What is the strongest emotion and why?

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Aster Phoenix
People say love is the strongest emotion of all.

Do you agree? or disagree? Which emotion do you feel is the strongest and why?

Discuss.

(Props to inimalist for giving me the idea for this thread)

lord xyz
Love (or maybe adoration).

It's stronger than desire, and can last forever.

Shakyamunison
Originally posted by Aster Phoenix
People say love is the strongest emotion of all.

Do you agree? or disagree? Which emotion do you feel is the strongest and why?

Discuss.

(Props to inimalist for giving me the idea for this thread)

Hate is the strongest emotion because it cannot be controlled.

leonheartmm
HATE, muahahaha!


no really, love is truly the strongest emotion.

lord xyz
Since love and hate are opposites, can't it be both?

Enyalus
Hate.

One reason - you can't control it.
Another reason - After love sours, it usually degrades into hate/anger.
Third reason - As memories fade, so does love. Hate, under the right circumstances, can last much longer.

leonheartmm
but love can trump hate. while hate, cant truly conquer love, not completely.

Robtard
Fail.

chillmeistergen
Depends on your personality.

Kalima
raging libido conquers love hate

lord xyz
Originally posted by Enyalus
Hate.

One reason - you can't control it. Desire, envy, love and anger are others that one "can't control"

Originally posted by Enyalus
Another reason - After love sours, it usually degrades into hate/anger. And hate can (ugh) sweeten.

Originally posted by Enyalus
Third reason - As memories fade, so does love. Hate, under the right circumstances, can last much longer. Neg.

Quiero Mota
I'd say it's guilt, hands down.

When someone is guilt-stricken, it's really obvious because its so hard to hide. It affects your entire day and dominates every thought. It's also a main cause of suicide.

Dark-Jaxx
Roid induced rage.

inimalist
lol, I'm in the first post, how can I resist

glib neuroscience answer: wtf is an emotion?

less glib everyday people answer:

Originally posted by Quiero Mota
I'd say it's guilt, hands down.

When someone is guilt-stricken, it's really obvious because its so hard to hide. It affects your entire day and dominates every thought. It's also a main cause of suicide.

I agree, with the possible exception of anxiety or disgust, although those are more immediate (as in, panic attacks )

lord xyz
Ecstacy is along the terms of anxiety, I guess.

inimalist
I'd call it mania, and yes, if we include it as emotion, it is very powerful. Depression then, and potentially lack of motivation would be up there as well.

This is why the scientist in me needs a definition of emotion

inimalist
im surprised it has not come up yet, but there is fear

lord xyz
distress, fear, lust and delight are the supposed 4 basic emotions, so it might be best to find out which out of those are strongest.

ragesRemorse
Id have to say Embarrassment.

Deja~vu
Love/Hate

People kill in the name of love
People kill in the name of hate.

The opposite of Love/Hate is indifference. So Love/Hate are in the same polar catagory and are the strongest.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by inimalist
im surprised it has not come up yet, but there is fear

By far, IMO.

MightyCelestial
IMO,
there are only two emotions:
Love & fear.
All other emotions are just sub-categories of these two.

Love is the most powerful,
but usually requires patience in order to utilize it's strength.
Fear, while not as powerful as love, can seem so because utilized with the opposite of patience, impatience, can manifest itself more explosively & therefore , many times, seems to even surpass Love in it's strength.

Deja~vu
Well fear is pretty strong, but you can learn to ignore it. Many fears are not real fears, imo. They are just fear of the unknown. There are fears that we place on ourselves. A real fear, imo is one that is more primitive and we need it to survive.

Jack Daniels
before i can answer is lust an emotion or an instinct?..lol

lord xyz
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
By far, IMO. What about Fright? Fright can kill you.

inimalist
lol, fear vs fright roll eyes (sarcastic)

see, this is why the question is dumb, we need to actually define what an emotion is, and then understand how they are all expressed in the brain.

For instance, disgust has its own system. Fear/anxiety and disgust would be my best bets, but by no means do I think that is an accurate way of answering the question.

like, what features make one emotion stronger than another?

Mindship
Originally posted by inimalist
im surprised it has not come up yet, but there is fear Certainly this must be the most deeply hard-wired, shared by every living thing (ie, those organisms which didn't know fear likely didn't flee and got et). But would this make it the "strongest" emotion? Hard to say since love can override fear.

Originally posted by MightyCelestial
IMO,
there are only two emotions:
Love & fear.
All other emotions are just sub-categories of these two.
I would go with fear and anger, as these are the two most deeply hard-wired. But again, does that necessarily mean they're the "strongest"?

