Men think that women are more emotional because they don't consider anger as an emotion. Also, many men were raised thinking that anger is the only ok emotion to show.
4:45 - just to clarify for folks who might be confused, "Arousing" in terms of the brain just means it triggers more neural activity. Not that they're irresistibly attracted to your face.
“The variation within gender far exceeds the variation between gender.” This is so well said it really just clicks. Happy to have this in my brain for the future.
The variation between genders would be greater if it wasn't for the increasing use of botox in women, which impairs their ability to have facial expressions that produce feedback for the brain. *This is a joke guys*
@@Droid6689It's an important statement because it shows that other factors are far more important to how people express emotion. Basically, it shows the stupidity in writing off someone's feelings because of their gender.
@ResidentRibug It doesn't. Extreme cases causing extreme variation does not mean that basic differences aren't more important. It is highly possible that 90% of men are less emotional than any woman and there still be more variation in men than between men and women. It's an irrelevant phrase. It doesn't make it stupid to defer to basic statistical truths, since they will make you correct more often than basing your assumption on any other factor.
I loved it that he used one of my statistical statements: the differences in the group are greater than the differences between the groups. That made my day
I'll try to remember that. I've heard it in another context as well, and it really explains why people of a group will be at each other's throats whenever their group is being discussed stereotypically.
Yeah you totally came up with that it is totally yours. People say good thing we have Jannette Berends who invented "the difference is not statistically significant" we threw all of our p-tests and x-square tests into the air in celebration of someone who isn't noteworthy enough to have a username of their name that doesn't require a four letter string suffixing it to prevent a redundancy with a prior existing username.
First time I have heard anyone in Psychology state that animals have feelings. Anyone who lives with animals knows this to be true, but in my college Psych courses, this was NOT the standard belief and not what we were taught. Happy to see this has changed!!
I have never once heard that animals don’t have feelings. How could that be possible if we test how different stimuli make animals feel and how those feelings make them react/behave?
@@nataliaalfonso2662 I guess she's referring to emotion rather than feeling. Then you'd have to define what emotions are and you can see why people are still on both sides
@@BroArmyCommander but she didn’t write “emotions.” Hence nothing she said is correct. We can’t go around guessing that people knew wtf they were talking about when they themsevles can’t be bothered to state it clearly.
@@nataliaalfonso2662She said "feelings", not "feeling". People often refer to their emotions as "their feelings". Are you being obtuse on purpose, or are you just feeling like tearing someone down today?
Grief carves a place in the heart and sits there forever. But when focused it can be a powerful motivator. Sadness becomes resolve and pain becomes action.
When kids are taught that their emotions are ok but need to be addressed and handled, we will eliminate the question of whether men or women are more emotional.
I agree we definitely need more emotional intelligence in society, it would help solve so many problems in communication. But I don't think it's wrong to admit that men and women process things differently either. In fact it can be helpful to understanding our reactions. Men are generally more prone to aggression, and women are generally more prone to neuroticism/negative emotions (sadness, shame, envy, guilty, etc.) That's not to say men can't feel shame/envy and that women can never be aggressive, just that these are trends observed in most men and most women. Keyword there being "most," not "all." There's always exceptions. Trends should never be enforced or expected, but they shouldn't be completely ignored either. People of both sides of the debate seem to think that either exceptions or trends can't/shouldn't exist, when that can be problematic as acknowledging such things can provide valuable information. Just my two cents :)
@@RacingSnails64 Menare more prone to that because they aren't taught how to address and handle their emotions in healthy ways so their best tool for coping ends up as them channeling their sadness, shame, envy, guilty, etc, through aggression. Women can very much be aggressive but are less likely since they're taught to keep quiet about their frustrations and anger and be convenient, which then turns into girls feeling shame, sadness and guilt. This is socialization and newer generations of men are more free to express emotion, and women are more free to set boundaries, say no and be loud.
We should teach girls to stop their periods too so they won't bleed pointlessly anymore...Hormones play a role on female emotions, so i don't think that it can be reteached, even if we try. (isn't pms a thing?)
Men aren't given permission to be sad and women aren't given permission to be angry. However, when my grandmother was in hospice my uncle showed a lot of anger and my mother showed a lot of sadness. People were a lot more judgmental of my mom and they disregarded the fact that my uncle was being not only just as emotional, but also hurting people around him. Anger is an emotion.
@@Ziqver I think the point here is that people tend to call someone expressing sadness "emotional" while someone who's angry isn't labeled that. Men and women are both emotional if you ask me.
I'm sorry but that's complete nonsense. Women have their anger validated all the time and men are treated like they're dangerous when they express anger. All you have to do is look at the way people talk about men and women to observe that this is true. Start by examining what people are talking about when they say "the only emotion men are allowed to express is anger" to the exclusion of a plethora of examples of men expressing love, sadness, joy, and grief.
@@Crawldragon I've noticed that men getting quick to anger are often ridiculed or teased for being "immature", "hotheads", and mercilessly bullied. I also noticed that men are routinely encouraged in culture to channel their anger through things like combat sports (eg boxing), Airsoft, or hitting the gym.
My grandpa had a series of strokes shortly before he passed, and near the end he wasn't able to talk, but he could still laugh. Our brains are amazing!
I had the same experience when my dad had a series of mini strokes before he passed away in May. If my family was laughing in the room where we had his hospice bed set up, he would smile and laugh as well. It brought us some comfort to know that he was able to join in on our jokes. I hope it gave you some comfort as well with your grandpa.
"We have feelings to navigate important life decisions." very casually profound statement. like, duh. but also WOW. its imperative that we understand and appreciate our emotions rather than continuously attempt to override them or suppress them. otherwise we miss out on fundamental data bout ourselves and our surroundings that may help us in the long run.
Thats exactly how I felt about his statement! It reminds me of being unhappy in past jobs or relationships and thinking that the unhappiness alone is not enough to leave.
you also have to remember that evolution didn't have modern humans in mind when developing emotions. Emotions are ultimately a way for the brain to take shortcuts in decision-making where speed is critical for survival. Nowadays, emotions hinder a lot of good decision-making and can lead to disaster if not balanced out by rational thought (just look at how click/ragebait abuses emotional mental shortcuts to get views). So while emotions are still an important part of our lives, we have to keep asking if our emotions are telling us to take a bad shortcut whenever a decision "feels" right.
Nobody is more emotional than me. I have the biggest emotions, the best emotions. I’ve known emotions personally for years. He’s a great guy a great guy. Let my tell ya.
@@Krullfath he's making a Donald Trump joke. Because that's the way Trump tends to communicate and in this situation it's quite impromptu and fun to read.
Trust me guys, you do not want to go thru life without emotions. Due to trauma, I had repressed all my emotions and I can tell you some things that you might not expect your emotions to be usefull for. Making any kind of choice is impossible, "just weigh your pro's and con's" problem being, that without emotions, you cannot attribute any weight to those pro's and con's, you are litterally indifferent to just about anything. I would say it's not fun and boring, but these are emotions to and well, you don't feel that either. Bests I can describe it is based on an ancient saying: Without emotions, are you sure you are alive? I have since learned to unrepress them and learn to manage them again, which is quite the overwhelming experience
I too have recently been in the recovery process for that kind of apathy. I don't know how many times people said they wish they could be emotionless and I explained exactly what you said. On a positive side, I've learned to weaponize apathy when it comes to people being negative towards me. Haven't fully mastered it yet but it shows promise. I wish you well
I worked under Richie in college at the center for healthy minds at the university of Wisconsin! Guys, he’s awesome. He would set aside hours just for students to come in and ask him about cutting edge psychology research. Fun fact: he was on Time 100 most influential people in 2006!
the gut-brain axis is something that i learned about a while back that is still so fascinating. even down to the foods you consume can have an effect on your brain.
The first eureka awe I got on this front was (sorry for TMI) when I really thought about how _thinking_ about certain things, could cause a _physiological response_ down south. It's actually quite wild.
8:07 Originally, 'cringe' was a verb used to describe the physical reaction to secondhand embarrassment. Today, it's commonly used as an adjective, but the emotion it evokes remains the same-secondhand embarrassment. It definitely carries those others mentioned as well.
Yeah Fremdscham is a mix of embarrassment for someone but because someone is doing really dumb or ignorant. It's not easy to explain. But makes kinda sense when you are fluent in German.
Great. Fantastic. Wonderful. Now that I know brain shrinks with stress, I also know why I can't function as well as I used to. Which stresses me out a bit more. But thank you for this. I'll be quitting my job before the year ends.
