21 replies to this topic

[Dohregard]

So I've been doing a whole lot of thinking this weekend, and I can across something that I've never heard a lot of people ever discuss before.



How would you describe a Mood?

Example
Someone is walking down the street, like they do every day. One day they stop for trafic just like normal, the other they seem to be really irritated at the fact that other people are impeding their forward movement.


This is coming from an obvious 3rd person view, but how could you tell what that person if feeling? And also, what kind of feeling is that person having that makes them react that way?


My biggest explanation is through a song. I think that emotions play out just like you'd be hearing a sad or happy song. When your happy you seem to have a lot higher and faster and more clear thoughts, when your sad/depressed everything seems to take a lot longer than you would have expected. as in a slow cloudy tone or a very big bass line that seem to just creep along. Anger feels like a blinding noise or extreme blast beat with high pitched guitars going every which direction and you can't really make sense of anything other than that one thing that set you off.

What are your thoughts on that?



The other piece I find, are those emotions that are indescribable unless you have it painted out clearly in your head. I think that sometimes you almost need to have an artistic side in order to better understand the human condition in these cases.

anyways, I've some to realize that the 3 main moods people describe are almost like the prime colors, you can mix and match them until you find your perfect blend for the day, but more often or not you can't describe the mixture more so than the outcome of the blend.

Example:

like today for example. I feel this intense depression but it feels like I'm never going to escape it, and at the same time I'm alright with it. As if I'm starring death in the face and happily waiting the sickle to cut off my head.



I donno, I'm done rambling, Just wanted some input on what you consider a mood to be.

[Fryslagg]

How can question 1 be three questions, while question 2 is a statement?

[Dohregard]

How can question 1 be three questions, while question 2 is a statement?

I donno... I'll remove those to hide my stupidity.

[Zanzibar]

Ignore this (my post).

[pinkpanther]

Moods i think is made that way so that we can see difference from each other.

[Pinkle]

Ignore this (my post).

I would have done anyway.

[Dohregard]

Moods i think is made that way so that we can see difference from each other.

I like that. Everyone's Happy is different, everyone's sad is different, and in this comes our individuality.

[DuKeTiberium]

moods yes

the are probably the biggest happiness and joy that we have but also a trap door of doom waiting in teh shadow's to bring us down

and if your like me a pain i only know anger sadness depression and some small joy in life because every year 2-3 of my relatives drop faster than a fruit fly in an arctic blizzard

thank god for rum

[Nerd_Rage]

I'm inclined to think that moods, or emotions (which seem to be equated here) are nothing more then the result of the interaction of our neurophysiology with the world around us. The gist is that through this interaction we have naturally occurring reactions to certain properties, be they internal or external, and the reaction to those reactions can reinforce or nullify the original reactions to some extent. I'm sorry to use that word repeatedly I'm too tired to look for synonyms.

Someone is walking down the street, like they do every day. One day they stop for trafic just like normal, the other they seem to be really irritated at the fact that other people are impeding their forward movement.


This is coming from an obvious 3rd person view, but how could you tell what that person if feeling? And also, what kind of feeling is that person having that makes them react that way?

Your example just goes to show the variation of moods/emotions people can have. There are a number of different reasons a person could be patient and easy-going one day and then irritated the next. The particular situation they are in (where they are headed, if they are late) and their internal personal dialog (if they are upset in general about something else and are thus already in a negative frame of mind) can really affect how one feels and how one appears to the third person. Another factor is ones particular coping mechanisms in general. Is this the kind of person who craves conflict and drama, or do they usually keep it together pretty well?

Regardless, every human (with some exceptions) portray and interpret emotions constantly and it comes as a natural skill. You can't usually tell why the person seems irritated or angry or w/e, you can just tell that they are. Unless you know the person and the exact situation surrounding their behaviour you have to ask what their deal is... and that's not always advisable because some people are loose cannons lol.

There is a moderate body of literature on emotional intelligence that might be of interest to you. Here is another link to some information on EI. Here's a link that discusses EIs relatability to personality constructs and IQ.
There are literally hundreds of articles and books out there on this topic.