SnakeEyes
I'd definitely say that fear is the strongest emotion and most occurring for the majority of people. It's present from birth in its most primitive form and I think it'd be safe to say that it persists throughout life as a dominant emotion. I can't think of a stronger feeling than say, a fatally wounded soldier fearing certain death. That's just an example, but you guys can probably see what I'm getting at. I also agree with what chill said, it does vary from person to person.

Ladyluck
I would say both hate and love. Hate for the reason, as Shaky said, it cannot be controlled. It can fuel a person to do things they never thought they'd be able or willing to do. Love for the reason that it is unconditional if you truly love a person. When you love someone, nothing in the world could hinder that feeling. Also, quite similarly to hate, it can make a person do things they never imagined themselves doing.

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
I'd definitely say that fear is the strongest emotion and most occurring for the majority of people. It's present from birth in its most primitive form and I think it'd be safe to say that it persists throughout life as a dominant emotion. I can't think of a stronger feeling than say, a fatally wounded soldier fearing certain death. That's just an example, but you guys can probably see what I'm getting at. I also agree with what chill said, it does vary from person to person.

I would think a fatally wounded soldier would not fear death but welcome it.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by lord xyz
What about Fright? Fright can kill you.

Fright is contained in fear.

But I'm with inimalist, we need to define the boundaries between emotions, what an emotion is and what makes an emotion strong to have a meaningful answer.

lord xyz
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Fright is contained in fear.

But I'm with inimalist, we need to define the boundaries between emotions, what an emotion is and what makes an emotion strong to have a meaningful answer. Fright is a part of fear yes, but the two are different emotions, like love and lust.

I also agree with inimalist.

Mindship
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
...and what makes an emotion strong to have a meaningful answer.

How about: Which emotion has most shaped human civilization?

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Mindship
How about: Which emotion has most shaped human civilization?

Goin' with fear.

You explore so you no long fear the unknown.
You form civilization to protect you from the people/things you fear.
You create weapons to fight off the things you fear.
You build governments because you fear chaos.
You work together because you fear being destroyed on your own.

Deja~vu
How about this:

Love can = fear, anger and hate. But in saying that, I mean displaced love, not real love.

SnakeEyes
Originally posted by Ladyluck
I would think a fatally wounded soldier would not fear death but welcome it.

Could be; I think it depends on the person. Me, being an atheist, would be scared as hell. Obviously I don't know this for sure, but if I were lying there in my own blood with my guts hanging out, I don't think I'd welcome my life being cut short.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Deja~vu
How about this:

Love can = fear, anger and hate. But in saying that, I mean displaced love, not real love.

Actually it's much easier to argue that most emotions are ways of dealing with fear.

You feel "love" so that you don't have to fear being alone.
You feel "anger" typically because of fear that you have lost control.
You feel "envy" because you fear you've fallen behind.
and so on

Grand-Moff-Gav
You don't love out of fear...

sometimes you just do...

Deja~vu
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Actually it's much easier to argue that most emotions are ways of dealing with fear.

You feel "love" so that you don't have to fear being alone.
You feel "anger" typically because of fear that you have lost control.
You feel "envy" because you fear you've fallen behind.
and so on How about this?

You fear because you feel rejected by love
You hate because you feel you were rejected by love.
You are angry because you feel rejected.

Hmm, I never said anything about envy, but to me envy is a kind of hate for what you lost or do not have...i.e. a lack of love to your own self or a happiness towards others.

Fear is a worthless view. It is self impossed...at least most times. It is a self worth view..

Deja~vu
Edit...........golly my golly.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Deja~vu
How about this?

You fear because you feel rejected by love
You hate because you feel you were rejected by love.
You are angry because you feel rejected.

Also possible, but considering that love is a fundamentally more complex emotion it seems far less likely. Not to mention people will feel those emotions even when they have not yet been in love, so love cannot be the root cause.

Originally posted by Deja~vu
Hmm, I never said anything about envy, but to me envy is a kind of hate for what you lost or do not have...i.e. a lack of love to your own self or a happiness towards others.

Wanted a round three.

Originally posted by Deja~vu
Fear is a worthless view. It is self impossed...at least most times. It is a self worth view..

What the f**k?

MightyCelestial
Originally posted by Mindship
Certainly this must be the most deeply hard-wired, shared by every living thing (ie, those organisms which didn't know fear likely didn't flee and got et). But would this make it the "strongest" emotion? Hard to say since love can override fear.

I would go with fear and anger, as these are the two most deeply hard-wired. But again, does that necessarily mean they're the "strongest"?
To me, anger is a subcatercory of fear.
Anger in any form, results from fear (IMO).