@@marh7124 Not sure efficient counts as intelligent? Especially emotionally intelligent. There's a reason most people in these professions aren't friends with their coworkers though. Goes for many high-stress jobs.
When I have random thoughts, I don't let them pass. I write them down and read them later. Because later, how i feel about what I wrote down will actually come with edits and the thoughts become more well rounded. Those thoughts could not have grown if I had not wrote them down and revisited them.
i keep a journal and noticed i’d write things during very ‘bad’ moments and maybe days or weeks or months later i reread it and find that i feel ashamed that i had those thoughts and feelings but your comment actually makes me feel better about that bc you’ve offered me a different perspective and i will write it in my journal too :) thank u
This is so important bc with the internet people post any impulse thought, I’ve started letting myself type rage paragraphs on Facebook bait but I don’t let myself actually comment
@@AutizzytatiI do this in texts with my husband lol I write a long diatribe and save it somewhere. If I still feel it when I find it again in a couple weeks, then I'll share it with him. Usually, I don't have the same outlook by then, and it just gets deleted, never to have unnecessarily hurt anyone.
His explanation about feelings within the first 2 minutes reminds me of this video of a mother in Gaza telling her child that fear is okay, that everyone feels it, and asked her daughter id she thought her mother felt fear? And the sweet little girl shook her head. The mother went on to explain that she does, and it’s necessary we all feel it, and that Allah gave them feelings for all of these reasons. She explained it like he did, and in so much more depth and so beautifully. I love how in tune humans have been with science over history, and how important the cross over of humanity and science truly is.
I loved that in 13:00 he said the best way to get smarter is aerobc exercise. Not only the kind where you wear spandex and listen to dance music, but any activity that makes you move and pump oxygen to your brain and widen arteries. So outdoor sports, cardio machines, and yes even dancing also fit.
I love that he said, we should try to not use medication so readily. I got diagnosed with PTSD and my former therapist said I should consider taking anti-depressants but I refused, despite my disableing anxiety and depression. And after spending years actively working on my thought patterns and trying to heal my psyche on my own, I'm proud to say I'm a very happy person now, who's very happy to be alive. And most of my PTSD symptoms have actually faded away. It absolutely is possible to change your brain without medication
possible yes for people at large, but for any given individual, this is not necessarily true. For some, medication is needed, but it's better ofc w therapy. For myself, I was only able to actually attend therapy and be in a semi-proper mindset to accept the ideas being suggested to me in therapy, because I took an antidepressant that actually helped me at a right dosage (with trial and errors before, and a gap year in-between the failed attempts and success) so that I did not feel like a bundle of crap all the time. It's hard to feel hopeful for feeling not-bad if all you know is bad-which is how medication can help.
i love the one about 'why do i feel something in my tummy?' i think i feel emotions in four places - my head (calm & logical) my tummy (worried, anxious) my eyes (sad, stressed, angry) my throat (scared, very upset, grief etc.)
Learning that the face feeds back emotional information to the brain so as to better stear its reactions actually fascinating. That’s something which when you learn about it seems so obvious, yet I never gave it any thought.
I remember in middle school, casually meeting eyes with anyone would give me such an intense emotional and physical reaction. I want to say it's anxiety since I haven't been diagnosed with autism (at least not yet). To this day, I cannot bring myself to look at people in their cars driving next to me my brain won't allow it!
Laughing and crying are controlled by the same areas of the brain (like the limbic system), which govern emotions, also when you laugh hard, the muscles in your face contract, including those around the eyes. This can put pressure on the tear ducts, causing tears to be squeezed out.
Would be profound if I were 13, but yeah a lot of things don't have an exact desire attached. Comparison is said to be the thief of joy, but constant thinking about the purpose and trying to plan every action does much the same.
@@hallo7475 Thanks I guess. You're probably being sarcastic, though I'm not sure what I would have said that could have set you off. I didn't say anything that crazy or complex.
I'm so happy that he mentioned these Western conceptions of emotions. In the beginning of psychology, findings in the Western world were often generalized. However, with researchers in other countries, we can see we are a lot different due to culture. :)
The relations among human organs just proves once again that human body works as a whole. For whatever reason we kept separating our body to "brain" and "other parts" and we kept referring to the brain as a separate organ that control the body single-handed when in fact, our whole body works as a system all the time. This might not be a new idea or theory to some, but it's definitely fascinating for me and I really tried to pay more attention to what I consume is every way (eating as well as seeing or hearing, basically whatever enters our body) ever since.
To me, 'cringe' is the self observed 'embarrassment' based on the actions or behaviors of others. It's a feeling that is impacted based on the life experiences of the one feeling the 'cringe'
9:59 I would agree that emotions are less dichotomous. Cause something like Melancholy, I feel like is a mixture of joy AND sadness, which would be impossible on the emotion wheel
Not sure what melancholy is, but it is definitely that way for nostalgia. When I hear Minecraft music, man it is sad, but I am also really happy to have had great experiences through playing it.
I tell people who say they feel polarized to volunteer for an aid-cause, like hospice or the red cross. Working with people who just lost everything in a fire really makes you remember that we are social apes.
I was diagnosed with autism a bit ago but I was confused because I've always considered myself hypersensitive to a lot of things, including emotion. This clears things up, thanks!
Kinda same. I was diagnosed with Asperger's, over 15 yrs ago, and also diagnosed with auditory processing disorder. I am hypersensitive to sounds, proven by hearing tests. This video helped me feel **so** validated in my gaze aversion tendency. 🥰 I've always known I have empathy (by its definition), but people told me no I don't, but it's because I didn't express it in the ways they would express it. This video is so validating. Emotional sensitivity is real and so is overstimulation by it.
thats a good example, but yea i think that was less of a neurology question and more of a sociological/psychological question. as a society, we haven't created an environment where it is socially acceptable for men to show/display emotions in the same way as women, so we cant have accurate data on whether women and men display emotions the same or not
In colloquial English, "emotional" to describe someone usually means they are open to showing sadness or fear in front of others. In media, when used in this way, it tends to have a negative connotation. "Emotional" is less often used to describe someone who only really shows anger and/or happiness and/or neutrality, even if they show a lot of it/them
That has nothing to do with empathy. Empathy is feeling someone else’s emotions. Sports fanship is a selfish act - based on a score. Not about the athletes’ emotions. Otherwise they’d feel empathetic for the opponents loss. They can watch plastic horses or cars racing down a field and feel emotions. They don’t feel empathetic to the plight of the figurines.
@@ii289i don't agree with you since being more empathic actually has been proven to be problematic since it can make you more hostile to those who you think as outsider. This usually happen to moms, the more emphatic they're to their child (as shown in their hormones), the more they're gonna be hostile to anything that she think threatens her child. So the behavior of those supporter can also be clasified to emphaty. They feel the lose of the team they support like they're the one who play in it.
5:40 I have Bipolar 2 and have to take meds to regulate my mood swings. However, the meds also kinda “subdue” my feelings. Even my psychiatrist admitted that that is the case for me and I have to trade off for not having to be majorly depressed. Having less feelings is not exactly a good thing tbh. I no longer feel passions or urges. I’m not a complete zombie but I’m just more careless about myself and my goals. In my opinion, being able to experience sadness is better than feeling nothing cuz at least you can feel joy as well.
@@nataliaalfonso2662 Clinical depression isn't the same as the emotion though, although it is true that they often get conflated and someone might be treated for clinical depression when that's not what they're needing
@@klb9672Probably not many. Diagnosis is an involved, detailed process done only by qualified professionals. People who have subclinical depression rarely go through the diagnostic process in the first place. Not everyone diagnosed with clinical depression is automatically given medication, and most people with clinical depression recover in a fairly short period of time.
I like the emotions wheel. Looking at it raises a lot of questions. After all, how old were you when you learned that the opposite of love wasn't hate, it was indifference? This reminds me of the early versions of the Periodic Table, it wasn't much more than a list, but Medeleev was the first to see the relationships. As it evolved it became more and more useful and powerful.
Love is a bit of "I care about you" and hate is also "I care about you, negatively" So it can be opposites like "I care about you" (love) is opposite to "I dont care about you" (indifference) Idk if this makes as much sense in this comment as it did in my head 😅
@@TheOneWhoAsked.1 If I hate someone I wish they wouldnt exist. If I am indifferent towards someone I dont care if they exist. If I love someone I wish they would keep existing (preferably with me.) What you are saying about caring but negatively to me sound more like annoyance or anger. Hate is greater than that. This is how I have always viewed it.
Absolutely fascinating! It’s so cool to hear a neuroscientist break down emotions in a way that’s easy to understand. It really makes you appreciate how complex our brains are!
