0.8 Levels of emotion and thought  (Page 3/3)

Arieti described that with third order emotions language plays a greater role. This follows from his explanation that third-order emotions “although capable of existing before the advent of the conceptual level, expand and are followed by even more complex emotions at the conceptual level”. That means basically that words are conceptual instead of visual or simply automatic responses from stimuli. He states that important third-order emotions are depression, hate, love and joy. Depression contrasts to anxiety because anxiety usually caused by the thought that a dangerous situation is about to occur. Depression, on the other hand, was caused by factors a while ago. I believe that that shows how there are other emotions that can be placed as second-order emotions, like sadness. Basically any emotion that isn’t a strong immediate reaction and isn’t a complicated emotion like the third-order emotions would be a second-order one. Anything that is caused easily by thoughts or images (like sadness) could be a second-order emotion. However third order emotions are going to be even more complicated, taking many factors over a longer period of time to generate the emotion.

Arieti thought that depression followed “cognitive thought processes, such as evaluations and appraisals”. For instance if someone is told of a death of a friend, what makes that person depressed is their ability to evaluate the news. Those ideas from Arieti make it clear that depression really is complicated and supported by thoughts, and therefore is a third-order emotion. Depression can bring up sad feelings at any time, so those sad feelings are still really second order emotions because they were generated by something real (unconscious depressive thoughts). The feelings of depression, however, are the third-order emotions because they are more complicated than simple feelings. Each feeling of depression is going to involve more complicated thoughts associated with it because it is going to involve more parts, like evaluations and appraisals. If looked at that way, sadness could have a lot of parts as well. However, for each circumstance of sadness you can usually identify why you got sad, even if you got sad because you were depressed. When you are depressed, however, it is often so complicated you don’t know all the factors leading to that depression.

Arieti said the following about hate, “…hate is the third-order emotion which corresponds to the second-order emotion anger and to the first-order emotion rage. The three together constitute hostility, but hate is the only one among the three which has the tendency to become a chronic emotional state sustained by special thoughts. Thus a feed-back mechanism is established between these sustaining thoughts and the emotion.” To me this shows how powerful third-order emotions can be. That they really penetrate your consciousness for a long time. It shows how emotions are really also intellectual things. That you might interact with someone, and this interaction could make you feel things for a long time after. That long term feeling isn’t necessarily going to be just an emotion, however. If you think about it you cannot sustain and be able to identify an emotion from just one interaction or one relationship for a long time. However, if you consider that the emotion is also an intellectual experience, then you realize that you can sustain it for a long time because you are aware at some level of the relationship you have with this other person, so it is emotional and intellectual. Don’t forget that the emotional/intellectual experience is going to be able to be described with the thoughts and experiences that are supporting it. Albert Wellek said this about deep emotions, “Love, friendship, faithfulness, are emotions of the heart; they concern, involve, and engage a man in his very nature; they may move, touch, stir, or shake him and even change or transform him in his identity. On the other hand, anger aroused by a trifle, or by hurt vanity, is superficial and shallow, not matter how intense.” (Wellek)

Wellek also went on to show the difference between intensity and depth in emotions. That relates to Arieti’s orders of emotions because each of the higher order emotions are more deep than the first-order ones. Wellek said this “A man’s emotional disposition may tend predominantly or almost exclusively toward explosive affectivity or, on the other hand, may tend predominantly or almost exclusively toward profound experiences. When extreme, examples of the first type of disposition are said to demonstrate lack of sensitivity, toughmindedness, or even brutality; examples of the second type, sensitivity, emotional responsiveness, or tendermindedness” That shows how some emotions are very deep, while others very shallow. He also said “…if we say that a man is emotional, the question is: do we mean that is sensitive, excitable, or sentimental?”. That shows how deep emotions may trigger those sentimental feelings. But remember deep emotions aren’t just emotions, they are supported by thought processes making them an intellectual experience. So it isn’t like the person is emotional all the time, you could say they are being intellectual all the time. What shows the nature of the difference between depth and intensity is two examples that aren’t really either deep or intense, yet are profound – those examples are aesthetic experiences and strongly held convictions.

Wellek also said this about the nature of depth and intensity, “ Depth is characterized by breadth and continuity, intensity by its temporal limitation and resultant discontinuity. Intensive emotions are usually shallow and blow over quickly. For the very reason that too much vital energy is consumed in a comparatively short time, the emotion is quickly spent and little or nothing is left. No normal man can rage for hours on end – though a maniac may. Intensive emotions are shock-like, eruptive, explosive, volcanic; they show organic drive.” Those intense emotions would relate to Arieti’s first-order emotions, and less to the third-order ones. The third-order emotions would be more deep instead of intense. I previously showed how feelings are intense but not deep, and emotions are deep but not intense. Feelings are more like those intense emotions described by Wellek because you can really “feel” them, while emotions are more intellectual and you might experience them more in a more satisfying, sentimental, thought provoking way.

References

Arieti, Silvano (1970). Cognition and Feeling. In M. Arnold (Ed) Feelings and Emotions: The Loyola Symposium.

Wellek, Albert (1970). Emotional Polarity in Personality Structure. In M. Arnold (Ed) Feelings and Emotions: The Loyola Symposium.