Mindship
Originally posted by MightyCelestial
To me, anger is a subcatercory of fear.
Anger in any form, results from fear (IMO). Biologically, I don't know if, in the fight-or-flight mechanism, one is secondary to the other. But psychologically, I would agree. I'm inclined to agree with this as well...
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
...most emotions are ways of dealing with fear. More to the point: Death Terror.

inimalist
to emphasize how complex a question like this is, let me give an example.

Piet Mondrian is an artist who made vibrant paintings of large square blocks of colour. I personally find them incredibly beautiful, though this is unimportant.

There are experimental tasks that researchers can do in order to occupy a person's attention. This is actually not all that hard. Say you have a display of red C's and green Os, like 10 of each. Then, there is a target, a red O (the idea being that you must attend to both the colour and the shape of the object in order to find the target, and it occupies your visual system, because it can't find the target by only looking for red things or O shaped things, it has to mix the info together).

So, here is the task. Subjects look through the search display of Os and Cs for the red O target. as they do this, a Mondrian-esque picture is displayed below the search display.

After finding the target in a number of searches, subjects are shown various mondrian-esque pictures, which they have to give a subjective evaluation of. By selecting abstract colour based pictures, it reduces the chance that a subject will remember an exact piece shown during the display (obviously display pictures were randomized, lest one thinks only the less beautiful ones were presented, and yes, there is a chance that, for each observer, the pictures displayed would have been subjectively less beautiful, though with statistical analysis the probability of this is far less than of the conclusions I'm discussing).

Subjects would rank the pictures that had been present during the search as less beautiful and inspiring than those that had not been. This shows that an emotional response to stimuli is based largely on the context that stimuli was presented in.

So, with relation to this thread, defining what constitutes and emotion or emotional power is going to be a difficult hurdle to begin with. Adding the fact that attentional prioritization and immediate context have an affect on emotional processing gives yet another layer of complexity to the issue.

FoxMeister
People say you can't control hate but i've never known a time when you could control love and if you can, it's not love at all

jalek moye
I say Fear

ragesRemorse
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Love/Hate

People kill in the name of love
People kill in the name of hate.

The opposite of Love/Hate is indifference. So Love/Hate are in the same polar catagory and are the strongest.

People kill over a bag of skittles and a pair of tennis shoe's too. People kill for all types of reasons.

does anyone actually kill in the name of love? I've never thought someone can kill another with love in their heart. Maybe, it's a conflict of emotions taking place but i don't think people actually kill entirely out of love.

jalek moye
Fear is one of the more common cases of killing

it also can dominate any other emotion

Quiero Mota
Is fear really an emotion? When cockroaches run when you hit the lights, is that fear? Because most people would say that insects are incapable of emotion, but they run for the hills when a predator is after them.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
Is fear really an emotion?

Yes. Fear is a very basic emotion.

Quiero Mota
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Yes. Fear is a very basic emotion.

So can a cricket be happy?

^I'm not being a dick, that's a real question. They run...hop for their lives, so why can't they experience the polar opposite?

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
So can a cricket be happy?

^I'm not being a dick, that's a real question. They run...hop for their lives, so why can't they experience the polar opposite?

I don't see what that has to do with fear/happiness being real emotions.

Jack Daniels
mmm greed tops the list as most "POWERFUL" ask any ceo of oil or pharmaceutical companies..lol

Mindship
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
So can a cricket be happy?

^I'm not being a dick, that's a real question. They run...hop for their lives, so why can't they experience the polar opposite?
I don't think insects have the gray matter for "happiness." For a roach, the polar opposite of fear is simply its absence.

jaden101
suprised noone has mention jealously/envy

inimalist
Originally posted by Quiero Mota
So can a cricket be happy?

^I'm not being a dick, that's a real question. They run...hop for their lives, so why can't they experience the polar opposite?

one would assume, yes, a cricket can be content. As in, they have all their immediate needs satiated and any predictive ability (a property of all nervous systems, to at least a small degree) they have shows no threat.

If that doesn't satisfy your definition of happiness, I totally understand. However, a similar description would accompany a cockroach's experience of fear.

A cockroach likely doesn't have much subjective experience of these things, so it wouldn't experience the "emotion" of fear, if you want to describe it like that.

My argument might be something like, all human emotions are based off of similar neural circuits, only interpreted by way more frontal lobe, but I know next to nothing about emotions.

Originally posted by Mindship
For a roach, the polar opposite of fear is simply its absence.

This is potentially the case in humans as well. Fight or flight reactions and anxiety have unique cortical representations, and affect the body differently than other emotions.