Talk of serotonin and chemical imbalance also reminded me of another thing I thought of mentioning - serotonin imbalances can actually cause hallucinations, at least that's what my psychiatrist told me. It's crazy what a single or a few chemicals being out of whack can do to the human body and mind. Like Dr. Davidson said, it could also cause a cascade of effects, very fascinating.
I've been emotionally numb for a too long time now (depression). I feel nothing, no sadness, no joy, no true laughter, just flatlined. When there is plenty to be happy/sad about . I wish I could feel again.
I've always heard the fake smiling makes people feel happier. It makes me feel dumb so I don't do that, but.. hearing that the brain and expressions feed into one another bi-directionally, maybe I'll try it.
As someone whose life was literally saved by psychiatric medications, I hate it when a doctor opines about "over medicating" and "you should try meditation". Medication is a tool, like cognitive behavior therapy and meditation and exercise, and as such, belongs in every practitioners tool box when they are evaluating someone for help. One of the great things about medication is that it can begin to provide relief for the sufferer of the mental illness in as little as two weeks, where some of the other tools tend to take quite bit longer to show positive results. Why would anyone allow their patient to be in pain for longer than necessary if they have the ability to provide relief faster? Of course, if the patient doesn't want medication, that's different... but to be in a position of authority and tell them, "Nah, let's talk about how to think differently for a while first and see how that goes" is insane to me.
Some takeaways here; try to reduce stress levels to maintain brain health, don't get botox, feeling more than one emotion at once is valid, keep taking long walks (exercise), and put in more effort to meditate or at least spend more times in quiet moments for peaceful reflection. Thank you. Very interesting and informative video.
As someone with ASD can confirm the experience that I struggle to look people in the face is sometimes I don’t have the bandwidth to cope with seeing the emotions in their eyes.
I'm diagnosed as well and I remember eye contact being uncomfortable most of my life, but my family says that as a toddler I used to do the opposite: closing one eye and looking at someone's eye really close while saying "The eye is watching you!". Maybe I was understimulated, who knows.
I have ASD as well. As I have gotten older, I had to train myself to look at other people in the eyes since I used to just look at the ground all the time. It's hard for people to understand, but to me it felt like there was an anchor in my line of sight that was forcing me to look down. It was a weird compulsion.
Also ASD. I try to look *near* the eyes but not directly at them, like between the eyes or at the upper cheek. But I also fail a lot and find myself gazing up and out and have to remind myself that people think that's weird.
Men think that women are more emotional because a ton of men simply don't think that women's opinions are important. "This makes you emotional but not me. So, you must be exaggerating" "This makes you angry and I don't understand why, nor do I care, you are just emotional" Just look at the History of things like "hysteria". It's pretty much a resumen of how men have dismissed what women feel through history, and blaming it to "women just being weak of character". Talk with any guy that honestly thinks women are more emotional than men, and more often than not you'll find a guy that actually cares very little about the women in his life. And by that I mean: he has never, not even once, cared to talk to them and genuinely find out why are they feeling the way they do. He has just shrugged, declared it a womanly mistery, and walked away.
You understand that by saying that you're admitting that women are more emotional right? Give it a good look at what you have written. And considering women have periods and pregnancy and menopause they are more emotional because they have more causes for it. And ask yourself if every culture says women are more emotional who's more likely to be wrong you or every culture of the planet earth?because every culture describes women more emotional than men.
@@klb9672 Dude can say whatever he wants but if he has a biologically female partner he knows what the real answer is deep down. Even if current trends frown upon saying it out loud.
@@klb9672 the problem is you see "being flooded with hormon that change" is equal to being irrational. When in reality it could be seen as changing glasses as in it can gives you another POV about something. This POV is the one that OP said "men tends to devalue" just because men doesn't see it through the woman's glasses. Just because someone is emotional, doesn't mean their opinion isn't true or illogical. Men also makes decision while being flooded with testosterone, but the emotional aspect get shown in competitiveness instead.
I'm glad he mentioned that interacting with people on the internet makes people less empathetic to those that they don't like or disagree with. The tribalism is out of control. And I feel like some groups are more notorious for this than others.
00:04 Emotions play a vital role in decision-making and motivation. 02:47 Emotions tied to chemicals in the brain are complex and interconnected 05:16 Changing brain chemistry for emotions via medication or non-invasive methods 07:45 Emotions can be complex and influenced by various factors 10:26 Emotions vary across cultures and can be contagious 13:03 Aerobic exercise and meditation can improve neuroplasticity and emotions. 15:31 Emotional maturity is linked to emotional intelligence 17:55 The prefrontal cortex is involved in regulating emotions and self-regulation.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish Bro men and women contain both estrogen and testosterone. you have some estrogen in you rn like how your mom has some testosterone. So estrogen can lead to some differences in how guys and girls experience emotions, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Individual personality, how someone was raised, and their life experiences all play a big role too. Everyone's emotional experience is unique to them, no matter their gender. so saying "the male and female emotional experience is fundamentally different" is simply wrong
@@zbuilder4664 no it's not wrong. Obviously everyone has a different biology and personality between them and that does affect how they experience emotions to a great degree, but the fact of the matter is that estrogen does significantly affect emotional experiences. When you consider that the male range of Estradiol is 10 - 40 pg/mL and the female range is 30 - 400 pg/mL, and those ranges change greatly depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle. Do they both have estrogen? Yes, but it's not even close and it actively affects how you perceive and react to your emotions. If you want more examples of how men and women experience emotions differently, see: McRae K, Ochsner KN, Mauss IB, Gabrieli JJD, Gross JJ. Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal. Group Process Intergroup Relat. 2008 Apr;11(2):143-162. doi: 10.1177/1368430207088035. PMID: 29743808; PMCID: PMC5937254.
4:25 A timestamp I'm making for myself because someone important to me accused me of not being autistic, when I've been hypersensitive to emotion/have done gaze aversion for literally my whole life
As someone with more than one mental illness, I can say definitively that therapy isn't always enough on its own. I've been in therapy for a decade now, but I still need medication to live a "normal" life. I do agree that it's usually good to try things like therapy and life changes first before prescribing medicine, but we need to not shame the people who do need medicine.
Estrogen assists in emotional processing. As such men experience emotions differently. Psychotherapeutic practices have been designed around what works for the majority of people, (understandably.) the problem is that 70% of both therapy patients _and_ therapists are women, so therapeutic practices end up being designed based on what works for the female emotional experience. I'm not sure if you're a dude, but if you are, know that that's another hurdle that you have to deal with.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish I'm girl, but my father and grandfather are also bipolar and take meds. My dad has been trying to start CBT but there's a lack of healthcare providers in general where we are so he hasn't been able to get in with one. I go to psychotherapy, which is sort of the classic idea of sitting on a couch and the doctor asking, "And how does that make you feel?" CBT wasn't effective for me personally although I did try it initially. I went without therapy for a year or two and then my psychiatrist offered therapy because he thought I'd be interesting. I was also a teen when I was first diagnosed and treated, so I'm sure it would have all been a different experience if I were an adult.
This isn't quite true. Although gender can definitely be a factor in the therapeutic relationship--as can every other type of identity marker, like race, class, religion, sexuality, educational level, culture--the majority of therapeutic interventions were not designed by women or to benefit women. The field of psychology is still dominated by men, particularly in the area of theory, structure, and its influence on practice. The only major type of psychotherapy that was theorized by and developed by a woman is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which originated with Marsha Linehan. It is a bit of an anomaly in that it was the first psychotherapeutic approach developed to treat a disorder that primarily affects women (borderline personality disorder), but it has since been found to be effective at treating a number of conditions. It works just as effectively for male clients as female ones. By all means, people should use a therapist that is a good match for them, whether that depends on gender or any other factor. Most clinics have male therapists; they are definitely not scarce. Many men, however, express a preference for female therapists. But psychology/therapy absolutely isn't designed to primarily benefit women.
particular is mind blowing and inspiring on a nearly unprecedented level. Thank you so much Stanford for making this publicly available! Please continue sharing
I agree. He goes into neurogenesis later in the video, not specifically about stress but still. To some degree it can be reversed, especially with meditation, and what he jokingly calls contemplative aerobics in the video, what I would call yoga.
Don't listen to him, stress is good, stress is what allows you to grow as a human and at a neurological level. He is biased in many ways. Too much stress obviously is bad, but a life without stress is literally s*icide.
It’s short term stress induced shrinkage which can be reversed when you’re no longer in a hyper-stressed state, yes. There are long term effects of stress but I don’t believe the shrinking he is referring to is included in that. It can occur long term if you’re constantly under extreme stress. But that sort of physiological stress isn’t common to experience for prolonged periods of time.
