From: Michele Wiegand (michele@ulster.net)
Date: Mon Jan 14 2002 - 08:08:13 MST
On 14 Jan 2002, at 15:39, Steele, Kirk A wrote:
so many places to start.....................hmmmmmmmmmmmm
Extreme
Emotional
Attachment
Not: Extremely Emotional, or Extremely Attached, or Emotionally Attached
Not: Intellectual recognition of the increased survival probability when one
is ensocialized
Not: Genetic and 'primal' precursors of innate behaviors that ensure progeny
survive
<snip>
Counterpoint to ATTRACTION: Religious zealotry meets the specification of
Extreme Emotional Attachment. How does this parallel mate attraction?
Are there any cognitive theorists in the audience?
--- I'm sorry, I misunderstood the question. I'm not a cognitive theorist, but I have studied neurobiology. Some ideas: --Religious devotion and other forms of emotional extremes affect motivation. Since humans interpret "life" and search for meanings, the presence of passions and devotions counteracts the other side of life: meaninglessness, absurdity, the void. --Particular to religious devotion, Freud talked about an "oceanic" sensation in infancy, where the self has not yet been distinguished from the non-self. If raised in a religious setting, subsequent events of the "oceanic" feeling would likely be interpreted in relation to God, the heavens. IOW, the religious background would dominate over other interpretations of that feeling, and the experience would probably make a person more devout, feeling more connected to God. Others might also feel a divine inspiration in artistic or even scientific work. (Passion in the pursuit of creating or discovering.) --Can extreme emotional attachment be separated from "love?" Religious devotion seems to be based on an idea of unity and love. I would guess that any form of extreme emotional attachment involves oxytocin. Thus people are "married to their work," or in the case of religious figures, people experience the pure love of God. "Exploratory Considerations: What constitutes an emotion? What is the basic biochemistry of emotions? How are an individuals emotions primed by the environment?" <quote from _Principles of Neuroscience_, Kandel, Schwarts, Jessel> In 1937 James Papez suggested that the limbic lobe formed a neural circuit that provides the anatomical substratum for emotions. Based on experiments suggesting that the hypothalamus has a critical role in the expression of emotion, Papez argued that, since emotions reach consciousness and thought and conversely, higher cognitive functions affect emotions, the hypothalamus must communicate reciprocally with higher cortical centers. He proposed that the cortex influences the hypothalamus through connections of the cingulate gyrus to the hippocampal formation. According to this idea, the hippocampal formation would process this information and project it to the mammillary bodies of the hypocampus by way of the fornix. The hypothalamus in turn would provide information to the cingulate gyrus by a pathway from mammillary bodies to the anterior thalamic nuclei (through the mamillothalamic tract) and from the anterior thalamic nuclei to the cingulate gyrus. The concept of the limbic system was later expanded by Paul MacLean to include other structure... [including the amydala]. Modern anatomical studies have supported Papez's outline of the limbic system, and have demonstrated extensive and direct connections between neocortical areas, the hyppocampal formation, and the amygdala. </quote> Also, oxytocin and vasopressin are released from the pituitary neurohypophysis, and the hypothalamus connects to the pituitary. The experience of emotions involves neurotransmitters, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system (which is largely controlled by the hypothalamus). The primary emotions are anger, fear, pleasure and contentment, which are experienced directly as a change in body biochemistry. For example, the hypothalamus will send a releasing hormone to the pituitary, which will send another releasing/stimulating hormone to the adrenal glands, and the person gets a burst of adrenaline. I would categorize emotions like love and sadness as higher order emotions, which are distinguished by the meaning given to them by the cortex, and thus become complex "feelings."
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