There is also the idea that emotions are more representative of our narrative description for a state of arousal, or even just our physical posture. Studies have concluded that people who force the muscles in their face to form a smile report more positive feeling.

Mindship
Originally posted by inimalist
This is potentially the case in humans as well. Fight or flight reactions and anxiety have unique cortical representations, and affect the body differently than other emotions.

There is also the idea that emotions are more representative of our narrative description for a state of arousal, or even just our physical posture. Studies have concluded that people who force the muscles in their face to form a smile report more positive feeling.

There may be some truth to this. As is often said, eg, the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. Put more bluntly: the opposite of any emotional state (ie, its physiological correlates) is its absence. However, in terms of human subjective experience, most people I think tend to polarize one emotion against another, rather than pair an emotion with its absence.

76qq309
there is no strongest emtion. they are all balanced perfectly.

Bada's Palin
Hate.

Darth Exodus
If it counts, Obsession.
Then, Rage
Guilt
Hate etc

I don't know about love, as I have never truely felt it, or what it is descibed as, thus it's absense. I've felt plenty of hate though.

SIDIOUS 66
Hate is probably a bit stronger than love. Love can easily turn into hate.

Aequo Animo
You will pay the price for your lack of vision.

Laura Palmer
Rage, because you can't control yourself...

lil bitchiness
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Hate is the strongest emotion because it cannot be controlled.

Neither can love.

Hate is self distructive, however.

Stealth
I believe love is the strongest emotion for its ability to bring people together even through the darkest of times.

Deja~vu
Hate and Love are polars of the same emotion, IMO, and both very strong. Too strong.

Kosta
Fear.

/thread.

Doom and Gloom
Sad to say hate is. Just look at the Muslims and the Jews. With hate all reasoning goes out the window.

zbucsz
Fear is the strongest-think about it

Deja~vu
I believe fear is more a primordial instinct. There are rational(primal) fears and irrational(learned) fears. Emotions are a little different, I believe.

Hate can cause fears though, just as love can also cause fears.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Hate can cause fears though, just as love can also cause fears.

Actually hate is often a cover for fear and love can be the same thing.

=Tired Hiker=
I think horniness is. IMO people think about sex way more than anything.

Jack Daniels
hmm after seeing wifeys breasts for the 8th time 2nite I agree hiker

Bada's Palin
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Actually hate is often a cover for fear and love can be the same thing.

So?

Doesn't necessarily mean that fear is stronger.

inimalist
Originally posted by Mindship
There may be some truth to this. As is often said, eg, the opposite of love is not hate, but apathy. Put more bluntly: the opposite of any emotional state (ie, its physiological correlates) is its absence. However, in terms of human subjective experience, most people I think tend to polarize one emotion against another, rather than pair an emotion with its absence.

People like clear opposites, and love/hate is one that is huge in our culture.

I personally am swaying more this way, the strength of an emotion has nothing to do with the emotion itself, but the context in which the emotional systems activate. Our later interpretation of this context will tell us what emotion it was we were experiencing, but that will be unrelated or at the very least, subsequent to the subjective experience of arousal.

Maybe what I'm saying is that emotions don't have strength, our reaction to stimuli does. It is more likely that the strength of that reaction determines our interpretation of the emotion than the other way around.

Bicnarok
Depends on your personality and how extreme a given situation is.

Fear is quite strong of you are confronted by a demon like entity.

Sado22
Love in its truest form is all encompassing. not romantic, oedipal, puppy, platonic or all these other trashy names we have for it but love in its purest sense.
all other emotions are just a reaction to love IMO. sorrow, joy, hate are emotions that are relative to love. joy is abundance of love, sorrow is deficit and hatred is absense of love.

Jack Daniels
Originally posted by Bicnarok
Depends on your personality and how extreme a given situation is.

Fear is quite strong of you are confronted by a demon like entity.
Fear is the strongest...just found that out very recent...not like when someone sticks a gun to your head ..been there that just made me angry...anger strong too..but when you think your gonna die and you experiencing death "type" issues fear of death is the strongest emotion ever...its easy to to take a bullet for someone else u usually dont have time to think thats a selfless act etc...but when your body is trying to shut down (accidental med overdose lets say..ahemm) the only comforting thought I had was of some ladies in my life...fear of death while dieing slow...I vote that....VERY SCARRY! I always thought the only thing in life I was scared of was sharks (big ones) now I know better...face slow death (while sober) is just anyways u all get my meaning....trying to make myself fearless again..but sticking in my head ...why did I have to be sober!

allofyousuckkk
love is the strongest because few emotions can create love, whereas love can build any emotion, sometimes mroe than once at a time.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Kris Blaze
So?