Very intelligent guy, wish that this could have been on general neural science questions rather than focusing solely on something like emotions. There are so many more fascinating and important things he could have answered. Hopefully they bring him back with a full neural topic
Emotional Maturity = Emotional Intelligence (capacity to effectively regulate emotions and capacity for emotional awareness). This is what they should teach PREP students with, but alas. Nowadays, kids grow up to be so desensitized because of the technology. If humans are more advance and have great capacity for emotional intelligence and emotional awareness there will be less wars and bloodshed.
It's called "social emotional lestning," and they teach it in schools. Usually it's taught by school counselors or social workers. It could definitely stand to be taught more, but I also think that parents need to be taught these skills so that they can teach their children. Children can't learn everything they need to know at school.
No. On the contrary, I often find men to be more emotional and women to be more pragmatic. Men have just been told they aren't supposed to show their emotions in public.
@@newme1589men are denigrated when they express anger or jealousy, whereas with women it's much less so. Anger and jealousy are emotions. Also men experience emotions in a different way than how women do, so trying to compare them is kinda difficult.
@@rebeccabilly7466kinda. Women are permitted to express emotions, but they are often dismissed as being overly sensitive. Men are not permitted to express emotions other than aggressive ones, or they'll be dismissed as being weak. The whole thing is broken. Everyone has emotions.
Oh wow, Dr. Richard Davidson is a legend! I own one of his books, and I've watched many of his talks and lectures. Guy has been at the forefront of his field for decades. Good job getting him to do this one, he is as legit as it gets.
I have seven mental illnesses and six sessions of ECT and for my condition I need both meds and DBT. Learning DBT is a great thing but it takes a long time to truly understand it and use it correctly and know when to use it so it is most effective. I had many hospital visits to learn.
To me “cringe” feels most aligned with embarrassment and disgust or disturbance, but definitely on par with secondhand embarrassment. Nothing makes me want to cringe more than really bad second hand embarrassment
6:30 it seems, the gut and brain is so connected, that even the foods we eat (or drink, like coffee) can effect our depression levels. Of course, CBT is a bigger help, but... (and I have severe depression when I have sleep disturbances and only moderate when I sleep better - even if it is achieved via meds).
my default emotion is calm mixed with anxiety, i may not always feel the strength of the anxiety all of the time but im always aware that its always around, theres only a couple of times i can say with confidence that i havent felt anxiety
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish A self protective mechanism in which the brain compartmentalises events that were perceived as painful. Amygdala can only handle so much before it shuts down and now emotions don't get processed. Accessing the compartmentalised memories and exploring them brings up pain; and trains the amygdala to process emotions again. Traumatised individuals struggle to access their emotions because they are avoiding the pain.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish The topic of the guy asking on Twitter "where are my emotions? I can't feel them"... the scientist mentioned alexithymia and psychopathy as the two reasons why, but not trauma.
“Stress shrinks the brain.”
This statement increases my stress level even more 💀
Unfortunately 😭
Doesn't stress grow the amygdala?
Man, no wonder why am so dumb
Exactly. Wish he mentioned whether we could grow it back if stress is decreased.
It's sadly so 🤣
Men think that women are more emotional because they don't consider anger as an emotion. Also, many men were raised thinking that anger is the only ok emotion to show.
You're the kind of man who asks his girlfriend for a permission to go to the bar with your mates.
@@jakubport7361you sound offended
@@jakubport7361 and you're the kind of a man who doesn't have a girlfriend.
No it’s because women are more emotional and that’s been well known since the 1950s. 😂
@@blake7587 men and women are both emotional, men just don't recognize anger and violence as emotions.
4:45 - just to clarify for folks who might be confused, "Arousing" in terms of the brain just means it triggers more neural activity. Not that they're irresistibly attracted to your face.
Thank you !
@@shara_kb so, that was the thing I got wrong all those years.
Honestly I was really hoping he'd clarify that himself, but ig if you're in that field you don't even think about it anymore.
Technically, this is the standard definition since the other kind of "Arousal" also fits this definition
Thank you bro, I really needed you to tell people that. I myself have Asperger’s.
“The variation within gender far exceeds the variation between gender.” This is so well said it really just clicks. Happy to have this in my brain for the future.
It's a trite statement most generally used to weasel out of uncomfortable truths.
@@Droid6689yeah basically. I wouldnt mind it if it were true, but its at least not obvious, so you better show your evidence, which he didn't
The variation between genders would be greater if it wasn't for the increasing use of botox in women, which impairs their ability to have facial expressions that produce feedback for the brain. *This is a joke guys*
@@Droid6689It's an important statement because it shows that other factors are far more important to how people express emotion. Basically, it shows the stupidity in writing off someone's feelings because of their gender.
@ResidentRibug It doesn't. Extreme cases causing extreme variation does not mean that basic differences aren't more important. It is highly possible that 90% of men are less emotional than any woman and there still be more variation in men than between men and women.
It's an irrelevant phrase. It doesn't make it stupid to defer to basic statistical truths, since they will make you correct more often than basing your assumption on any other factor.
I loved it that he used one of my statistical statements: the differences in the group are greater than the differences between the groups. That made my day
I'll try to remember that. I've heard it in another context as well, and it really explains why people of a group will be at each other's throats whenever their group is being discussed stereotypically.
Yeah you totally came up with that it is totally yours. People say good thing we have Jannette Berends who invented "the difference is not statistically significant" we threw all of our p-tests and x-square tests into the air in celebration of someone who isn't noteworthy enough to have a username of their name that doesn't require a four letter string suffixing it to prevent a redundancy with a prior existing username.
@@AnthonyRusso93 hey man, are you okay? do you want a glass of milk?
@@AnthonyRusso93ooh look everyone, an empirical example of the statement!
saved for next time someone says "all boomers are...."
First time I have heard anyone in Psychology state that animals have feelings. Anyone who lives with animals knows this to be true, but in my college Psych courses, this was NOT the standard belief and not what we were taught. Happy to see this has changed!!
I have never once heard that animals don’t have feelings. How could that be possible if we test how different stimuli make animals feel and how those feelings make them react/behave?
that's crazy, I always thought they had feelings.
@@nataliaalfonso2662 I guess she's referring to emotion rather than feeling. Then you'd have to define what emotions are and you can see why people are still on both sides
@@BroArmyCommander but she didn’t write “emotions.” Hence nothing she said is correct.
We can’t go around guessing that people knew wtf they were talking about when they themsevles can’t be bothered to state it clearly.
@@nataliaalfonso2662She said "feelings", not "feeling". People often refer to their emotions as "their feelings". Are you being obtuse on purpose, or are you just feeling like tearing someone down today?
"What is grief, but love persevering?"
"Grief is love with nowhere to go."
"To grieve deeply is to have loved fully." 🥲
@@RacingSnails64I AM SOBBING 😭
Grief carves a place in the heart and sits there forever. But when focused it can be a powerful motivator. Sadness becomes resolve and pain becomes action.
"How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard"
@@macklinillustrationbeautiful quote
When kids are taught that their emotions are ok but need to be addressed and handled, we will eliminate the question of whether men or women are more emotional.
I agree we definitely need more emotional intelligence in society, it would help solve so many problems in communication. But I don't think it's wrong to admit that men and women process things differently either. In fact it can be helpful to understanding our reactions. Men are generally more prone to aggression, and women are generally more prone to neuroticism/negative emotions (sadness, shame, envy, guilty, etc.) That's not to say men can't feel shame/envy and that women can never be aggressive, just that these are trends observed in most men and most women. Keyword there being "most," not "all." There's always exceptions.
Trends should never be enforced or expected, but they shouldn't be completely ignored either. People of both sides of the debate seem to think that either exceptions or trends can't/shouldn't exist, when that can be problematic as acknowledging such things can provide valuable information. Just my two cents :)
@@RacingSnails64 Menare more prone to that because they aren't taught how to address and handle their emotions in healthy ways so their best tool for coping ends up as them channeling their sadness, shame, envy, guilty, etc, through aggression. Women can very much be aggressive but are less likely since they're taught to keep quiet about their frustrations and anger and be convenient, which then turns into girls feeling shame, sadness and guilt. This is socialization and newer generations of men are more free to express emotion, and women are more free to set boundaries, say no and be loud.
@@RacingSnails64 men and women address things differently because theyre TAUGHT to.
