The types of our emotions are linked to the type of our motives. If we are motivated to be kind to
someone, then hurting their feelings can make us feel bad and sad, but if we are motivated by
vengeance then seeing someone hurt might make us feel powerful and good! The anger you might
feel toward somebody you love over a conflict might be quite different to the anger you feel toward
somebody you see as your enemy and you hate. It can therefore be problematic to see emotions
as single processes outside of social-relational and motivational contexts (their social mentality).
Role of Emotions and Motivational Systems
Emotions are commonly described as positive and negative – but this is misleading. Anxiety that
you act on and which saves your life is hardly negative. Positive emotions of pleasure (e.g., eating)
associated with drive and obesity are hardly positive! What we generally mean by “positive” or
“negative is whether we
like
them or not – but even this is tricky because some degree of anxiety
as in parachute jumping can be experienced as part of excitement and pleasure, and pain can be
experience quite differently in the context of a sexual sadomasochistic relationship than in
everyday life. So it is better to think of different types of emotions in terms of their
evolved
functions
. When we do this, some very important insights arise (see also
in this
volume).
While there are many ways to explore different types of emotions, there is no agreed functional
analysis of emotional systems. Panksepp
uses neurophysiological studies to distinguish a
number of different functions for emotions. These include: 1. A seeking system which is basically
linked to drives to go out and achieve things necessary for survival; 2. an anger/rage system that is
triggered when motives and drives are blocked; 3 a fear system that is triggered when the animal
is under threat of harm or loss; 4. A sexuality/lust system that is orientated to specific targets with
specific behavioural outputs. 5 a care and maternal nurturance system; 6. a grief system for
attachment loss, that is linked to protest-despair and 7. a play system that is linked to joyfulness.
Compassion however doesn't map on to any single dimension. Although compassion would be
most linked to caring, the capacity for playfulness and gentleness may also be important, while the
regulation of anger and anxiety would play a role too. Moreover, some of these functions can be
grouped together. For example, anger and anxiety along with disgust are regarded as part of a
threat-protection system
. In regard to positive emotions again there is no agreed functional
classification. However, in a major review Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky
noted that some
positive emotions are activating while others are calming – that is, different types of positive
emotions can have opposite effects on physiological systems.
Clinically this is a very important distinction. Activation emotions depend upon the value of a
resource. So, for example, winning a £10 lottery will have a very different physiological effect than
winning a £10,000,000 lottery! Activating emotions are linked to drives, seeking and competing.
However, Depue & Morrone-Strupinsky direct attention to a different form of positive affect of
calming and ‘peaceful well-being’. Once a goal has been obtained, (e.g., food has been acquired,
and the animal is not under threat) drive systems need to be ‘turned off’ to produce contentment or
quiescence and balance energy expenditure. Depue and Morrone-Strupinsky
suggest that the
system responsible for such contentment can be regarded as a
specialized affect regulation
system
. It is behaviourally calming rather than stimulating and is accompanied by positive affect
and different neurophysiological patterns of neurotransmitters. Our recent research has shown that
feeling ‘safe and content’ can be distinguished from a relaxation type of emotion which can be
distinguished from an activated, excited type of positive emotion
. Key to thinking about why this
emotion regulation system may be important in compassion is the fact that it seems to have been
incorporated into the evolution of attachment, whereby a parent is able to calm a distressed infant
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