Making sense of emotion

Evolution, reason & the brain

Bibliographic Data

ID9684945
AuthorsArne Öhman (Intelligent Transport Systems Niedersachsen, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume135
Issue3
Pages33-45
Publication date2006-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDaedalus (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0011-5266 • E-ISSN: 1548-6192
PublisherMIT Press - Journals (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1162/daed.2006.135.3.33
OpenAlexW2042184677
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited20

We often dene the basic goals of human striving in terms of emotion: we yearn for happiness and do our utmost to avoid misery. 1 But making the distinction between positive and negative emotions is not as simple as saying that we seek the former and shun the latter. Emotions often have a will of their own and may resist attempts to be disciplined. Victims of wartime atrocities and natural disasters, for example, may unwillingly suffer from involuntary flashbacks in which they re-experience the trauma, eliciting intense fright that threatens or undermines adjustment. But some individuals-such as journalists, photographers, and Peace Corps workers-are willfully drawn to those very fear-ridden circumstances, not to mention people who nd their (some

Epistemology · Sense (electronics · Action Observation and Synchronization · Chemistry · Emotions and Moral Behavior · Mental Health and Psychiatry · Philosophy · Psychology

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