Right. So many men can't stand a woman who demands the world revolve around her, yet no life lessons will reach his daughter
We should teach girls to stop their periods too so they won't bleed pointlessly anymore...Hormones play a role on female emotions, so i don't think that it can be reteached, even if we try. (isn't pms a thing?)
Men aren't given permission to be sad and women aren't given permission to be angry.
However, when my grandmother was in hospice my uncle showed a lot of anger and my mother showed a lot of sadness. People were a lot more judgmental of my mom and they disregarded the fact that my uncle was being not only just as emotional, but also hurting people around him. Anger is an emotion.
I don't know any men that don't know that anger is an emotion.
@@Ziqver I think the point here is that people tend to call someone expressing sadness "emotional" while someone who's angry isn't labeled that. Men and women are both emotional if you ask me.
I'm sorry but that's complete nonsense. Women have their anger validated all the time and men are treated like they're dangerous when they express anger. All you have to do is look at the way people talk about men and women to observe that this is true. Start by examining what people are talking about when they say "the only emotion men are allowed to express is anger" to the exclusion of a plethora of examples of men expressing love, sadness, joy, and grief.
Men can weaponize tears to their advantage the same way they accuse women of doing.
@@Crawldragon I've noticed that men getting quick to anger are often ridiculed or teased for being "immature", "hotheads", and mercilessly bullied.
I also noticed that men are routinely encouraged in culture to channel their anger through things like combat sports (eg boxing), Airsoft, or hitting the gym.
My grandpa had a series of strokes shortly before he passed, and near the end he wasn't able to talk, but he could still laugh. Our brains are amazing!
Joy is one of the core emotions that many animals share (mammals definitely do).
The same happened with my grandpa, I had not realized it until now. Thank you for the insight.
I had the same experience when my dad had a series of mini strokes before he passed away in May. If my family was laughing in the room where we had his hospice bed set up, he would smile and laugh as well. It brought us some comfort to know that he was able to join in on our jokes. I hope it gave you some comfort as well with your grandpa.
"We have feelings to navigate important life decisions." very casually profound statement. like, duh. but also WOW. its imperative that we understand and appreciate our emotions rather than continuously attempt to override them or suppress them. otherwise we miss out on fundamental data bout ourselves and our surroundings that may help us in the long run.
Thats exactly how I felt about his statement! It reminds me of being unhappy in past jobs or relationships and thinking that the unhappiness alone is not enough to leave.
you also have to remember that evolution didn't have modern humans in mind when developing emotions. Emotions are ultimately a way for the brain to take shortcuts in decision-making where speed is critical for survival. Nowadays, emotions hinder a lot of good decision-making and can lead to disaster if not balanced out by rational thought (just look at how click/ragebait abuses emotional mental shortcuts to get views). So while emotions are still an important part of our lives, we have to keep asking if our emotions are telling us to take a bad shortcut whenever a decision "feels" right.
Emotions are like power tools. They only make things easier when properly controlled. Things go real bad real fast when not.
Nobody is more emotional than me. I have the biggest emotions, the best emotions. I’ve known emotions personally for years. He’s a great guy a great guy. Let my tell ya.
Tremendous emotions.
You can ask anybody, I have the most emotions.
@Krullfath you ever been on social media before? It exists to be useless.
@@Krullfath he's making a Donald Trump joke. Because that's the way Trump tends to communicate and in this situation it's quite impromptu and fun to read.
@@Krullfath
Stop wasting your own time writing comments no one cares about
Trust me guys, you do not want to go thru life without emotions.
Due to trauma, I had repressed all my emotions and I can tell you some things that you might not expect your emotions to be usefull for.
Making any kind of choice is impossible, "just weigh your pro's and con's" problem being, that without emotions, you cannot attribute any weight to those pro's and con's, you are litterally indifferent to just about anything. I would say it's not fun and boring, but these are emotions to and well, you don't feel that either. Bests I can describe it is based on an ancient saying: Without emotions, are you sure you are alive?
I have since learned to unrepress them and learn to manage them again, which is quite the overwhelming experience
I wish you the best on your journey to deeper aliveness
It’s lonely but even then you’re like ‘idc about being lonely’ so you never try to stop being lonely. Snake eating it’s own tail.
@@memedealermikey yup, stuck in a loop
Disassociation is a beast
I too have recently been in the recovery process for that kind of apathy. I don't know how many times people said they wish they could be emotionless and I explained exactly what you said.
On a positive side, I've learned to weaponize apathy when it comes to people being negative towards me. Haven't fully mastered it yet but it shows promise.
I wish you well
I worked under Richie in college at the center for healthy minds at the university of Wisconsin! Guys, he’s awesome. He would set aside hours just for students to come in and ask him about cutting edge psychology research. Fun fact: he was on Time 100 most influential people in 2006!
the gut-brain axis is something that i learned about a while back that is still so fascinating. even down to the foods you consume can have an effect on your brain.
It gets even worse, the foods your parents, or even grandparents had, have a similar effect on your brain through epigenetics
The first eureka awe I got on this front was (sorry for TMI) when I really thought about how _thinking_ about certain things, could cause a _physiological response_ down south. It's actually quite wild.
The GI tract is also our biggest, most complex organ of immunity.
I mean even without the gut-brain neural connection, the food you'd congest would have a chemical but delayed effect on your brain
I had no idea the gut literally has a mind of its own. Neurons are in there?!
8:07 Originally, 'cringe' was a verb used to describe the physical reaction to secondhand embarrassment. Today, it's commonly used as an adjective, but the emotion it evokes remains the same-secondhand embarrassment. It definitely carries those others mentioned as well.
Fremdscham
Yeah Fremdscham is a mix of embarrassment for someone but because someone is doing really dumb or ignorant. It's not easy to explain. But makes kinda sense when you are fluent in German.
Great. Fantastic. Wonderful. Now that I know brain shrinks with stress, I also know why I can't function as well as I used to. Which stresses me out a bit more. But thank you for this. I'll be quitting my job before the year ends.
+1
What about lawyers and judges though? They’re in constant stress and are still some of the brightest individuals
@@marh7124ideally their high pay allows them to pay for support and good holidays, offsetting the job stress.
@@marh7124 Survivor’s bias. If you can’t effectively manage stress, you tend not to last long in those professions.
@@marh7124 Not sure efficient counts as intelligent? Especially emotionally intelligent. There's a reason most people in these professions aren't friends with their coworkers though. Goes for many high-stress jobs.
I love Tech Support! Wired, please never stop airing this segment!
When I have random thoughts, I don't let them pass. I write them down and read them later.
Because later, how i feel about what I wrote down will actually come with edits and the thoughts become more well rounded.
Those thoughts could not have grown if I had not wrote them down and revisited them.
That’s fascinating and an interesting way of phrasing the idea. I’m going to try that.
i keep a journal and noticed i’d write things during very ‘bad’ moments and maybe days or weeks or months later i reread it and find that i feel ashamed that i had those thoughts and feelings but your comment actually makes me feel better about that bc you’ve offered me a different perspective and i will write it in my journal too :) thank u
This is so important bc with the internet people post any impulse thought, I’ve started letting myself type rage paragraphs on Facebook bait but I don’t let myself actually comment
@@Autizzytati good to just get it out sometimes
@@AutizzytatiI do this in texts with my husband lol I write a long diatribe and save it somewhere. If I still feel it when I find it again in a couple weeks, then I'll share it with him. Usually, I don't have the same outlook by then, and it just gets deleted, never to have unnecessarily hurt anyone.
His explanation about feelings within the first 2 minutes reminds me of this video of a mother in Gaza telling her child that fear is okay, that everyone feels it, and asked her daughter id she thought her mother felt fear? And the sweet little girl shook her head. The mother went on to explain that she does, and it’s necessary we all feel it, and that Allah gave them feelings for all of these reasons.
She explained it like he did, and in so much more depth and so beautifully. I love how in tune humans have been with science over history, and how important the cross over of humanity and science truly is.
I loved that in 13:00 he said the best way to get smarter is aerobc exercise.
Not only the kind where you wear spandex and listen to dance music, but any activity that makes you move and pump oxygen to your brain and widen arteries.
So outdoor sports, cardio machines, and yes even dancing also fit.
I was thinking, “why is his cadence and how he speaks so familiar?” Then I realized he speaks like my psychiatrist 💀 it’s so soothing
I love that he said, we should try to not use medication so readily. I got diagnosed with PTSD and my former therapist said I should consider taking anti-depressants but I refused, despite my disableing anxiety and depression. And after spending years actively working on my thought patterns and trying to heal my psyche on my own, I'm proud to say I'm a very happy person now, who's very happy to be alive. And most of my PTSD symptoms have actually faded away. It absolutely is possible to change your brain without medication
In some states, using psychedelics as part of treatment is allowed.
