Why is it beneficial to express emotions?

In the last two decades, the rise in the study of the nature of emotions and the relevance of their proper management for well-being Psychology of the human being has been justified by innumerable investigations, initiated by authors such as Peter Salovey and John Mayer or Daniel Goleman. Thus, currently the construct of emotional intelligence is addressed and included by most of the branches of psychology (clinical, educational, sports, organizational, etc.) as one of the basic components to more easily achieve a higher level of effectiveness staff.

Let us expose, then, what is the relationship between the two phenomena: Why is it important to know how to express and manage emotions?

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What are emotions for?

In general, emotions have three fundamental functions that allow human beings to adapt more competently to the environment in which they are interacting. Thus, they present in the first place a communicative function, from which it is possible to let the neighbor know how one feels oneself and, from this, to be able to discern what psychological needs said person may present individual.

Secondly, emotions regulate their own behavior and that of others, since there is a very close link between the individual emotional state and the type of behavioral response issued.

Finally, emotions have an intense impact on the process of social interaction, which is why it is possible to perceive the emotions more effectively. particularities of the interpersonal environment where the subject develops, allowing him to reach a higher level of psychological growth intellectual and emotional.

Functions of basic emotions

paul ekman established six emotions called basic, since in his investigations carried out from the analysis of non-verbal language (facial gestures) of individuals from different cultures showed how expressions of joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise were common and, therefore, unconscious, innate and universal. All of them present considerable utility based on the three general functions mentioned above, but what type of message or information does each of them transmit?

1. Joy

Joy becomes a facilitator of interpersonal interaction since the social nature of the human being, according to the preservation of one's own survival, tends to approach what gives you a feeling of well-being (social relationships) and to flee from stimuli that cause the opposite effect.

In addition, joy is an enhancer in achieving goals and deeper life projects, since it serves as a motivational activator and encourages the individual to move towards action.

2. The sadness

It is the emotion that is experienced before the loss of a valuable and significant object for the individual. This kind of event provokes feelings of grief, failure, remorse, etc. that must be processed and assimilated gradually. Thus, sadness is useful for the activation of processes such as introspection, awareness or shows of support towards the other. It could be understood as a sign of "energy saving" from which an adequate elaboration of the duel that has generated the object of said loss is possible.

3. Anger

It is about the reaction produced by situations in which the individual perceives obstacles to a specific established goal. Thus, the person feels that he must preserve the integrity and defend himself, another / s individual / s or some other determined phenomenon. In this sense, the emotion of rage indicates that there is a potential danger that must be faced and overcome.

4. The fear

It is the warning that our mind emits before perception of potential danger that may compromise one's physical or psychological survival. Such a threat can be real (speeding down a dimly lit road) or imagined (fear of being fired from your job).

This type of notice prepares the person to issue a certain response. Unlike the previous one, fear has a connotation of avoiding suffering the effects of the threat instead of being oriented towards confronting it openly.

5. Disgust

This is the emotion that is more linked to more organic aspects since the message that is intended to be sent is to protect the subject against the ingestion of food or substances that are harmful or, at least unpleasant, for this same. Therefore, relates more to a biological level rather than a psychological one.

6. The surprise

It implies the experience of an unexpected circumstance for which the person needs to muster his own resources and prepare for action. It is a neutral emotion since its momentary nature has no pleasant or unpleasant meaning in itself.

The benefits of expressing emotions

As it has been observed, the experience of each and every one of the emotions described above has an adaptive function for the human being. In this, the fact of communicating with the environment is found as an inherent characteristic, for which one of the first reasons that supports the need to master the competence of emotional management lies in the fact of not losing said communicative ability and adaptive.

Thus, it can be concluded that the problematic element does not reside in the manifestation and experience of the emotion itself, but rather that the phenomenon that causes the emotional discomfort in which on certain occasions the person is immersed is the degree of intensity of said emotion and the type of management that is carried out on it. she.

When an emotion prevents the individual from remaining conscious in the present moment and in reality that surrounds him at that precise moment, is when the greatest affectations are usually derived emotional. That is to say, when the emotion "kidnaps" the mind and transports it out of the present, the thread of the rational, the logical or the authentic is usually lost.

According to the Salovey and Mayer (1997) model on emotional intelligence, emotions are understood as skills that can be learned. These skills consist of emotional perception, emotional understanding, thought facilitation, and emotion regulation. It could be said that the first of these abilities greatly favors the development of the rest, since A prior objective to consolidate becomes the competence in knowing how to identify and express one's own emotions and those of others.

From this milestone, the processes of analyzing and giving meaning to emotions (comprehension ability), the integration between cognitions and emotions that guides the subject to attend to the most relevant contextual information for decision-making (facilitation of thoughts) and the promotion of knowledge intellectual-emotional or the achievement of adaptive balance regarding pleasant/unpleasant emotions (emotional regulation) become more easily affordable.

Damages of the resistance to express emotions

The absence of competence in the four indicated skills can lead the individual to adopt dynamics of emotionally dysregulated functioning, that is, based on emotional "hijacking" previously mentioned. Said repertoire is characterized by the following manifestations, according to three levels of performance:

1. At the cognitive level

Inability to describe and observe the present experience (own and others) in the absence of judgments and unfair or excessive criticism of the externalized emotion; incompetence in the understanding of the cause that motivates said emotion and the type of information that can be extracted as personal learning.

This point is related to the use of a type of irrational or distorted cognitive reasoning regarding the manifested emotion.

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2. on an emotional level

Difficulty finding the balance between resistance to emotion and emotional over-reaction to potentially destabilizing situations; ineffectiveness for transform the meaning given to unpleasant emotions (initially negative) in a more accepting perspective, promoting a greater tolerance for discomfort.

Both the attitude of repressing emotions (especially unpleasant ones) and emitting them uncontrollably and excessively are equally harmful to the individual.

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3. At the behavioral level

Impossibility of self-controlling the emission of an impulsive or hasty response that makes it difficult to adequately manage the specific situation; deficiency in the ability to differentiate what kind of emotional consequences the person is going to experience person in the short and long term, which usually tend to be mitigated or modified over time. time.

The fact of being behaviorally guided by an incorrectly managed emotion can cause the aggravation of the experience, increasing the discomfort initially generated.

In conclusion

It has been possible to verify in the text the essential nature of an adequate level of emotional competence to promote the psychological well-being of the human being.

One of the prerequisites to consolidate said ability lies in the ability to know how to identify and express one's own emotions, understanding them as "warnings" that alert the individual to an experience or event that must be psychologically attended to priority. On the contrary, repression or resistance to emotions can lead to significant psychological damage.