My biggest explanation is through a song. I think that emotions play out just like you'd be hearing a sad or happy song. When your happy you seem to have a lot higher and faster and more clear thoughts, when your sad/depressed everything seems to take a lot longer than you would have expected. as in a slow cloudy tone or a very big bass line that seem to just creep along. Anger feels like a blinding noise or extreme blast beat with high pitched guitars going every which direction and you can't really make sense of anything other than that one thing that set you off.

This is an interesting example of how emotions are interpreted. And a good observation about the clarity of thinking that one seems to have when happy vs. sad.

The other piece I find, are those emotions that are indescribable unless you have it painted out clearly in your head. I think that sometimes you almost need to have an artistic side in order to better understand the human condition in these cases.

Art, music, games and many other creative outlets are definitely beneficial to understanding the human condition.

I like that. Everyone's Happy is different, everyone's sad is different, and in this comes our individuality.

I think I understand what you are trying to say, but I don't totally agree with this. I'll grant that we cannot know for certain if my sadness is exactly like yours, but it is very much a similar process occurring in both of our brains. Even if our individual experience of 'sadness' or 'happiness' is based on different things, the very fact that we can empathize with each other and even sympathize leads me to think that our subjective experience of any emotion is certainly shared to some extent.


Want to do a fun experiment? Sit somewhere with a friend or alone for 5 minutes in a busy place and count the number of people smiling (warning this might depress you or make you smile, it's up to you really).

Want to do another? When you are walking through the streets/on public transit and making eye contact with strangers... smile at them and see what happens (note: if you smile at young children, they will often mimic you which is nice, adults not so much but it can lighten the mood).

Feel like crap? Smile !






/end mega post

[The_Zooloo_Master]

Well this is the first time I post in this section for a long-ass time.

This is an interesting topic; I think its understanding precedes such profound and difficult questions as the meaning of being, of consciousness, etc.
It is also pertinent in a debate because I feel that much of direction taken by pharmaceutical companies, and by the psychological sciences milieu are accounted for by their view (perhaps intentionally skewed to satisfy a personal agenda) that moods or emotions are linear things: simple problems that have simple solutions.
I Think that moods must always be treated in a holistic fashion.
Let's take the classic example of neurosis and bipolar disorder. I believe that the chief reason for the explosion of BPD diagnoses is simply that most if not all human beings experience something of the like on a regular basis. After all, isn't life comprised of ups and downs? Don't we feel joy at good day's work, at the completion of a goal, at success, yet feel sadness at defeat? Undoubtedly, unless you're some kind of old-school stoic, you'll have your good days and your bad days, and from this point of view it's easy to see how certain events or series of events could really send you along a roller-coaster ride, from depression to elation. But none of that has to do with serious physiological anomalies that can only be treated with medication (as the doctors would like you to believe).

The holistic view is one that attempts to take into account the full spectrum of understanding, sometimes so vast that much of it goes unnoticed, implied but not said. So, to come back to the subject of moods (though Nerd_Rage covered it already), and the example of the guy crossing the street, I can only say that you shouldn't expect some kind of simple, one-sided, linear explanation for his mood. The irritated man is in a hurry, tired, uncomfortable, anticipating something, worried, paranoid. Maybe this event has added to a growing list of straws that have broken the metaphorical camel's back.
My point, though, is that such a view is not incompatible with advanced neuroscience. It's a fact (widely accepted) that the brain functions though the transmission of peptides from neurone to neurone, and problems occur when some chemicals are missing, in too little or too much abundance. But the point is: there is never one problem, one trigger, one neurotransmitter that is the culprit.

[Giluc]

I don't get it. What are you trying to say?

[The_Zooloo_Master]

I don't get it. What are you trying to say?

That's the symptom of bad prose. Part of what I wanted to put across was: things (moods) aren't as simple as they seem.

[confrico]

moods = evolutionary. moods were supposed to get us to accomplish tasks that benefited ourselves and our kin, and to signal to us where our energy should go. depression was a way for our bodies to tell us that something in our near future will be quite morbid if x is not done. showing emotions was a nonverbal, visual signal to others if we needed their help. it was all about survival in a world where there was hardly perfect information.

now all has changed, making many of the above somewhat obsolete. all depression does is make us od on happy pills. people are told that showing emotions or having a bad mood is something we shouldn't do and to keep to ourselves. these days, we don't need emotions to tell us that the economy is bad and we need to find a job. we get told that all the time by the news and everyone we talk to - everything is rationalized neatly for us - we're in a world where we have perfect information. we're well taken care of in that department (so go on, supress your emotions w/alcohol 'cause we don't need it imo). it would be fair to say that if our species always had a rationalization and an excuse not to do something (like we do now) then we would not have survived as a species.