Based, wish I never started taking an SSRI
Any tips for anyone struggling with similar situations? 😢
I agree. I take medication after trying everything I had access to unfortunately but I was able to reduce my anxiety by so much without it.
possible yes for people at large, but for any given individual, this is not necessarily true. For some, medication is needed, but it's better ofc w therapy. For myself, I was only able to actually attend therapy and be in a semi-proper mindset to accept the ideas being suggested to me in therapy, because I took an antidepressant that actually helped me at a right dosage (with trial and errors before, and a gap year in-between the failed attempts and success) so that I did not feel like a bundle of crap all the time. It's hard to feel hopeful for feeling not-bad if all you know is bad-which is how medication can help.
i love the one about 'why do i feel something in my tummy?'
i think i feel emotions in four places - my head (calm & logical) my tummy (worried, anxious) my eyes (sad, stressed, angry) my throat (scared, very upset, grief etc.)
Emotions are actually physical things that happen within our bodies. We can feel them anywhere.
He was so articulate and calm and patient and everything would ever want in a teacher. I love him
He has a very proffesery look and vibes.
Anyone noticed in the chapters and timelines for "what is love?' @ 18:45 there's the "baby don't hurt me" 🤣
😂😂😂 reminded me of those ramp walks 😂
music always kicks in :D
@@MiNat-ku7tw and then the Jim Carrey head dance starts involuntarily
Don't hurt me.. no more
I just saw it when i saw this comment
I'm only halfway into the video but I LOVE this person.
I don't.
Same
Learning that the face feeds back emotional information to the brain so as to better stear its reactions actually fascinating. That’s something which when you learn about it seems so obvious, yet I never gave it any thought.
Glad Elliot Gould took some time to become a neuroscientist and give us some great answers
@dannymenendez6063 I thought something similar. lol
The profile only convinced me more. 😂
I was searching for that comment 🤌
So I'm not the only one seeing the similarity.
You mean Monica Geller s father?
The gaze aversion is something I have never understood about myself.
Until now you mean? When he explained it?
interestingly there are theories about faces being too emotional or not emotional emotion hence they look away
@@Rithmy ? What are you saying. I dont understand. Can you elaborate?
I remember in middle school, casually meeting eyes with anyone would give me such an intense emotional and physical reaction. I want to say it's anxiety since I haven't been diagnosed with autism (at least not yet). To this day, I cannot bring myself to look at people in their cars driving next to me my brain won't allow it!
I do it when I get anxietic too much. It is just difficult to look peoples faces it overloads my brain.
Whoever did the chapters in this video, I love you
Why do we cry when we laugh really hard? Does our body interpret this as some sort of distress? Why lubricate the eye in such a moment?
That's a really good question!
Laughing and crying are controlled by the same areas of the brain (like the limbic system), which govern emotions, also when you laugh hard, the muscles in your face contract, including those around the eyes. This can put pressure on the tear ducts, causing tears to be squeezed out.
I thought it was just your body regulating your emotions, so that it’s not too extreme
What’s really cool is the chemicals in our tears are different depending on if they’re tears of joy or tears of sadness.
@@erakfishfishfish Hmm... I wonder what function those different chemicals serve.
When you dance, your purpose is not to get to a certain place on the floor. It's to enjoy each step along the way.
Would be profound if I were 13, but yeah a lot of things don't have an exact desire attached. Comparison is said to be the thief of joy, but constant thinking about the purpose and trying to plan every action does much the same.
@@Gandhi_Physique oh you such a smart guy
@@hallo7475 Thanks I guess. You're probably being sarcastic, though I'm not sure what I would have said that could have set you off. I didn't say anything that crazy or complex.
@@Gandhi_Physique Some people just have the urge to put down others' experiences, you never know. Ignore them.
I miss dancing, COVID killed weekend live band bar dancing
Such a lovely and scientific discourse towards emotions ! Well done Wired!!
I'm so happy that he mentioned these Western conceptions of emotions. In the beginning of psychology, findings in the Western world were often generalized. However, with researchers in other countries, we can see we are a lot different due to culture. :)
What are some other cultures concepts that you think would be worth looking into, and where should I start researching it?
@@user-RCSTgender dimorphism and gender roles.
The relations among human organs just proves once again that human body works as a whole. For whatever reason we kept separating our body to "brain" and "other parts" and we kept referring to the brain as a separate organ that control the body single-handed when in fact, our whole body works as a system all the time. This might not be a new idea or theory to some, but it's definitely fascinating for me and I really tried to pay more attention to what I consume is every way (eating as well as seeing or hearing, basically whatever enters our body) ever since.
To me, 'cringe' is the self observed 'embarrassment' based on the actions or behaviors of others. It's a feeling that is impacted based on the life experiences of the one feeling the 'cringe'
It's sorta like second-hand embarrassment
Cringe doesn't have to be second hand embarrassment. I cringe about myself all the time 😂
@@SleepyMatt-zzzbut you do that in retrospect, so it's basically the same concept. "Then you" is observed by "now you" as a different entity.
Yes you heard that right- emotions are important for SURVIVAL and DECISION MAKING
9:59 I would agree that emotions are less dichotomous. Cause something like Melancholy, I feel like is a mixture of joy AND sadness, which would be impossible on the emotion wheel
Hm, I've never thought of opposite emotions as being unable to exist together. Being opposite doesn't make them mutually exclusive.
Interesting example. I wonder if melancholy could be could be thought of as an after image effect but for emotions?
Not sure what melancholy is, but it is definitely that way for nostalgia. When I hear Minecraft music, man it is sad, but I am also really happy to have had great experiences through playing it.
You are right emotions are independent and multiple can be experienced at once, but maybe you're thinking of bittersweet? Melancholy has no joy in it.
@@athiefinthenight6894 You can enjoy feeling melancholy. It's a positive experience in that sense.
7:14 incredible analysis of how the internet most definitely polarizes us and creates “us versus them” logic
I tell people who say they feel polarized to volunteer for an aid-cause, like hospice or the red cross. Working with people who just lost everything in a fire really makes you remember that we are social apes.
I was diagnosed with autism a bit ago but I was confused because I've always considered myself hypersensitive to a lot of things, including emotion. This clears things up, thanks!
Kinda same. I was diagnosed with Asperger's, over 15 yrs ago, and also diagnosed with auditory processing disorder. I am hypersensitive to sounds, proven by hearing tests. This video helped me feel **so** validated in my gaze aversion tendency. 🥰 I've always known I have empathy (by its definition), but people told me no I don't, but it's because I didn't express it in the ways they would express it. This video is so validating. Emotional sensitivity is real and so is overstimulation by it.
My tummy feels better now ❤
If you think, men are not emotional, then you have never seen them watching sports.
thats a good example, but yea i think that was less of a neurology question and more of a sociological/psychological question. as a society, we haven't created an environment where it is socially acceptable for men to show/display emotions in the same way as women, so we cant have accurate data on whether women and men display emotions the same or not
In colloquial English, "emotional" to describe someone usually means they are open to showing sadness or fear in front of others. In media, when used in this way, it tends to have a negative connotation. "Emotional" is less often used to describe someone who only really shows anger and/or happiness and/or neutrality, even if they show a lot of it/them
That has nothing to do with empathy. Empathy is feeling someone else’s emotions. Sports fanship is a selfish act - based on a score. Not about the athletes’ emotions. Otherwise they’d feel empathetic for the opponents loss.
They can watch plastic horses or cars racing down a field and feel emotions. They don’t feel empathetic to the plight of the figurines.
@@ii289i don't agree with you since being more empathic actually has been proven to be problematic since it can make you more hostile to those who you think as outsider.
This usually happen to moms, the more emphatic they're to their child (as shown in their hormones), the more they're gonna be hostile to anything that she think threatens her child.
So the behavior of those supporter can also be clasified to emphaty. They feel the lose of the team they support like they're the one who play in it.
@@nayeon_twiceimnida1654 Not reading all that but good luck!
5:40 I have Bipolar 2 and have to take meds to regulate my mood swings. However, the meds also kinda “subdue” my feelings. Even my psychiatrist admitted that that is the case for me and I have to trade off for not having to be majorly depressed. Having less feelings is not exactly a good thing tbh. I no longer feel passions or urges. I’m not a complete zombie but I’m just more careless about myself and my goals. In my opinion, being able to experience sadness is better than feeling nothing cuz at least you can feel joy as well.
Yeah this whole idea of trying to medicate away perfectly sensible depression is very insane.
