{"id":93930,"date":"2023-03-06T16:57:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-06T20:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=93930"},"modified":"2023-03-08T14:26:59","modified_gmt":"2023-03-08T18:26:59","slug":"where-do-emotions-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/where-do-emotions-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Do Emotions Come From?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Do you sometimes feel emotions you cannot explain? Where do emotions come from<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotions sometimes get the better of us, but we can learn to tame them and respond to emotional situations more rationally and effectively. To do that, we have to first understand what gives rise to our emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep reading to learn where our emotional responses come from and how to deal with unexpected emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How Emotions Form<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Where do emotions come from? Emotions, more than anything else, drive us to act. If you have a poor emotional reaction to a situation, then your behavioral response will likely do more harm than good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To begin controlling your emotions, you have to first understand how they form.<\/strong> Your rational thought<\/a> processes mediate your emotional responses: Instead of responding with an emotion directly after you experience a stimulus (like an interaction with another person or a piece of news you receive), there\u2019s a thought pattern in between the two that determines how you feel about the stimulus. Usually, if you judge that the outcome of the stimulus is desirable, you\u2019ll experience positive emotions. If you judge that the outcome isn\u2019t what you wanted, you\u2019ll experience negative emotions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Identify the Source of Unexpected Emotions<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bush argues that emotions always stem from our thoughts, but what about situations when we feel an emotion and can\u2019t pinpoint any thoughts or triggers that could\u2019ve caused it? Sometimes, our brains trigger emotions unconsciously. Neurological studies show that the human brain picks up on a lot of information in our environment<\/a> without our conscious awareness, meaning that we may unconsciously notice things that then inspire confusing emotional responses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you experience an emotion and can\u2019t figure out where it came from, ask yourself the following questions:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Were the preceding events surprising or gratifying?
– Will what happened stand in the way of what I want, or will it help me achieve it?
– How much control do I have over what happens next?
– Do the events align with my belief in what\u2019s right and what\u2019s wrong?
– Were the preceding events my fault or someone else\u2019s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies show that thought patterns<\/a> that prompt strong emotions typically answer these types of questions. As Bush asserts, if your answers to these questions work in your favor, you\u2019ll probably experience positive emotions. If not, you\u2019ll experience negative feelings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do you sometimes feel emotions you cannot explain? Where do emotions come from? Emotions sometimes get the better of us, but we can learn to tame them and respond to emotional situations more rationally and effectively. To do that, we have to first understand what gives rise to our emotions. Keep reading to learn where our emotional responses come from and how to deal with unexpected emotions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":84131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,43],"tags":[919],"class_list":["post-93930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-self-improvement","tag-designing-the-mind","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nWhere Do Emotions Come From? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"To begin controlling your emotions, you have to first understand where they come from. Here's how emotions form, according to Ryan A. 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