Doesn't necessarily mean that fear is stronger.

Fear is infinitely pervasive. All other emotions are built off of it. (ie fear is the strongest emotion because it is the source of emotions)

inimalist
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Fear is infinitely pervasive. All other emotions are built off of it. (ie fear is the strongest emotion because it is the source of emotions)

would you consider disgust to be an emotion?

Grand-Moff-Gav
What's the difference between an emotion and an instinct?

inimalist
Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
What's the difference between an emotion and an instinct?

depends on the level you want to understand emotion at, but here goes:

Emotion: either the activation of affective systems in response to stimuli or the interpretation of those affective activations by higher cortical areas.

Instinct: A drive from biology that affects behaviour. Traditionally, "instincts" can be thought of as "stimuli" that create "behaviour", only originating internally rather than externally, but that paradigm is somewhat outdated.

Grand-Moff-Gav
Originally posted by inimalist
depends on the level you want to understand emotion at, but here goes:

Emotion: either the activation of affective systems in response to stimuli or the interpretation of those affective activations by higher cortical areas.

Instinct: A drive from biology that affects behaviour. Traditionally, "instincts" can be thought of as "stimuli" that create "behaviour", only originating internally rather than externally, but that paradigm is somewhat outdated.

Is fear then not an instinct?

inimalist
Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
Is fear then not an instinct?

interesting point. My answer would be no, as the behaviour produced in response to the emotion would involve a different process than the emotion itself.

For instance, joy or lust would have similar qualities that might make someone behave in a particular way, but it would be action in response to the emotional feeling.

It might get more muddled if we use the second definition of emotion, where emotions are the cognitive interpretation and not simply the neurological response to stimuli, as that interpretation is going to be largely based on what behaviours your motor system is deciding you are going to want to do (language=hatred).

As that last sentence illustrated, there is probably going to be a lot of difficulty drawing a strict line between where a response to stimuli ends and where internally motivated behaviour begins, if such a line even exists.

Also, fear is, normally, in response to frightening contexts in the environment. Running from a fearful situation is instinctual, imho, though not the fear itself.

I guess this leaves the question open to whether it is possible to instinctually be afraid of something or irrational phobias...

parenthesis
Love, since it's very strong like, and hate, which is very strong dislike.

Right?

Bardock42
Originally posted by parenthesis
Love, since it's very strong like, and hate, which is very strong dislike.

Right? I don't know if it is a right and wrong question.

I would assume that emotions affect different people differently.

bogen
Passion i believe, which in my mind encompasses love and hate.
The two most powerful and uncontrollable emotions.

Sado22
instinct is a physical reaction borne of genetic memory passed on to us through evolution. case in point: fear of snakes and scorpions, innate fear of hieghts (proven fact because of even new born babies' heartrate going up when picked up etc) are all an instinctive reaction to stimuli.

btw, emotions can be instinctual but not viseversa imo.

jinXed by JaNx
I agree with that but i also think genetic memory plays a role in determining in a persons emotions as well.

Red Nemesis
Genetic memory?

inimalist
my thoughts exactly

jinXed by JaNx
Well, just like everything else, emotions have evolved. What determines the evolution of emotions? Is it environment, society, genetic memory or a bit of everything? I wonder what the emotional capacity of cro-magnon man was. Just like instincts, i think it took a long time for emotions to develop in Humans. A developmental process, like instincts, that is still changing and growing.

Sado22
you might have a point. this might explain, say for example, a mother's instinctual love for her child. the problem with that, as i see it, is that this simply might be more an extension of our desire to preserver ourselves rather than an emotion. after all, all animals are possessive and nurturing towards their young. even animals that abandon their children at birth are highly protective of them during pregnancy.


evolutionary psychology now suggests (and has proven?) that just like physical traits are passed on via genes, so is the memory of a speicy. this "memory" passes on the new generation as a coded information.

~Sado

Final Blaxican
The answer to the topic question has gotta be either love or lust, imo.

Sado22
fanboyism is the strongest emotion roll eyes (sarcastic)

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Sado22
evolutionary psychology now suggests (and has proven?) that just like physical traits are passed on via genes, so is the memory of a speicy. this "memory" passes on the new generation as a coded information.

~Sado

It's virtually impossible for psychology to "prove" anything. When it's something that takes longer to happen than psychology has existed assuming anything can be proved seems slightly absurd since it can't possibly have been tested. So I assume either someone has seriously misunderstood the idea of memory or the idea of evolution.

inimalist
Originally posted by Sado22
evolutionary psychology now suggests (and has proven?) that just like physical traits are passed on via genes, so is the memory of a speicy. this "memory" passes on the new generation as a coded information.

