Human emotions are complicated and dependent on circumstance and personal experience, which makes them challenging to comprehend and explain. Emotions can be expressed much more quickly than they can be described or understood. In his book “The Subtlety of Emotions,” Aaron Ben-Ze’ev splits these emotional clusters into parts to organize and explain them instead of categorizing them according to each emotion’s positive or bad aspects. As a result, these dynamic clusters could be divided into three groups: feelings directed toward oneself, emotions toward the well-being of others, and emotions against another agent’s specific and general behaviors. Nevertheless, given the difficulty of identifying and explaining feelings, concrete examples can frequently be more instructive. Even while these examples in no way offer a conclusive understanding of emotional responses, the way they are expressed in popular culture highlights the critical role emotions play in everyone’s day-to-day existence. Such examples work in daily life and will be evaluated further, including the difference between jealousy and envy, compassion, rage, hate, disgust, and, finally, love.
In Chapter 10, “Why Do We Feel Bad When You Feel Good?”, Ben-Ze’ev examines the emotional complex of jealousy and enviousness. These feelings concern other people’s success and are primarily motivated by negativity and social inequity. According to Ben-Ze’ev, “envy involves a negative evaluation of our undeserved inferiority, whereas jealousy involves a negative evaluation of the possibility of losing something–typically a favorable human relationship–to someone else” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 281). For example, one would want something similar if one observes a neighbor driving a new automobile or a coworker starting a new job. Resentment may be felt toward the person for achieving something they have yet to do. On the other hand, jealousy’s main point is clinging to what one already has. When one senses a threat or worries that their relationship is deteriorating, they may feel envious of the relationship.
Ben-Ze’ev investigates the emotional conglomerate of pity and compassion in Chapter 11, “Why Do We Feel Bad When You Feel Bad?” These feelings can be expressed in various ways and to varying degrees of severity and frequently develop in response to the misfortune of others. “pity and compassion are kinds of sympathetic sorrow for someone’s substantial misfortune,” argues Ben-Ze’ev (2001, p. 327). However, the reasons for feeling pity or compassion and the actions one could do to show those sentiments set these two closely linked emotions apart. A pitying reaction to any article, especially regarding heartbreaking news, would be to read about the circumstance before moving on to the next piece in the newspaper. According to Ben-Ze’ev (2001, p. 327), a compassionate reaction entails additional effort and a “far greater commitment to substantial help.” Even though both compassion and pity have a component of sadness, understanding implies that the person is willing to play a proactive role in finding a solution. At the same time, empathy is far more passive and spectator-like.
Ben-Ze’ev demonstrates how emotions that include aspects of happiness can also take on negative features in Chapter 12, “Why Do We Feel Good No Matter What You Feel?”. The distinction between being glad for and taking pleasure in the suffering of others resides in the emotion’s goal. The fortunate person is the object of concern in happy-for. Our relative standing is the primary source of worry in pleasure in others’ suffering. People enjoy celebrating celebrities’ successes and failures, as evidenced by how the media covers famous people’s lives, from the banalest to the most significant details. The widespread fascination with celebrities and their personal lives reveals the complex attitudes that many people have toward those in the spotlight. It serves as a secure outlet for feelings of joy over other people’s misfortune and enjoyment at their expense. Celebrities are essentially unknown to the general public unless they appear in the media, so celebrating their triumphs and tragedies is a safer way to feel potentially destructive emotions than in person with people known to the general public.
Ben-Ze’ev examines the emotional conglomerate of rage, hate, disgust, and contempt in Chapter 13, “When You Are Bad, I Feel Mad.” These feelings result from the agent’s overall behavior and individual actions taken by other agents (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001). People’s propensity to see things outside their comfort zone as notably unfavorable is strongly tied to this particular behavior type. The opinions and opposition to the LGBT community are one specific illustration of this particular emotional cluster. Ben-Ze’ev distinguishes between anger and hatred by attributing popularity to a far more personal attitude, stating that “the harm is often a kind of personal insult, and thus the wish for revenge is personal” (2001, p. 381). From this one illustration alone, it is clear that the negative stigma attached to LGBT individuals stems from the belief that what they are doing is outside social norms and, therefore, an insult to the values people is accustomed to. This unfavorable view leads to hostility, then rage, and finally disdain and contempt for openly gay people.
The distinction between romantic love and sexual desire—emotions that belong to the same cluster because they apply evaluative patterns that consider people’s appeal and attractiveness—is covered by Ben-Ze’ev (2001) in Chapter 14, “The Sweetest Emotions.” According to Ben-Ze’ev (2001, p. 406), “different kinds of love carry different weight,” and there are countless examples of this in social media culture. The performative aspects of the culture show an overriding emphasis on physical attractiveness, even if it claims to foster romantic love through the production of candlelit scenes and passionate dialogues. Given that there is no actual attempt to lay the groundwork for a long-term relationship by fostering both romantic love and sexual desire, the failure of many of pop culture’s matches is not surprising. Another of the best illustrations of this is the emotional turbulence many high school kids frequently experience. It is typical for many teenagers during this point of their lives to confuse sexual desire for romantic love, which leads to much promiscuity in terms of sexual behaviors. The underlying issue with this particular situation is that since the relationships were so sudden when the biological urges were satisfied, what is left are two people who have little romantic love.
Ben-Ze’ev examines feelings that are focused on one’s circumstances, both good and bad, in Chapter 15, “Caring About Oneself.” In the analysis of elation and sadness, the author links proactivity with happiness and inactivity with melancholy while highlighting that both feelings can be long-lasting and fleeting. Although sadness might be equated with “passivity and resignation in the face of everyday affairs” (Ben-Ze’ev, 2001, p. 466), there are other ways to communicate severe sadness. Ben-Ze’ev continues investigating feelings associated with one’s fortunes in Chapter 16, “Caring About Our Future,” where the author looks at the emotional combination of optimism and fear. Fear and hope are significant because the human concern is so significant in emotions. While optimism and anxiety are typically associated with the future, these feelings can equally be directed toward any unforeseeable event.
Ben-Ze’ev explores pride, remorse, guilt, and embarrassment, a group of emotions that are more focused on one’s actions than those of those around us, in Chapter 17, “Taking Account of Our Specific Deeds.” Examples of this specific action include when someone scores a goal in soccer and takes delight in the breadth of his abilities. On the other hand, failing to reach a simple objective might also cause a person to feel guilty. Considering both instances, this particular cluster of emotions is connected to self-perceptions, according to Ben Ze’ev’s research. This indicates that a person’s feelings of pride and shame are linked to how they feel about the amount of value they ascribe to themselves.
Another instance is when a student only passes a test with flying colors after engaging in academic dishonesty. Although the action was successful and the end outcome was positive, the student nevertheless experienced humiliation due to his poor opinion of himself. The cluster of feelings associated with pride and shame enters the picture when it is understood that the concept of self-worth can be evaluated in either a good or negative way, depending on the outcome of one’s actions.
In conclusion, “The Subtlety of Emotions” is an effort to distinguish between the emotional clumps that shape a person’s life by influencing their interactions with others and with themselves. The way that emotions group together makes it difficult to have a thorough understanding of them. For example, anguish may influence indignation, remorse, and shame. Guilt may be linked to fear, while love may include jealousy, hope, and appreciation. Ben-Ze’ev’s primary purpose, as he makes clear throughout “The Subtlety of Emotions,” is to establish a framework that will help the reader better appreciate the rich complexity of our emotions rather than thoroughly explaining every facet of each emotion.
Reference
Ben-Ze’ev, A. (2001). The subtlety of emotions. The MIT Press.