Understand Your Emotions (1950)

[Music] how's it coming be careful warned what's in it I'll get it off for you mr. brand hey I came here to learn about emotions not to play children's games what is this anyway mr. Brent well you had some questions about emotion before your biology class work this will help to Dow notice your own emotional reactions to what you've just experienced what did you feel what did you do how about you gene I've got to catch my breath mr. Rick that scared me one your reaction well I think I feel kind of angry you tricked us you know and you Larry well get this thing because this is pretty clever notice that each of you reacted differently Gene's reaction you might call one of fear now say gene grew away from lebackes that's what you generally do when you're afraid of something on the other hand warns reaction you might call rage he was ready for a fight what happened to me what did I do you laugh you were pleased you drew closer to the box you liked it psychologically we classify that sort of response with what we call the basic emotion of love and so we have examples of each of the three basic emotions fear rage and love why did we ask that way I didn't want to be afraid our emotional reasons are involuntary pretty much automatic well if that's the case then why weren't are we saying well gene when we're born emotional reactions are pretty much the same in everyone but as we grow own individual set of response pattern why is that mr. Bratt conditioning was conditioning go over here did you ever see a mouse that acted as if you were afraid of cheese afraid of key sounds impossible doesn't it but watch this that's the strangest thing I've ever seen is that the result of conditioning mr. Brent how did you do that well we began several months ago with just a mouse well not like cheese when it was confronted with a piece of cheese it responded by going toward it but when the mosque was given a mild electric shock as it approached the cheese it responded by running back after this procedure was repeated for some time the mouse began to a so strict shock and because he was afraid of the shock the mouse was conditioned to be afraid of cheese now he responds to cheese as he would ordinarily respond to an electric shock that's what we call conditioning we hit up a stimulus the cheese with a new response must be pretty hard on the mouse but it doesn't happen to people that way does it let's find out come over here Warren hold your hand out like this that's right now just try to hold it steady don't let your hand move just hold it steady but you're pushing it down just hold it steady steady steady hey it what up that's a case of simple conditioning not involving emotions this time but still conditioning is that the reason it seems scared so easily she's afraid of my hot very possibly conditioning is the reason while we're very young the actions and attitudes of our parents and brothers and sisters conditioned us to a great many emotional responses we all have them of course most of our conditioning is much more complex than the sort we've shown so far we often become conditioned to react emotionally to words or ideas words I can't believe that you can well remember emotional behavior is largely involuntary here come over here and take a look at this model of the brain this is the front of it emotions are centered in the lower part of the brain the thalamus the thalamus is not consciously control when your emotions are stimulated a reaction indirectly affecting the thalamus can produce changes in you and your body for example you all free reacted to the jack-in-the-box your facial expressions and actions change and that was without any conscious effort or control wasn't it well in the same way your reactions can produce involuntary changes within your body for example these glands may produce tears that's common and emotional response other glands such as the adrenals and the liver work harder sweat glands in your skin produce perspiration your stomach slows down its digestive action your heartbeat changes sometimes faster or sometimes slower and your breathing changes these and many other changes are part of emotional responses and we can detect some of these changes to measure emotional response measure this yes this device called a polygraph measures variations in breathing and heartbeat and so indicates emotional responses Larry you didn't think you would react do you want to try it sure isn't it something like a lie detector it's been called that but actually it measures and reports all kinds of emotional response this or bellows which measures your respiration our breathing now you roll up your sleeve Larry will put this armband on your arm and this will record your pulse or heartbeat you've probably seen one of these in the doctor's office haven't you Larry yes sir now if Larry makes an emotional response to thing I mentioned you'll notice a change on this record oh this one hurt Larry Willis no indeed just relax Larry this won't hurt a bit Ezra this won't hurt a bit you sound just like my dentist I'll turn it off notice how regular Larry's breathing is now and his pulse as the Pens gradually fill in the grass Larry responds to the word fill that's interesting and Larry has a dentist on his mind this is just a hunch but perhaps if we've probed deeply there's another word called well I think I can get several words that will arouse an emotional response in Larry two days yes that's another I'm responding just two words why well perhaps you can give us the answer to that one Larry I having seen the dentist lately I had a bad tooth ah ah you're afraid of something to work aren't you yes so how did that happen well come on over here to the blackboard maybe if I draw a diagram of the process of conditioning it will help you s1 the first stimulus stands for the devastation to him are one is curiosity and interest but the dentist had to drill that stimulus too and in this case pain response number two the normal response to pain is a desire to get away a type of fear response each time Larry went to the dentist it was something like the mouse and the cheese the dentist stimulus became associated with the response of pain and fear until Larry is conditioned to react to even words about the dentist with a pain fear response this conditioning may wear off after a while or it may not emotional disturbances may ruin your appetite make you nervous even upset your stomach all right it's like running away from cheese I can see we're conditioning can be pretty unhealthy that's true gene but don't forget that conditioning can also be very useful it's a good idea to be conditioned to stop whenever you see a red traffic light well then we want to get rid of unhealthy conditioning I don't want to be a scaredy cat all my life that's right you want to grow into a mature balanced person that's a matter of conditioning to condition yourselves to make more mature responses now let's review a bit we have certain basic emotions which are controlled subconsciously they are modified and changed by a process called conditioning now by understanding conditioning and using it we can more easily achieve emotional maturity let's remember what happened with the jack-in-the-box each of you made a different response but all your responses were a little immature but or persons respond in a more balanced manner that is their responses include a little of each of the basic emotions and up fear or protection a little anger or rage at being made foolish a spark of the love response that is interest curiosity pleasure a balance you see and we all want to become more mature emotionally don't we I'll show you before we go mr. Brett may I keep this graph yes of course I'm beginning to see now how important it is to understand your emotion [Music]