we have the power to create our emotions.

Just my thoughts.

Hello Abra! Thanks for sharing your thoughts, you always have other avenues that lead to the heart of a question.

To be honest, I think I've never seperated "feelings" & "emotions", I always thought they were the same thing. But I see you point in the scenario of talking to someone and getting a "feeling" for them that can lead to other emotions.

I can say while talking to someone: "I get the feeling that you're not interested in what I'm saying.". This revelation can in turn, depending on the person, lead to emotions such as disappointment, sadness or anger.

Maybe feelings are part of a process that leads to more intense emotion, such as a logic event tree with "and" "or" gates. Like to arrive at a "happy" emotion, either this or that event must happen and so forth.

One other thought I have: you made the mention that we can influence others with our emotions and I have seen and made this happen. It's easy to "infect" someone with happy or sad emotions. Is the mechanism by which this happens merely other people "relating" to how we a feeling or is it a manifestation of our emotions, something tangible but unseen that colors anothers moods?

The latter part is probably a little out there, but I'd be interested to hear thoughts on this.

Inherant.......love.

Instinct.......caution.

Input.......happy, sad, angry.

Experience.......'triggers'.