Psychology of Human Relationships - Essay Example

?QUESTION 2: CRITICALLY EVALUATE THE EVIDENCE THAT SHARING EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCES WITH OTHERS IS BENEFICIAL FOR US of the Institution Date Generally, emotional experiences create a feeling within a person to share them out with other people in a process which has been termed as emotional disclosure (Finkenauer & Rime, 2004, p.301). During the process of sharing, the holders of the experiences are searching for deeper understanding of them. The listeners are eager to know what exactly transpired and are likely to display varied responses. The motive based on this need of socially sharing the experiences is that, it promotes healing effects upon letting the feelings out verbally. From a layman’s perspective, it is considered that an emotion vanishes once it is shared hence this relief motivates individuals to share similar experiences in the future. Noller and Feeney (2006, p. 92) asserts that similar explanation is also given to situations of collective emotional expression such as during anniversaries, social rituals and other celebrations. Extensive research has been done on this topic in order to establish how people behave during the process of sharing their experiences (Rime, 2009, p.76). It has been found out that mild episodes have the possibility of being discussed in detail as various participants try to express their thoughts and feelings about the situation. A lot of questions are asked and knowledge of similar experiences which had happened is brought out as people try to come up with viable meanings to events. However, this is not the case for severe episodes; here less talk is involved accompanied with a lot of non-verbal behaviors. In the latter deeper emotions are aroused, which can only be observed in behaviors such as touching, facial expression and even body contacts in form of hugs. Pennebaker, Zech and Rime, (2001, p. 145) explains that in both cases though, the interest of the people is to symbolically attach such as a situation to their personal context, for instance, if it is an accident, an individual will look at it that what if it was them or their relatives involved. Furthermore, literature reviews reveal that emotional disclosure does not depend on one’s level of education. 90-95% of individuals are likely to share what they experience during the first two to three weeks after its happening when it is still fresh in their memory (Rime, 2009, p.81). In fact, the primary emotion involved during the happening of the episode does not affect the need to share what had transpired. Experiences that evoked anger, fear or sadness are talked about in the same degree as those that evoked joy or love. However, it has been discovered that emotional experiences that involved guilt or shame are likely to be talked at a lesser degree or not talked about at all. These observations reveal that the immediate days just after the occurrence of the episode are characterized with an emotion evocation of high intensity during the sharing (Lepore, Fernandez-Berrocal, Ragan & Ramoz, 2004, p.346). However, as days go by, the emotions are likely to evoke emotions of lesser intensity as people have heard about it time and again. The fundamental feature associated with the sharing of an emotion of a past experience is that it brings out a process of reactivation (Noller & Feeney, 2006, p. 94). This process involves the re-arousal of subjective feelings, re-feeling of body sensations as well as re-experiencing of mental images. If it is a negative emotion being talked about, the person sharing it will be left in a state of distress as the negative emotions are being reactivated. The irony underlying this scenario is that, in spite of this negative association, a person is very eager to share the emotional experiences. The question then arises as to why people could go ahead to talk about what will eventually hurt them emotionally. Mostly, people will need to do so due to the arousal of intensive cognitive needs following the episode. Wetherell, et al (2005, p.281) contends that the arousal of high cognitive intensities will push individuals to put in place chronologically the events of the happening and attach meaning to the happening as they search for its understanding. Although a great percentage of people believe that talking about an emotional experience will have positive effects to the person sharing it, this is not always the case (Schwartz, & Drotar, 2004, p. 111). It is for a fact that just sharing an emotional episode does not significantly change the emotionality being linked to the memory of the happening. It is stereotypical to just think that by talking about an emotional experience one will get emotional relief. However, this stereotypical thinking can only hold if argued from the perspective of adaptation. Having a memory of an emotion gives a person crucial information regarding future similar situations. Consequently, any equipment that will alter this information is considered as a deprivation of the benefits of experience (Stanton & Low, 2012, p.125). Experience takes individuals through a vigorous learning process from which they draw concrete lessons, thus the process of sharing can hinder leaning. The basis of sharing emotional experiences is to try and come up with meanings that will help us understand them (Ciarrochi, Forgas & Mayer, 2006, p.82). The concern then arises that, does it really help attaching meaning to what we encounter, emotionally. Psychological findings reveal that some scenarios are better left not talked about because the meanings that are attached to them can be very traumatizing. For instance, if incidences of “accident” or “danger” (something that we have no control of but we cannot escape from) are discussed in detail, they are likely to leave someone in a state of fear. A person will then start focusing on the unfairness of life, the in-safety in the world and how helpless and susceptible they are (Rime, Mesquita, Philippot, & Boca, 