@@nataliaalfonso2662 Clinical depression isn't the same as the emotion though, although it is true that they often get conflated and someone might be treated for clinical depression when that's not what they're needing
@@lizard3755how many people get misdiagnosed with clinical depression while not having it? Probably a lot
I agree with what you're saying except for one thing: Not everyone who feels sadness can feel joy as well.
@@klb9672Probably not many. Diagnosis is an involved, detailed process done only by qualified professionals. People who have subclinical depression rarely go through the diagnostic process in the first place.
Not everyone diagnosed with clinical depression is automatically given medication, and most people with clinical depression recover in a fairly short period of time.
I like the emotions wheel. Looking at it raises a lot of questions. After all, how old were you when you learned that the opposite of love wasn't hate, it was indifference? This reminds me of the early versions of the Periodic Table, it wasn't much more than a list, but Medeleev was the first to see the relationships. As it evolved it became more and more useful and powerful.
Saying that the opposite of love is indifference, is like saying the opposite of black is gray.
@@gabor6259 So how old are you, and you still don't know this?
If indifference is the opposite of love then indifference would be the opposite of every emotion, the opposite of 5 is -5 not 0
Love is a bit of "I care about you" and hate is also "I care about you, negatively"
So it can be opposites like
"I care about you" (love) is opposite to "I dont care about you" (indifference)
Idk if this makes as much sense in this comment as it did in my head 😅
@@TheOneWhoAsked.1
If I hate someone I wish they wouldnt exist.
If I am indifferent towards someone I dont care if they exist.
If I love someone I wish they would keep existing (preferably with me.)
What you are saying about caring but negatively to me sound more like annoyance or anger.
Hate is greater than that.
This is how I have always viewed it.
Absolutely fascinating! It’s so cool to hear a neuroscientist break down emotions in a way that’s easy to understand. It really makes you appreciate how complex our brains are!
Talk of serotonin and chemical imbalance also reminded me of another thing I thought of mentioning - serotonin imbalances can actually cause hallucinations, at least that's what my psychiatrist told me. It's crazy what a single or a few chemicals being out of whack can do to the human body and mind. Like Dr. Davidson said, it could also cause a cascade of effects, very fascinating.
It's insane how complex the brain is
I've been emotionally numb for a too long time now (depression). I feel nothing, no sadness, no joy, no true laughter, just flatlined. When there is plenty to be happy/sad about . I wish I could feel again.
I hope things get better for you ❤
Emotions affect every part of our lives, and this video sheds light on just how complex-and relatable-our emotional landscape truly is.
I've always heard the fake smiling makes people feel happier. It makes me feel dumb so I don't do that, but.. hearing that the brain and expressions feed into one another bi-directionally, maybe I'll try it.
i feel like i became smarter just by listening to this man talk so thoughtfully and with great choice of words and proper centences.
As someone whose life was literally saved by psychiatric medications, I hate it when a doctor opines about "over medicating" and "you should try meditation". Medication is a tool, like cognitive behavior therapy and meditation and exercise, and as such, belongs in every practitioners tool box when they are evaluating someone for help.
One of the great things about medication is that it can begin to provide relief for the sufferer of the mental illness in as little as two weeks, where some of the other tools tend to take quite bit longer to show positive results. Why would anyone allow their patient to be in pain for longer than necessary if they have the ability to provide relief faster? Of course, if the patient doesn't want medication, that's different... but to be in a position of authority and tell them, "Nah, let's talk about how to think differently for a while first and see how that goes" is insane to me.
Agreed. Medication should be considered one part of a treatment plan.
Some takeaways here; try to reduce stress levels to maintain brain health, don't get botox, feeling more than one emotion at once is valid, keep taking long walks (exercise), and put in more effort to meditate or at least spend more times in quiet moments for peaceful reflection.
Thank you. Very interesting and informative video.
There is no failure except in no longer trying.
He answered that last question so well; a towering intellect and a true scientist
As someone with ASD can confirm the experience that I struggle to look people in the face is sometimes I don’t have the bandwidth to cope with seeing the emotions in their eyes.
I'm diagnosed as well and I remember eye contact being uncomfortable most of my life, but my family says that as a toddler I used to do the opposite: closing one eye and looking at someone's eye really close while saying "The eye is watching you!". Maybe I was understimulated, who knows.
I have ASD as well. As I have gotten older, I had to train myself to look at other people in the eyes since I used to just look at the ground all the time.
It's hard for people to understand, but to me it felt like there was an anchor in my line of sight that was forcing me to look down. It was a weird compulsion.
Also ASD. I try to look *near* the eyes but not directly at them, like between the eyes or at the upper cheek. But I also fail a lot and find myself gazing up and out and have to remind myself that people think that's weird.
He speaks so academically I love ittt
He looks just like Ross Geller’s dad! ❤
I just wanna sit at a table with him and listen him explaining his field in details. Thats my type of socialization
Men think that women are more emotional because a ton of men simply don't think that women's opinions are important.
"This makes you emotional but not me. So, you must be exaggerating"
"This makes you angry and I don't understand why, nor do I care, you are just emotional"
Just look at the History of things like "hysteria". It's pretty much a resumen of how men have dismissed what women feel through history, and blaming it to "women just being weak of character".
Talk with any guy that honestly thinks women are more emotional than men, and more often than not you'll find a guy that actually cares very little about the women in his life. And by that I mean: he has never, not even once, cared to talk to them and genuinely find out why are they feeling the way they do. He has just shrugged, declared it a womanly mistery, and walked away.
Beautifuy phrased
@@nayeon_twiceimnida1654beautifully deluded you would say.
You understand that by saying that you're admitting that women are more emotional right? Give it a good look at what you have written. And considering women have periods and pregnancy and menopause they are more emotional because they have more causes for it.
And ask yourself if every culture says women are more emotional who's more likely to be wrong you or every culture of the planet earth?because every culture describes women more emotional than men.
@@klb9672 Dude can say whatever he wants but if he has a biologically female partner he knows what the real answer is deep down. Even if current trends frown upon saying it out loud.
@@klb9672 the problem is you see "being flooded with hormon that change" is equal to being irrational. When in reality it could be seen as changing glasses as in it can gives you another POV about something.
This POV is the one that OP said "men tends to devalue" just because men doesn't see it through the woman's glasses.
Just because someone is emotional, doesn't mean their opinion isn't true or illogical. Men also makes decision while being flooded with testosterone, but the emotional aspect get shown in competitiveness instead.
I'm glad he mentioned that interacting with people on the internet makes people less empathetic to those that they don't like or disagree with. The tribalism is out of control. And I feel like some groups are more notorious for this than others.
So chill, great atmosphere here!
This is a fantastic watch. Hope he comes back for another episode!
I love that the colors for Joy and Sadness match the movie Inside Out. Fantastic.
Umm so you know that sadness was blue and joy was happiness before Inside Out but also Inside Out is one of the best movies
Need a part 2 of this with some more interesting questions
yall really get the people that look exactly like their occupation
00:04 Emotions play a vital role in decision-making and motivation.
02:47 Emotions tied to chemicals in the brain are complex and interconnected
05:16 Changing brain chemistry for emotions via medication or non-invasive methods
07:45 Emotions can be complex and influenced by various factors
10:26 Emotions vary across cultures and can be contagious
13:03 Aerobic exercise and meditation can improve neuroplasticity and emotions.
15:31 Emotional maturity is linked to emotional intelligence
17:55 The prefrontal cortex is involved in regulating emotions and self-regulation.
I'll just leave this here.
Estrogen assists in emotional processing, so the male and female emotional experience is fundamentally different.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish
Bro men and women contain both estrogen and testosterone. you have some estrogen in you rn like how your mom has some testosterone.
So estrogen can lead to some differences in how guys and girls experience emotions, but it’s a lot more complicated than that. Individual personality, how someone was raised, and their life experiences all play a big role too.
Everyone's emotional experience is unique to them, no matter their gender. so saying "the male and female emotional experience is fundamentally different" is simply wrong
@@zbuilder4664 no it's not wrong. Obviously everyone has a different biology and personality between them and that does affect how they experience emotions to a great degree, but the fact of the matter is that estrogen does significantly affect emotional experiences. When you consider that the male range of Estradiol is 10 - 40 pg/mL and the female range is 30 - 400 pg/mL, and those ranges change greatly depending on the phase of the menstrual cycle. Do they both have estrogen? Yes, but it's not even close and it actively affects how you perceive and react to your emotions.
