Explore your feelings, and how they affect your behaviour, with this new series on the psychology of the emotions.

    We tend to think of our emotions as having laws unto themselves, but one psychological researcher has suggested that our emotions do follow certain general rules.

    This post begins a new series on the psychology of emotions with Professor Nico Frijda's twelve laws of the emotions (Fridja, 2006). As for most laws there are exceptions, but these have been synthesised from years of psychological research and hold true much of the time..

    1. The Law of Situational Meaning
    The first law is simply that emotions derive from situations. Generally the same types of situation will elicit the same types of emotional response. Loss makes us grieve, gains make us happy and scary things make us fearful (mostly anyway - see all the other laws).

    2. The Law of Concern
    We feel because we care about something, when we have some interest in what happens, whether it's to an object, ourselves, or another person. Emotions arise from these particular goals, motivations or concerns. When we are unconcerned we don't feel anything.

    3. The Law of Apparent Reality
    Whatever seems real to us, can elicit an emotional response. In other words how we appraise or interpret a situation governs the emotion we feel (compare with laws 11 & 12). The reason poor movies, plays or books don't engage us emotionally is because, in some sense, we fail to detect truth. Similarly it's difficult to get emotional about things that aren't obvious, right in front of us. For example grief may not strike when we are told about the death of loved one, but only once it becomes real to us in some way - say when we pick up the phone to call them, forgetting they are gone.

    4, 5 & 6. The Laws of Change, Habituation and Comparative Feeling
    The law of habituation means that in life we get used to our circumstances whatever they are (mostly true, but see laws 7 & 8). The emotions, therefore, respond most readily to change. This means that we are always comparing what is happening to a relatively steady frame of reference (what we are used to). As a result our emotions tend to respond most readily to changes that are relative to this frame of reference.

    7. The Law of Hedonic Asymmetry
    There are certain awful circumstances to which we can never become accustomed. If things are bad enough, it is impossible to escape negative feelings like fear or anxiety. On the other hand positive emotions always fade over time. No matter how much we are in love, how big the lottery win, or how copious the quantities of drugs consumed, positive emotions like pleasure always slip away.

    8. The Law of Conservation of Emotional Momentum
    Time doesn't heal all wounds - or if it does, it only does so indirectly. Events can retain their emotional power over the years unless we re-experience and re-evaluate them. It's this re-experiencing and consequent re-definition that reduces the emotional charge of an event. This is why events that haven't been re-evaluated - say, failing an exam or being rejected by a potential lover - retain their emotional power across the decades.

    9. The Law of Closure
    The way we respond to our emotions tends to be absolute. They often lead immediately to actions of one kind or another, and they will brook no discussion (but see laws 10, 11 & 12). In other words emotional responses are closed to goals other than their own or judgements that can mitigate the response. An emotion seizes us and send us resolutely down one path, until later that is, when a different emotion sends us down the opposite path.

    10. The Law of Care for Consequences
    People naturally consider the consequences of their emotions and modify them accordingly. For example anger may provoke violent feelings towards another, but generally people refrain from stabbing each other willy-nilly. Instead they will shout, hit their head on the wall or just silently fume. Emotions may absolutely dictate a type of response, but people do modulate the size of that response (usually!).

    11 & 12. Laws of the Lightest Load and the Greatest Gain
    The emotional impact of an event or situation depends on its interpretation. Putting a different 'spin' on a situation can change the feeling. The law of the lightest load means people are particularly motivated to use re-interpretations to reduce negative emotions. For example we might reduce the fear of the credit crunch by generating the illusion we won't be affected. The exact reverse is also true: whenever a situation can be reinterpreted for a positive emotional gain, it will be. For example anger can be used to make others back down, grief attracts help and fear may stop us rashly attempting difficult or dangerous tasks.

    Exploring the emotions

    You may not agree with all of these 'laws', for example this is quite an individually based account of emotion, and tends to downplay the social aspects of emotion. Nevertheless it is an excellent starting point which provides a very useful way of thinking about emotions, and helps pave the way for examining individual emotions.

