Editing Feeling (section)

== Feelings about feelings ==
{{See also| Affective forecasting}}
[[File:Sensitiva (Miquel Blay, MRABASF E-76) 01.jpg|thumb|''Sensitive'', sculpture by [[Miguel Blay|M. Blay]] ({{Circa|1910}})]]

Individuals in society predict that something will give them a certain desired outcome or feeling. Indulging in what one might have thought would've made them happy or excited might only cause a temporary thrill, or it might result in the opposite of what was expected and wanted. Events and experiences are done and relived to satisfy one's feelings.{{cn|date=March 2025}}

Details and information about the past are used to make decisions, as past experiences of feelings tend to influence current [[decision-making]], how people will feel in the future, and if they want to feel that way again. Gilbert and Wilson conducted a study to show how pleased a person would feel if they purchased flowers for themselves for no specific reason (birthday, anniversary, or promotion etc.) and how long they thought that feeling would last. People who had no experience of purchasing flowers for themselves and those who had experienced buying flowers for themselves were tested. Results showed that those who had purchased flowers in the past for themselves felt happier and that feeling lasted longer for them than for a person who had never experienced purchasing flowers for themselves.{{sfnp|Wood|Bettman|2007}}

[[Arlie Russell Hochschild]], a [[sociologist]], depicted two accounts of emotion. The organismic emotion is the outburst of emotions and feelings. In organismic emotion, emotions/feelings are instantly expressed. Social and other factors do not influence how the emotion is perceived, so these factors have no control on how or if the emotion is suppressed or expressed. In interactive emotion, emotions and feelings are controlled. The individual is constantly considering how to react or what to suppress. In interactive emotion, unlike in organismic emotion, the individual is aware of their decision on how they feel and how they show it.{{sfnp|Hochschild|1979}}

[[Erving Goffman]], a sociologist and writer, compared how actors withheld their emotions to the everyday individual. Like actors, individuals can control how emotions are expressed, but they cannot control their inner emotions or feelings. Inner feelings can only be suppressed in order to achieve the expression one wants people to see on the outside. Goffman explains that emotions and emotional experience are an ongoing thing that an individual is consciously and actively working through. Individuals want to conform to society with their inner and outer feelings.{{sfnp|Hochschild|1979}}

[[Anger]], [[happiness]], [[joy]], [[stress (psychological)|stress]], and excitement are some of the feelings that can be experienced in life. In response to these emotions, our bodies react as well. For example, [[Anxiety|nervousness]] can lead to the sensation of having "[[knot]]s in the stomach" or "butterflies in the stomach".{{sfnp|Hochschild|2003}}

=== Self-harm ===
{{Main|Self-harm}}
Negative feelings can lead to harm. When an individual is dealing with an overwhelming amount of stress and problems in their lives, there is the possibility that they might consider self-harm. When one is in a good state of feeling, they never want it to end; conversely, when someone is in a bad state of mind, they want that feeling to disappear. Inflicting harm or [[pain]] to oneself is sometimes the answer for many individuals because they want something to keep their mind off the real problem.{{sfnp|Hawton|Saunders|O'Connor|2012}} These individuals cut, stab, and starve themselves in an effort to feel something other than what they currently feel, as they believe the pain to be not as bad as their actual problem. Distraction is not the only reason why many individuals choose to inflict self-harm. Some people inflict self-harm to punish themselves for feeling a certain way.{{sfnp|Bar-Anan|Wilson|Gilbert|2009}} Other psychological factors could be low [[self-esteem]], the need to be perfect, or [[social anxiety]].{{sfnp|Hawton|Saunders|O'Connor|2012}}