If you want more examples of how men and women experience emotions differently, see: McRae K, Ochsner KN, Mauss IB, Gabrieli JJD, Gross JJ. Gender Differences in Emotion Regulation: An fMRI Study of Cognitive Reappraisal. Group Process Intergroup Relat. 2008 Apr;11(2):143-162. doi: 10.1177/1368430207088035. PMID: 29743808; PMCID: PMC5937254.
What an amazing video. Listening to him was a treat to the mind
Give this man a show! It's so entertaining to hear him talk!! It's so fascinating!
4:25 A timestamp I'm making for myself because someone important to me accused me of not being autistic, when I've been hypersensitive to emotion/have done gaze aversion for literally my whole life
Empaths do the same.
this show is ALWAYS terrific.
As someone with more than one mental illness, I can say definitively that therapy isn't always enough on its own. I've been in therapy for a decade now, but I still need medication to live a "normal" life. I do agree that it's usually good to try things like therapy and life changes first before prescribing medicine, but we need to not shame the people who do need medicine.
Estrogen assists in emotional processing. As such men experience emotions differently.
Psychotherapeutic practices have been designed around what works for the majority of people, (understandably.) the problem is that 70% of both therapy patients _and_ therapists are women, so therapeutic practices end up being designed based on what works for the female emotional experience.
I'm not sure if you're a dude, but if you are, know that that's another hurdle that you have to deal with.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish I'm girl, but my father and grandfather are also bipolar and take meds. My dad has been trying to start CBT but there's a lack of healthcare providers in general where we are so he hasn't been able to get in with one. I go to psychotherapy, which is sort of the classic idea of sitting on a couch and the doctor asking, "And how does that make you feel?" CBT wasn't effective for me personally although I did try it initially. I went without therapy for a year or two and then my psychiatrist offered therapy because he thought I'd be interesting. I was also a teen when I was first diagnosed and treated, so I'm sure it would have all been a different experience if I were an adult.
@@lizard3755 that sounds rough. Best of luck to you.
@@lizard3755how much do you improve ?
This isn't quite true. Although gender can definitely be a factor in the therapeutic relationship--as can every other type of identity marker, like race, class, religion, sexuality, educational level, culture--the majority of therapeutic interventions were not designed by women or to benefit women. The field of psychology is still dominated by men, particularly in the area of theory, structure, and its influence on practice. The only major type of psychotherapy that was theorized by and developed by a woman is dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which originated with Marsha Linehan. It is a bit of an anomaly in that it was the first psychotherapeutic approach developed to treat a disorder that primarily affects women (borderline personality disorder), but it has since been found to be effective at treating a number of conditions. It works just as effectively for male clients as female ones.
By all means, people should use a therapist that is a good match for them, whether that depends on gender or any other factor. Most clinics have male therapists; they are definitely not scarce. Many men, however, express a preference for female therapists.
But psychology/therapy absolutely isn't designed to primarily benefit women.
6:53 in many cases some of these "invasive" methods do NEED to be used first before therapy can be of any use.
This is my emotional support Wired interviewee
Underrated comment lol
particular is mind blowing and inspiring on a nearly unprecedented level. Thank you so much Stanford for making this publicly available! Please continue sharing
Would be nice if he added something to the "brain shrinkage" during stress, like: can it be reversed and how?
I agree. He goes into neurogenesis later in the video, not specifically about stress but still. To some degree it can be reversed, especially with meditation, and what he jokingly calls contemplative aerobics in the video, what I would call yoga.
Don't listen to him, stress is good, stress is what allows you to grow as a human and at a neurological level. He is biased in many ways.
Too much stress obviously is bad, but a life without stress is literally s*icide.
It’s short term stress induced shrinkage which can be reversed when you’re no longer in a hyper-stressed state, yes. There are long term effects of stress but I don’t believe the shrinking he is referring to is included in that. It can occur long term if you’re constantly under extreme stress. But that sort of physiological stress isn’t common to experience for prolonged periods of time.
That is so, so key, and people forget that: The variation within gender exceeds the variation between gender. Take that to heart!
Love this episode and this guy! Great video
Very intelligent guy, wish that this could have been on general neural science questions rather than focusing solely on something like emotions. There are so many more fascinating and important things he could have answered. Hopefully they bring him back with a full neural topic
Emotional Maturity = Emotional Intelligence (capacity to effectively regulate emotions and capacity for emotional awareness).
This is what they should teach PREP students with, but alas. Nowadays, kids grow up to be so desensitized because of the technology.
If humans are more advance and have great capacity for emotional intelligence and emotional awareness there will be less wars and bloodshed.
So neuro divergent people can't be part of an advanced society. You need to think about what you say with more care. You come off extreme offensive.
@@toknowwhyuneed3593You implying that neurodivengent people have zero emotional intelligence is more offensive than whatever OP said
It's called "social emotional lestning," and they teach it in schools. Usually it's taught by school counselors or social workers. It could definitely stand to be taught more, but I also think that parents need to be taught these skills so that they can teach their children. Children can't learn everything they need to know at school.
@@rebeccabilly7466Someone has to teach the parents, though, which has to start somewhere. In 10-20 years, many of these kids will become parents.
he's so real and honest
Why would he be dishonest?
No. On the contrary, I often find men to be more emotional and women to be more pragmatic. Men have just been told they aren't supposed to show their emotions in public.
Then you probably attract emotional men, because that is an exception
@@newme1589men are denigrated when they express anger or jealousy, whereas with women it's much less so. Anger and jealousy are emotions.
Also men experience emotions in a different way than how women do, so trying to compare them is kinda difficult.
To be fair, a lot of women receive that messaging, too.
@@rebeccabilly7466kinda. Women are permitted to express emotions, but they are often dismissed as being overly sensitive. Men are not permitted to express emotions other than aggressive ones, or they'll be dismissed as being weak.
The whole thing is broken. Everyone has emotions.
Oh wow, Dr. Richard Davidson is a legend! I own one of his books, and I've watched many of his talks and lectures. Guy has been at the forefront of his field for decades.
Good job getting him to do this one, he is as legit as it gets.
I have seven mental illnesses and six sessions of ECT and for my condition I need both meds and DBT. Learning DBT is a great thing but it takes a long time to truly understand it and use it correctly and know when to use it so it is most effective. I had many hospital visits to learn.
ECT causes memory loss. Be careful.
@@FranKern-j5s Already done too late.
@@mugglescakesniffer3943 Same here! I just wanted you to know... in case they offer you ECT again.
@@FranKern-j5sSo does depression.
30 secs in and I'm already sold. Absolutely love it Dr!!!!
To me “cringe” feels most aligned with embarrassment and disgust or disturbance, but definitely on par with secondhand embarrassment. Nothing makes me want to cringe more than really bad second hand embarrassment
Probably the best of these segments was this particular video. Thank you Wired!
You can't convince me that's not Elliott Gould
Why would we even try?
He's certainly as good as Gould
Lmao
😂 if Glenn Gould would have thought about going into medicine, wait, wasn't he a dentist?
@@squaretriangle9208🤣🤣🤣🤣
6:30 it seems, the gut and brain is so connected, that even the foods we eat (or drink, like coffee) can effect our depression levels. Of course, CBT is a bigger help, but... (and I have severe depression when I have sleep disturbances and only moderate when I sleep better - even if it is achieved via meds).
I remember when my cat, Junior died. His mate, Sasha, was distraught for days afterward.
my default emotion is calm mixed with anxiety, i may not always feel the strength of the anxiety all of the time but im always aware that its always around, theres only a couple of times i can say with confidence that i havent felt anxiety
You know a scientist is about that life when they pronounce "maturity" that way.
This video is beautiful, thank you for the information.
I'm a little surprised he didn't mention that not being able to feel your feelings is a trauma symptom 😅
In relation to what?
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish A self protective mechanism in which the brain compartmentalises events that were perceived as painful. Amygdala can only handle so much before it shuts down and now emotions don't get processed. Accessing the compartmentalised memories and exploring them brings up pain; and trains the amygdala to process emotions again. Traumatised individuals struggle to access their emotions because they are avoiding the pain.
@@joshy2joshy my question was what topic it was supposed to be adding information to.
@@Batmans_Pet_Goldfish The topic of the guy asking on Twitter "where are my emotions? I can't feel them"... the scientist mentioned alexithymia and psychopathy as the two reasons why, but not trauma.
@@romicor9 thanks for that, I didn't watch the video again to reply to Batman
So great to see Dr. Davidson on WIRED! More of this please!
What a delightful and insightful video!
Fantastic video/guest, it's all so fascinating!
Whoever said men are less emotional than women has never seen a guy get rejected by a girl smh 💀
Very interesting question and answer session. Thanks for posting!