Absence of Emotion

[MishMish]

If I take some physiological repsonse as the divide betwen cognitive and emotional systems, makes sense to me poor body awareness could be involved with poor ability to recognize/identify emotions

 

So if am on the right track on that would be part one of my question

 

Part two is thinking complete absence of some emotion could be possible assuming the emotion first requires ability to process some sort of sensory input, and if that can not be processed could not be some emotional response

[NavajoEverclear]

this is actually an interesting topic, though it was a little difficult for me to understand what you are asking. I'm not sure if complete absense of emotion is possible, i guess it depends on it's definition. I think emotions come from the primitive part of the brain, and i know there are psychiatric cases where one has underactive emotions. Not saying that not using this part makes you advanced though. Hopefully someone with more knowledge on the subject can give you more info.

 

somewhat along these lines i've wondered before if it could be possible to Seperate the emotional part of you brain from the logical, without atrophicating (i made that word up, hope you dont mind) either section. Such as you have emotions, but you have absolute control about chooses how to let them affect you. Maybe some research into the military could give more information about this--- because you are taught to control your emotions in order to get a job done. And yet these emotions are not gone, because emotions obviously go crazy in post-war trauma crap. But for the time in which they control their emotions, it's more like turning them off and becoming a different person. What i'm wondering about is the possibility of having emotion and simply being able to act regaurdless, i think this would be more ideal, because there's no chance of slipping up and letting emotions resurface. They're already there, just somehow kept under control by higher brain function or something.

[MishMish]

I agree complete absence of all emotions would be impossible

 

May not be entirely appropriate an anaolgy, not sure, but hypothalamic injury or perhaps congenital can result in damage to the thirst center so even if one is dehydrated one would not feel thirsty, though google searching found someone say for primary adipsia fewer than 100 cases reported so complete absence is obviously rare

 

Still, was thinking along those basic lines and wondering if similar could apply to what are considered the basic emotions as well.

[LucidDreamer]

I believe that emotions are controlled by the limbic system of the brain. Emotions are common to mammals; they are actually beneficial adaptations. They provide a means to control certain behaviors and to elicit certain psychological responses. When you are angry your adrenal glands release adrenaline and prepare your body for a fight. When you are angry you will do things that you normally would not do. This is a useful control mechanism. After all, someone who is constantly hostile is at a selective disadvantage, but during some situations this can save your life.

 

There are lots of physiological mechanisms involved in regulating emotional responses. These are mostly hormonal, activated by certain kinds of internal and external stimuli. They work with thought, which relies on the physical resources of the brain. Thought and emotions are interrelated, relying on feedback mechanisms with hormones.

 

I don't know about complete absence of emotion, but some people defiantly have less emotion than others do. Psychopaths lack empathy. They don't empathize with other people's emotions and they have a reduced capacity to feel emotion. They don't have a complete absence of emotion though; they certainly feel anger and they are sad when you lock them up. Some research indicates that psychopath's amygdala, which is part of the limbic system, is reduced in size. Certain kinds of brain damage can lead to lack of emotion as well.

 

I think complete absence of emotions would be difficult for a normal person to accomplish. Besides, who would want to live like that? What you might desire is control over your emotions. This can be accomplished to some extent through meditation or by studying Zen or Tao. While meditating you can reach a state where both thought and emotion can be observed before their normal results occur. These thoughts can be observed flowing past your consciousness, unable to take effect. With enough practice you can start to achieve a state that is almost absent of both thought and emotion during meditation. This is useful because during normal hours you are more in control of your mind and are able to stop negative emotions and thoughts from taking root. There are probably other methods to achieve this as well.

[MishMish]

Thanks Lucid Dreamer, am not trying to reach an emotionless state or any such thing, was just wondering as I had asked if absence of some emotion is possible. I see no reason to rule it out a priori except perhaps the complexity of the system you note may provide enough redundancies (and make an answer to my question impossible at this point)

[LucidDreamer]

Thanks Lucid Dreamer, am not trying to reach an emotionless state or any such thing, was just wondering as I had asked if absence of some emotion is possible. I see no reason to rule it out a priori except perhaps the complexity of the system you note may provide enough redundancies (and make an answer to my question impossible at this point)

 

I would guess that there are some conditions where the afflicted individuals almost lack emotion. Look up disorders of the limbic system and you are bound to find some. Since emotion is somewhat of an abstract term, or at least it doesn’t have definite boundaries, alot of the answer to that question depends on your definition of emotion. If you removed all of the parts of the brain that specifically controlled emotion from a person and then beat him with a stick he might still dislike you. Would you classify that dislike as an emotion response or is it just a logical response to harmful stimuli?

[Kedas]

My opinion:

 

As long as you are able to think/... you have emotions if they are less or more expressed is something else.

 

So the answer would be no you can't seperate them unless expressing them is part of your definition of emotions.

 

controling emotions isn't the same as controlling your expressions.

the second one exist the first one is 'crazy talk'.