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OrphanWilde comments on Open Thread August 31 - September 6 - Less Wrong Discussion
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Something which may prove interesting to somebody here:
A tentative list of internal states (certainly incomplete), divided into emotions and mental states. I distinguish between emotions and mental states on the basis of something I can't quite put my finger on, but I'm reasonably certain there -is- a difference, something like the difference between color photographs and black-and-white photographs. (It's quite fuzzy in some places, though, so not everything neatly fits in one or the other. Suspicious/paranoid, for example, I quibble about the placement of.) I've done a few passes at combining emotions I suspect are identical except for context and intensity. You'll notice emotions like "Happy" and "Angry" aren't present - unless somebody can correct me, I think these aren't distinct emotions in and of themselves, but simplifications of a broad range of more complex emotions. (A couple permutations of "Angry" show up under "Rage"). Some words show up multiple times, where the word appears to refer to more than one emotional state, with clarifications.
Out of the emotions listed, I experience somewhere around a third of them, which makes it hard to evaluate how distinct they actually are, and in other places leads me to incorrectly consider them separate internal states. Of the mental states, I experience most of them (which is why I think the sorting criteria isn't -entirely- arbitrary). Of the uncertain - I have no idea whether those things are actually distinct feelings, or just ways people describe other people's behavior, so it's safe to say, if they are experiencable, they're in those things I don't experience.
The list is largely comprised of entries from the following list: https://robbsdramaticlanguages.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/vocabulary-expand.jpg.
Some I've omitted as being, as far as I can tell, embellishments. I've added others, as well.
Emotions:
Mental States:
Uncertain:
I would like to point out a concept that has recently entered into my life.
Sometimes these emotions are generated internally and often the word for the emotion is one that is about an emotion that "pulls" you to feel that way. An example is; "Appreciated" where something else gives you a feeling of being appreciated. It's not an emotion you can give to yourself. (only recognise it) where distress can be from yourself; or hesitation.
Not sure how that adds to the list exactly.
I make a spreadsheet of how often I think I experience each one - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lkOftycrnhjSdbC6cExawoiyX-Jbn9wuxg2GlCjGeh4/edit?usp=sharing on a scale of 1-10, nothing is 9 or 10 because that would imply I experience it all the time.
Scheming! That emotion definitely belongs on the list. WRT Disappointment/Disheartened/Discouraged, which would you separate? (Or are all three distinct?)
There is a sense that some of these are... very self-inflicted. I suspect some people have a fine degree of control over that, and others have no control over the distress, or hesitation, they experience. (I don't feel "Appreciated", so I can't comment on that example, but there are similar external emotions I do, such as annoyance, which is one I'm incapable of feeling towards myself, in pretty much exactly the same way I couldn't tickle myself.)
Equanimity is... a bit broader than "cool and collected", at least in my personal experience. Cool and collected is a good description for the outer-state of it - what is directly experienced in most situations. There's an inner component to it, too - it's... a capacity for dealing with emotions. It's the capacity to remain cool and collected, whatever emotions are hurled at you. When my equanimity is low, I feel like I'm on the top of an immensely tall column that is swaying haphazardly, and will topple in the slightest emotional breeze. When my equanimity is high, there's an inner stability, like a hurricane of emotion couldn't budge it - I describe that state as "centered".
I would separate Disappointment from Discouraged. As distinctly things that don't have to have each other there to happen. Disappointment also doesn't have to be disheartening. Dishearten/Discourage are similar and could probably be left close by.
Looking good. Not sure how to use it; but if it stays up - I will think about it...
Done!
No idea what any of those three are supposed to feel like. I imagine the inverse of relief?
Disheartened ~= "soulcrushing" Discouraged ~= I am running a race against my peers and I don't seem to be able to keep up. After a month of training; they seem to be getting faster and I seem to not be keeping up at the same grade. "All this effort for nothing" Disappointed ~= I was expecting chocolate spread on my sandwich but it was only jam. (slightly in the direction of "something I expected but did not quite estimate right")
This is useful. Do you have experience with Focusing? Part of the workflow is to sit with your emotional state and gently try to discern what label applies to it. This can be hard because sometimes the feeling is complex or unclear, but I expect part of the difficulty lies in a simple lack of vocabulary with which to label the feeling.
The biggest issue from my perspective is that the labels don't immediately connect to any kind of easily-communicable qualia, so even if you know the correct label, you don't necessarily have a good way of connecting the label to the feeling. (That said, the only emotion I required outside assistance to identify was a generalized anxiety, which didn't feel at all like I expected it to. I expected anxiety to be definitively unpleasant, and it was merely ambiguously so.)