    我們通過這個新的心理學系列文章探討你的感覺，以及它們是如何影響你的行為的相關規律。

    我們一般會認為情緒無規律可言，然而，心理學研究者認為確實有關于情緒的普適規律存在。

    本文是討論Nico Frijda 教授的情緒相關的12條規律的開篇 (Fridja, 2006)。這里討論的大部分定律絕非絕對普適，但都是多年的言之有物的集大成的心理學研究成果。

    1. 情勢影響定律
    第一個規律講的是情緒會受（當事人）所面臨的情勢影響。一般而言，相同的情勢觸發相同的情緒反應。得之則喜，失之則悲，駭懼之則驚恐（大多數情況下，該定律和其他定律一起發生作用）。

    2. 關注定律 (Cloud: 這個關注很像是“在意”“在乎”的意思)
無論事物，我們自己還是其他人，我們關注才會感受到其變化。情緒源于具體的目標、動機或者關注。如果不關注，我們會全無感受。

    3. 真實定律
    真實激發我們的情緒反應。換言之，我們的對情勢的判斷和解釋會影響我們的感覺（對照定律11、12）。這個也是為什么爛的電影、戲劇或者書不能激發我們的 情緒，原因在于它們讓我們覺得不夠真實。同理，如果一個事情不夠顯著，也難于影響我們的情緒。比如，當有人告知愛人已逝，可能會感覺木然，但當已然忘卻此事，想起和愛人聯系時候，驀然發覺斯人已去，才會讓人痛徹心肺。

    4、5、6：變化定律，慣性定律和比較定律
    慣性定律講的是習慣于當下（也有例外，參見定律7、8）。因此，我們的情緒會立即對變化做出響應。這意味著我們會以我們適應的環境為參照來審視發生著的變化。因此，我們熟知事物的變化更能觸發我們的情緒。

    7. 快樂不對稱定律
    我們可能永遠也不會適應有些糟糕的情形。一邊是負面情緒總是揮之不去，另一邊是正面情緒總會慢慢消失。不管是刻骨銘心的愛、超級樂透獎還是大量嗑藥，它們所帶來的快樂總是會慢慢溜走。

    8.情緒慣性定律
    時間并不能撫平所有傷痛──即使它能，也不是直接見效的。曾經發生過的事情會在很長一段時期對我們的情緒產生影響，除非我們重新體驗或重新審視它們。正是重新體驗和重新定義的結論，才能減少曾經發生過的這件事對情緒的影響。這是為什么在沒有更新體驗的情況下，比如考試失敗或者求愛被拒之類，會在頭腦中纏繞糾結、久久不去的原因。

    9.閉合定律
    我們的情緒的反映總是傾向于絕對。這種傾向總是導致我們不經思索就采取不是這種就是那種行為（但是也有例外，參見10、11、12定律）。換言之，情緒響應既不是無緣無故的自然發生，也不是深思熟慮的結果，而是更接近于目標（我們活動的目標對情緒影響更為強烈）。情緒籠罩我們、驅策我們采用某種反應方式，直到我們被另外的情緒主宰，才會調整改變。

    10. 關注后果定律
    人們會很自然地顧慮情緒導致的后果，并隨之調整（自己的情緒）。比如，憤怒可能激起對他人的過激行為，但是一般情況下，人們會避免和人死磕。他們會選擇咆哮宣泄，以頭撞墻或者忍氣吞聲。情緒必然會促發某種響應，但人們會適時調整反應的烈度（而且一貫如此）。

    11&12.最小苦惱定律和最大受益定律
對事情和局勢的不同闡釋觸發不同的情緒。不同的認知導致不同的感覺。最小苦惱定律講的是人們傾向通過對事情的重新解釋來減少負面情緒。比如，我們可以妄想信用壞記錄對自己沒有影響，來降低對信用違紀的恐懼。反之，哪種解釋讓我們情緒好受，我們會傾向采用哪種解釋。比如，（我們可以認為），憤怒可以讓他人退避，悲傷可以引來幫助，恐懼可以讓我們不輕易范險。

    探索情緒

    你可能不盡認同上述定律，比如，這僅僅是眾多情緒中的和個體有關的例子，并沒有考慮到社會因素對情緒的影響。這僅僅是眾多情緒中的和個體有關的例子，并沒有考慮到社會因素對情緒的影響。但是，這些定律為思考和探索情緒提供了良好的基礎。