[(GA)Mansavage]

Biologically speaking, I feel like moods are entirely chemical - the results of hormones being secreted from various organs in the endocrine system/brain and triggered by outside stimuli and personal perception of the stimuli. Of course, this is not to say that moods are pure - 100% happy or 100% sad, different things (I think) set off different amounts of secretions from different glands creating a cocktail of hormones at any given time. And yes, I am feeling like a bloody mary this afternoon; Refreshing, a little salty, spicy, and with a stiff kick in the ass.

But that really saps the artistic side to emotions.

[Nerd_Rage]

an interesting article re: pharmaceutical companies, depression, drugs, therapy etc:

here

[CORNELIOUS THE CONQUEROR]

its just a state of consciousness and consciousness is the process in input-process-output.

in terms of an internet forum its upsetting for ppl to edit my posts when those edits truly change my message. the best way to address this mood is to do stuff

[Jimmy Rabbitte]

My biggest explanation is through a song. I think that emotions play out just like you'd be hearing a sad or happy song. When your happy you seem to have a lot higher and faster and more clear thoughts, when your sad/depressed everything seems to take a lot longer than you would have expected. as in a slow cloudy tone or a very big bass line that seem to just creep along. Anger feels like a blinding noise or extreme blast beat with high pitched guitars going every which direction and you can't really make sense of anything other than that one thing that set you off.

Interesting. Sounds like synaesthesia to me. Its a little different for me though, I feel like my thoughts reflect on comic books in certain moods. Like when I'm angry I feel like Wolverine, I just wanna scream and tear everything up. When I'm happy I feel like Jesse Custer, with a shit-eating grin, caressing my woman and satisfied having conquered my problems (Jodie). When I'm sad everything seems like Sin City, all drab and B&W. This also changes how I feel about things, things become black or white, good or bad, mostly black.

[Nerd_Rage]

When I'm sad everything seems like Sin City, all drab and B&W. This also changes how I feel about things, things become black or white, good or bad, mostly black.

I was thinking more about this (how to characterize moods) a couple days back. I remembered reading about this kid who was using meditation to assist in understanding his depression. It was interesting the way he characterized our thoughts as being like the climate and waves of the oceans. The ocean can have massive waves because of hurricane activity (chaotic, anger, adrenaline, frustration). It can also have smaller waves from light winds (mild discomfort, a blissful empire or enterprise bobbing in the sun). The ocean can also be sunny and calm (neutral, pleasantly sedated, w/e). From underwater the perspective changes again. All the differences from above the surface dissolve but are still perceived from a distance. yar.

This is a good analogy. It not only exemplifies how moods come and go depending on a variety of things, but also centers on the effects of how and when one chooses to perceive these mood events.

[clockwork1337]

Biologically speaking, I feel like moods are entirely chemical - the results of hormones being secreted from various organs in the endocrine system/brain and triggered by outside stimuli and personal perception of the stimuli. Of course, this is not to say that moods are pure - 100% happy or 100% sad, different things (I think) set off different amounts of secretions from different glands creating a cocktail of hormones at any given time. And yes, I am feeling like a bloody mary this afternoon; Refreshing, a little salty, spicy, and with a stiff kick in the ass.

But that really saps the artistic side to emotions.

i was waiting for somebody to post this so i wouldnt have to type it up...

also saying that moods cant stay in one way forever, chemicals get used up, and moods switch, not necisarily the opposite way but changed.
you taking in information from senses change how much of each chemical is... being acted upon?

your example with the person at the street, her seeing the people makes her mad because of the chemical reactions occuring inside.. (dont know what pushes it but it does?)


keep in mind this is complete thought and im backing it up with no logic or proof at all

[Giluc]

That's the symptom of bad prose. Part of what I wanted to put across was: things (moods) aren't as simple as they seem.

j/k I totally understand your point, it's pretty hard.