~Sado

science doesn't prove things

behavioural genetics has evidenced what you are talking about, evolutionary psychology does NOT identify genetic traits that are passed from parent to child, but rather is concerned with why overt human behaviour may have had survival benefit.

I understand now how you are using the term, it just seems needlessly confusing. The term you are looking for is either inheritance, genetic drift or genetic predisposition.

Epigenetics may work more as "memory", as the genes display themselves over generations based on the environmental conditions of the parents, however, even then, the term "memory" is very loaded.

For someone trying to put forth a "psychological" argument, the use of "memory" in such a way seems odd. Memory has very specific meaning in psychology, one that does not apply to genes at all, with the possible exception of comparing Long-term potentiation with epigenetic phenomena.

inimalist
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
So I assume either someone has seriously misunderstood the idea of memory or the idea of evolution.

evolutionary psych IS a valid form of study, though each paper has at least 3 paragraphs of caveats in its intro about how evolutionary studies of behaviour are immensely difficult.

The most recent one I can think of off the top of my head is some memory work done by Nairne. He showed a memory bias for items remembered in survival context vs other context, and also expanded it to show a bias for Savannah rather than city survival.

It is an almost entirely new field, and will challenge what is an almost entirely structuralist zeitgeist of cognitive psychology, so there are lots of problems and controversies, but evolutionary psych has a lot of promise. Its methods do need work though.

kitkateternal
love is the strongest emotion.. followed quickly by hate.. followed by remorse.. followed by following..

Sado22
sorry for vague sentence. i meant to say "scientifically proven". also, that question mark put right after proven was deliberate so as to point out that one I, for one, am skeptical.


do you have a link for this? sounds interesting.


i said the memory (and that too in inverted commas) of a speicy not parents. for memory to be passed on directy would be weird and virtually impossible. i doubt there has ever been a case where a child remembered what his or her parents went through before he or she even came in the picture.

~Sado

inimalist
Originally posted by Sado22
do you have a link for this? sounds interesting.

Adaptive memory: survival processing enhances retention.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17352610?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Adaptive memory: the comparative value of survival processing
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18271866?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

The mnemonic advantage of processing fitness-relevant information
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927033?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Originally posted by Sado22
i said the memory (and that too in inverted commas) of a speicy not parents. for memory to be passed on directy would be weird and virtually impossible. i doubt there has ever been a case where a child remembered what his or her parents went through before he or she even came in the picture.

~Sado

thats my point though. Memory is not a species level phenomena. It is an individual thing.

jinXed by JaNx
Originally posted by Final Blaxican
The answer to the topic question has gotta be either love or lust, imo.

So, you think lust is stronger than fear?

A Dose Of Vraya
Originally posted by Shakyamunison
Hate is the strongest emotion because it cannot be controlled. Love can't be controlled either. You can't suddenly not love someone.
However, I believe that boredom is the strongest of all emotions because of the things it can cause people to believe and do.

Deja~vu
love/hate

Shakyamunison
Originally posted by A Dose Of Vraya
...However, I believe that boredom is the strongest of all emotions because of the things it can cause people to believe and do.

Really? confused

Deja~vu
Is boredom an emotion?? I just thought it was a state of being.

lord xyz
Originally posted by Deja~vu
Is boredom an emotion?? I just thought it was a state of being. It's a state of mind.

Excitement, Arousal, Depression and Comfort are others I think.

Deja~vu
But boredom an emotion?? Well maybe it can be and maybe it could lead to depression also. Hmm

Jack Daniels
I know it happily leads to drinking..and trust me I never am depressed when Im drinking...unless wifey has to work a double shift...then I get depressed...shes fun to hang out with

Laura Palmer
Have I posted here? I can't remember.

Anyway, wrath is the strongest emotion because it outlives everything.

Symmetric Chaos
Except . . . well living things in general.

edisonik
Do not cloud your mind with thoughts of destruction. Destruction of anykind is wrong. Learn to love and nuture , Messiahs that preach salvation through Murder and assasination are a deception that serve Evil Forces bent on Humanities Pains & Sorrows.

You must try to see through the Dark for Darkness is clouding the Planet right now , awaken Ancient Spirits.

FeelGood
Stop spamming.

Anyway its hate.

Bowser jr
i think all emotions are the some. but only show when they are needed.
=]

coberst
Our strongest emotion is the desire to live or perhaps it can be said to be the fear of death.

Our Western philosophical and religious heritage is based upon the mind/body dichotomy. I am convinced that this is so because we have such a strong instinct to live that we cannot abide consciousness of death. For this reason we created an after life that will thus allow us to deny our mortality. It is this repression of our mortality that sets us up for most of the problems that we now encounter. We create religion as a means to get beyond consciousness of death and to create the illusion of life eternal.

