The words we use to describe our emotions affect how we feel, says historian Tif
ID: 3467641 • Letter: T
Question
The words we use to describe our emotions affect how we feel, says historian Tiffany Watt Smith, and they've often changed (sometimes very dramatically) in response to new cultural expectations and ideas. Take nostalgia, for instance: first defined in 1688 as an illness and considered deadly, today it's seen as a much less serious affliction. In this fascinating talk about the history of emotions, learn more about how the language we use to describe how we feel continues to evolve -- and pick up some new words used in different cultures to capture those fleeting feelings in words. What did you learn from the video? What are your perspectives on emotion?
Explanation / Answer
According to Tiffany Watt Smith emotions depend on the time and place in very many ways. She is a research fellow in this field in the Queen Mary University of London. Emotions in fact a=consist of a whole range which include certain cardinal ones and others. It ranges far beyond Descartes’s six “primitive passions” – wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy sadness – showcasing words from around the world including “toska” (for Nabokov, “toska” was “a longing with nothing to long for”) and “basorexia”, the sudden urge to kiss someone. More fascinating and intriguing is in fact the connection between language and emotions, i.e. finding the correct words to connect to the exact emotion that is being felt. To explora this Pandora of emotional history, psychologists, researchers and other field workers corroborate their findings in order to reach substantial conclusions.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.