2001, p.452). Meanings like this are not good to a person’s emotional well being, and are better kept in the unconscious mind. By so doing an individual is likely to have hope in life by imposing a positive thinking within him/her. In addition, we need to understand exactly why after sharing an emotion an individual will prefer to stay with other people. Rime, Paez, Kanyangara and Yzerbyt (2011. p.149) suggests that if the immediate effect after having talked about an emotion was healing one would rather walk away feeling relieved, but this is not the case. What actually happens is that discussing emotions cracks our symbolic constructions of the universe leaving us feeling lonely and insecure. In order to find comfort, we re-immerse ourselves in greater social consensus. This is done through being close to our intimates who upon talking about the emotion will try to keep alive the attachment process by providing us with security and supporting us socially (Sloan, Marx & Epstein, 2005, p.552). This does not mean the memory of the emotional episode will fade away, but rather will make us accept the experience however terrible it may be. Through this it will be easy to face a similar situation if you encounter it in the future, and this call for a clear memory of the earlier experience. In emotional disclosure social relationships play a very important role sine an experience cannot be shared in a vacuum. It is important to note that people will first like to share an emotion with people close to them (Christophe & Rime, 2007, p. 40). For instance, a married woman who witnesses an accident will share it in details with his spouse. Moreover, if looked at from a collective dimension, people who have common beliefs and values are likely to be found sharing their emotional experiences. For example, a happening in a particular community will probably attract the attention of every member of that community. This is basically because these are the people who understand you better hence are likely to console you in the manner that you expect. People in close relationships have strong attachments and are likely to easily connect emotionally (Rime, Finkenauer, Luminet, Zech, & Philippot, 2002. p.122). The premise that emotional disclosure is helpful to us simply because it helps in the fading away of the event is not proven. Maybe all that can be said about this premise is that by talking about an emotional experience over and over again, we get adapted to it. The fact actually is by sharing an emotional experience is helps have a different look at things through which we can learn to accept it. According to Norman, Lumley, Dooley & Diamond (2004, p. 178), emotional disclosure has equally negative consequences. It can leave individuals in a state of despair after discovering the underlying truth attached to life. As a result, it is better for individuals to have dual perspective of emotion disclosure in order to know how actually the process is likely to affect them. References Christophe, V., & Rime, B 2007, Exposure to the social sharing of emotion: Emotional impact, listener responses and secondary social sharing, European Journal of Social Psychology, 27, 37-54. Ciarrochi, J., Forgas, J., & Mayer, J., D., (Eds.) 2006, Emotional intelligence in everyday life (2nd Ed.), New York: Psychology Press. Finkenauer, C. & Rime, B 2004, Socially shared emotional experiences vs. emotional experiences kept secret: Differential characteristics and consequences, Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 17, 295-318. Lepore, S. J., Fernandez-Berrocal, P., Ragan, J and Ramoz, N 2004, it’s not that bad: Social challenges to emotional disclosure enhance adjustment to stress, Anxiety, Stress and Coping, 17, 341-361. Noller, P., & Feeney, J., (Eds.) 2006, Close relationships: Functions, forms, and processes, New York: Psychology Press. Norman, S., A., Lumley, M., A., Dooley, J., A., & Diamond, M., P 2004, For whom does it work? Moderators of the effects of written emotional disclosure in randomized trial among women with chronic pelvic pain, Psychosomatic Medicine, 66, 174-183. Pennebaker, J. W., Zech, E., & Rime, B 2001, Disclosing and sharing emotion: Psychological, social and health consequences, In Stroebe, M., Stroebe, W., Hansson, R., & Schut, H., (Eds.), New Handbook of Bereavement: Consequences, Coping and Care, Washington, D. C.: American Psychological Association. Rime, B 2009, Emotion elicits the social sharing of emotion: Theory and empirical review, Emotion Review, 1, 60-85. Rime, B., Finkenauer, C., Luminet, O., Zech, E., & Philippot, P 2002, Social Sharing of Emotion: New Evidence and New Questions, In Stroebe, W. and Hewstone, M., (Eds.), European Review of Social Psychology, (Vol. 9, pp. 145-189), Chichester: Wiley. Rime, B., Mesquita, B., Philippot, P., & Boca, S 2001, Beyond the emotional event: Six studies on the social sharing of emotion, Cognition and Emotion, 5, 435-65. Rime, B., Paez, D., Kanyangara, P. & Yzerbyt, V 2011, The social sharing of emotions in interpersonal and in collective situations: Common psychosocial consequences, In Nyklicek, I., Vingerhoets, A., Zeelenberg, M., (Eds.), Emotion regulation and well-being (pp. 147–163), New York, NY: Springer. Schwartz, L. & Drotar, D., 2004, Effects of written emotional disclosure on caregivers of children and adolescents with chronic illness, Journal of Pediatric psychology, 29, 105-118. Sloan, M., Marx, P. & Epstein, M 2005, Further examination of the exposure model underlying the efficiency of written emotional disclosure, Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 73, 549-554. Stanton, A. L., & Low, C. A 2012, Expressing emotions in stressful contexts: Benefits, moderators, and mechanisms, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 21, 124-128. Wetherell, M, et al, 2005, Effects of emotional disclosure on psychological and physiological outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an exploratory home-based study. Journal of Health Psychology, 10 (2). pp. 277-285. Read More