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by edisonik
Do not cloud your mind with thoughts of destruction. Destruction of anykind is wrong. Learn to love and nuture , Messiahs that preach salvation through Murder and assasination are a deception that serve Evil Forces bent on Humanities Pains & Sorrows.

You must try to see through the Dark for Darkness is clouding the Planet right now , awaken Ancient Spirits. Ugh, what a boring request with boring results.


Strongest emotion: fear. It's presence can overrule any other emotion present with the possible exception of anger/rage (depending on the scenario). Some of the smallest changes in our daily actions to the largest in history can find their roots in fear of something, even if it exists at near unconscious levels. Ultimately, you go to work to make money to sustain your life for fear of loss and death. Every now and then, anger develops out of fear, overriding it. But in terms of occurrence, fear has the numbers on its side.

leonheartmm
love. then peace then happiness then rapture/joy then realisation/apihpany then beholding/beauty.

why? they are what matter.

leonheartmm
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Ugh, what a boring request with boring results.


Strongest emotion: fear. It's presence can overrule any other emotion present with the possible exception of anger/rage (depending on the scenario). Some of the smallest changes in our daily actions to the largest in history can find their roots in fear of something, even if it exists at near unconscious levels. Ultimately, you go to work to make money to sustain your life for fear of loss and death. Every now and then, anger develops out of fear, overriding it. But in terms of occurrence, fear has the numbers on its side.

but what value does fear as a motivation or in itself, hold?

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by leonheartmm
but what value does fear as a motivation or in itself, hold? Fear is very valuable as a tool when applied to others. Learning to overcome most personal fears is a true example of willpower.

But as a motivator, it's magic. Every revolution, coup, war, election, etc., grounds their respective ideals and promises in abating fear. Fear of death is the obvious one, but fear of loss is large too. Loss of pride, loss of family, loss of income, loss of opportunities. Fear is capitalized on and fanned in to anger, resentment, hate etc. All major conflicts in history and most minor obstacles in our personal mental states can be attributed to fear of something.

It's not often the most visible or outwardly portrayed emotion, but in terms of influence, it's unmatched.

leonheartmm
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Fear is very valuable as a tool when applied to others. Learning to overcome most personal fears is a true example of willpower.

But as a motivator, it's magic. Every revolution, coup, war, election, etc., grounds their respective ideals and promises in abating fear. Fear of death is the obvious one, but fear of loss is large too. Loss of pride, loss of family, loss of income, loss of opportunities. Fear is capitalized on and fanned in to anger, resentment, hate etc. All major conflicts in history and most minor obstacles in our personal mental states can be attributed to fear of something.

It's not often the most visible or outwardly portrayed emotion, but in terms of influence, it's unmatched.

but the outcomes of fear have no value at all. it is happiness/freedom/joy/ability to love etc that might come about as a sideffect of fearful actions that have value.{after all what are all the revolutions of the world and every desperate act worth, if they end up with fear as a conclusions}

im saying, that fear has no value to it.

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by leonheartmm
but the outcomes of fear have no value at all. it is happiness/freedom/joy/ability to love etc that might come about as a sideffect of fearful actions that have value.{after all what are all the revolutions of the world and every desperate act worth, if they end up with fear as a conclusions}

im saying, that fear has no value to it. No, not to oneself it doesn't. To the individual, most fears are things which should be overcome, though possessing fear in the first place is a necessary requirement to being human.

Really, it depends on our definition of "strength." Strength as in "intensity in which an emotions is felt"? That can not be determined in the slightest, and not only because it's relative. Any emotion can be felt to a magnanimous degree, provided the situation is right.

Strength as in "what provides the biggest impact on our lives"? That can be measured, to a degree, and the outcome is fear.

leonheartmm
^im talking more about "value" in the objective, self evident way that some emotions have inherent value to humans because that relationship between the human-emotion is hardwired into their very being and the concepts which define them.

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by leonheartmm
^im talking more about "value" in the objective, self evident way that some emotions have inherent value to humans because that relationship between the human-emotion is hardwired into their very being and the concepts which define them. You may need to define value further.

leonheartmm
those things which are desireable to human beings due to our human nature, yet seperated from instincts in that, it makes us feel wonderful/better as opposed to simply satiating a desire.

i.e. it gives us an emotional peace/satistfaction which we consider different from and better than being satiated/releived of a biological necessity and we define these things we find superior to satiating as "valueable".

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by leonheartmm
those things which are desireable to human beings due to our human nature, yet seperated from instincts in that, it makes us feel wonderful/better as opposed to simply satiating a desire.

i.e. it gives us an emotional peace/satistfaction which we consider different from and better than being satiated/releived of a biological necessity and we define these things we find superior to satiating as "valueable". Oh well then of course not. Humans don't like fear, as natural as it is. When was the last someone said "Thank God! I was fine a moment ago, but I'm scared again now. It's all good." Talk about your paradoxes.

matunechka
I consider love to be the strongest emotion!It can defeat even hate.

Lord Lucien
The combined Love of the Allied forces overwhelmed the pure Hate of the Nazis---may the power of Heart protect you!


Captaaaiin Planet!

Nemesis X
Sometimes I find getting pissed off to be one of the most powerful emotions.

gobstakid777
fear is undoubtedly the most powerful emotion

gobstakid777
Originally posted by gobstakid777
fear is undoubtedly the most powerful emotion
anger/hate comes in second,especially anger

Lord Lucien
Definitely.

RaiTei
anxiety.

horoscopes, religion, fate, higher powers, destiny........all this mumbojumbo because we are anxious about our future and where we're going.

teamB_macro
hate/jealousy?

in some jurisdictions, killing a spouse caught in flagrante delicto of having sexual intercourse with another person shall only suffer the penalty of destierro (or exile). no capital punishments.

Tina Barrett
The strongest emotion is when you totally change the way your life is for the best, yet still something happens that embarrasses you in the same exact way. It is because I could blame myself, but that's gay. It's just normal things, like I was too tired to make a wittier decision concerning my life, and now people see me as simply mortally human as opposed to more the ideal, maybe even subhuman feelings.Jealousy can be tied either to racism or things you do within your culture. It's more racial definition than preference issues. Men cheat on girls and end up talking to older people who effeminate and infant-ize/babify them just to make them feel good and to cheat on the person they love.

BADGALcharlie26
Love as the song goes what the world needs now is love sweet love

Symmetric Chaos
DEATH!!!

Lord Lucien
Originally posted by Tina Barrett
The strongest emotion is when you totally change the way your life is for the best, yet still something happens that embarrasses you in the same exact way. It is because I could blame myself, but that's gay. It's just normal things, like I was too tired to make a wittier decision concerning my life, and now people see me as simply mortally human as opposed to more the ideal, maybe even subhuman feelings.Jealousy can be tied either to racism or things you do within your culture. It's more racial definition than preference issues. Men cheat on girls and end up talking to older people who effeminate and infant-ize/babify them just to make them feel good and to cheat on the person they love. Jealousy can also be tied in to roots of fear... just saying.

jinXed by JaNx
I know it's not necessarily an emotion but if we're referring to emotions as strongest motivation i think Pain is the strongest motivation.

Symmetric Chaos
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
Jealousy can also be tied in to roots of fear... just saying.

Jealousy is simply fear of loss.

The Dark Cloud
Hate is. Hate can last for generations and can get to the point where people don't even know WHY they hate. Just look at the Israelis and the Arabs.

CrissCross941
If you count fear as an emotion, then yes fear would be the strongest. Though fear can easily be an instinct since it's origin can be passed down from generation to generation, making it an instinct instead of an emotion. The emotion fear is much less strong, since it's usually on a purely physiological level, (Though not always), and the instinct fear can easily be (And almost always is) physical, making it near impossible for any other emotion to override.
And based on most interpretations of fear, it seems most people blend these together to form one emotion, fear. Which having both the psychological and psychical aspects of it, is by far the strongest.

Colossus-Big C
Hate/Anger is the strongest emotion. i makes people kill

jinXed by JaNx
Greed...,pure and simple. The only emotion that can overtake greed is honor.I think the question is...,which is more powerful...,youth or love?

BloodRain
Anger, especially a 'blind rage' as anyone can do terrible acts with it. Its is also mostly uncontrollable.

AsbestosFlaygon
Jealousy.

It's something that seems to be innate in all mankind..

When we see someone who is essentially 'better' than us (skill-wise, looks-wise, etc), this is the first emotion we feel towards that person.

Colossus-Big C
Its Rage, really nothing beats rage

Ordo
Rage is petty and dispensible. Love makes people do anything...and unlike rage, they'll do it for an extended period of time.

Rage is only considerd powerful to tweens. Yet amongst them, the perception of love makes them do the most retarded things...

inimalist
I'm sticking with disgust

Symmetric Chaos
Fear, definitely.

Ms.Marvel
Originally posted by Symmetric Chaos
Fear, definitely.

agreed! fear or love... but id say fear is the reason why love is so powerful big grin

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