What is an overly emotional person called: choleric or empath?

Greetings. The surrounding world, events, every little thing are reflected in the human soul. Something pleases, gives pleasure - the aroma of coffee in the morning or relaxing music in the evening, good news, pleasant company, an interesting film, a blooming flower... Others upset, irritate or anger - noisy neighbors, cloudy weather, a hole in a favorite sock, sour milk, unfulfilled a promise, an unheard alarm clock... That same response in the soul is human emotions, manifested in different people to varying degrees. Some people know how to control themselves, while others react to everything very violently - they squeal with delight at the sight of a chocolate bar, cry over the endings of children's cartoons, explode at the slightest failure, or, conversely, withdraw and remain silent for weeks if they are offended. Such personalities will be discussed on the blog. What is an overly emotional person called, what is emotionality in general, how does it manifest itself in temperament, who are empaths and how do they differ from ordinary people?

What is emotionality and its reflection in temperament

Emotionality is, according to the dictionary of practical psychologist S. Yu. Golovin, a human property that characterizes the manifestation of emotions: their content (the most significant phenomena and situations), quality (attitude to what is happening) and dynamics (appearance, course, cessation and expression). Emotionality is one of the main components that make up temperament.

Based on the type and intensity of expression of emotions, psychologists have identified four types of temperament:

1. Melancholic people seem calm to others, but passions are always boiling in their souls. It’s just that such people do not know how to express their emotions, they keep them inside or show them very sparingly. Outwardly, it is almost imperceptible that the melancholic person’s mood has changed. He always seems sad, and all because negative emotions in people with this type of temperament are more stable than positive ones. Melancholic people are easily upset or offended. They empathize with others, although they do not show it outwardly. Among the famous melancholic personalities were Alexandre Dumas and Sergei Yesenin, Frederic Chopin and Honore de Balzac.
2. Sanguine people are the opposite of melancholic people. Emotions in their souls arise more slowly, but also remain for a long time. At the same time, sanguine people know how to control their expression. They are capable of bright flashes, but only if they want it. People of this temperament are strong and stable, prone to dominance. They are not easily angered, but they will hold grudges for a long time. Famous sanguine people are Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin and Giordano Bruno.
3. Phlegmatic people are the most balanced type. Their emotions are born with difficulty and find their way out even more difficult. At the same time, phlegmatic people store their feelings for a very long time, often for the rest of their lives. For those around them, such people are a mystery, because what they think and feel always remains sealed. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky had exactly this temperament.
4. Choleric people are the opposite of phlegmatic people. Their emotions arise quickly and manifest themselves violently, but change very quickly. The mood of choleric people fluctuates, but more often remains on a positive wave. These people do not hold grudges, but can explode over some trifle. They grab onto every task, but quickly lose interest. They fall in love at first sight, but also quickly change the object of their adoration. The famous choleric person is the French writer Victor Marie Hugo.

Representatives of one specific temperament are rarely found among people. Usually everything is mixed up in the human soul, but a certain type is expressed more intensely. Under the influence of life factors, different aspects of character appear, and the personality itself can change over time. For example, if they find themselves in a stressful situation, phlegmatic people can produce a fireworks display of emotions that is unusual for them, and when it’s all over, they can return to their previous balanced state.

Emotions and their role in human life

Joy and sadness, pleasure and dislike, fear and delight, passion and affect - all these are emotional states that play an important role in human life. They are often called emotions, although from a psychological point of view, emotions are only one type of emotional state. But we will not be too pedantic and will use a shorter name for these mental phenomena.

What are emotional states

Emotions are a person’s reactions to things that are significant to him: phenomena, events, people, etc. As a rule, emotions are associated with needs, and in this regard their mechanism is very simple. If some circumstances help satisfy needs, then they cause positive emotions, and if they interfere, then, accordingly, negative ones.

Another thing is that our needs are very different and our attitudes towards things are also very contradictory. Therefore, people’s emotions are also contradictory. For example, a young man in love should undoubtedly experience the most positive emotions towards the object of his love. However, if the girl does not reciprocate, that is, prevents the satisfaction of the need, then this love somehow coexists with irritation, and even hatred.

The more significant and important a person’s needs are, the stronger the emotions he experiences. True, the significance of needs is exclusively subjective. Thus, a heavy smoker experiences irritation when he cannot smoke the desired cigarette, although objectively this is not a need that should be satisfied.

Emotions are very diverse and color literally every moment of our lives. In psychology, it is customary to distinguish the following types of these mental states:

• pleasure;
• feelings;
• emotions;
• mood;
• stress;
• passion;
• affects.

The most stable are feelings and moods. They, to a greater extent, determine the characteristics of such a personal quality as emotionality.

Emotions are a fairly ancient type of mental state, and they are associated with physiological processes in our body. The experience of certain emotional states causes changes in the activity of different systems: cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, etc. And the brighter the feelings, the stronger these changes.

The fact is that our brain reacts to situations that are significant for a person by increasing the activity of nerve cells and the emergence of foci of excitation. Depending on the nature of the situation, neurons begin to produce certain protein compounds. For example, awareness of sudden danger leads to the production of the hormone norepinephrine. It strengthens the heart, increases blood pressure, and reduces the activity of the digestive system. That is, this is how our body prepares to repel danger or escape from it.

And situations that are pleasant for us, satisfying our needs, lead to the production of serotonin, the “good mood” hormone. And we experience a feeling of pleasure and serenity. Changes in brain biochemistry are an important consequence of experiencing emotions, but not their only function.

Functions of emotional states

Sometimes it seems that there are many more unpleasant emotions than pleasant ones. This is due to the fact that negative emotions are more important for our body, so we remember them better and remember them longer. These states warn of danger, give a signal to be careful, and force one not to forget about possible troubles. All emotional states that perform many functions are vital for a person:

• Estimated. Provides an assessment of the situation, and not only its nature, but also the possible consequences for us.
• Signal. The emotions we experience are unique signals about the meaning of everything that happens around us. They communicate danger or a source of pleasure, an unsatisfied need or an object that is significant to us.
• Regulatory or corrective. Thanks to emotions, we can correctly and adequately react to what is happening to us. Thus, the fear of heights makes us avoid the edge of the abyss, and the pleasure of communicating with a friend makes us seek a meeting with him. Moreover, our behavior is regulated not only by the emotional states themselves, but even by memories of them.
• Expressive (expressive). Emotions are manifested externally in changes in facial expressions and eye expression, in gestures and intonation. This is how they show our state and convey it to the interlocutor. It is easier for a moderately emotional person to achieve mutual understanding. And unemotional people with expressionless facial expressions often cause wariness and mistrust.
• Emergency exit function. A sharp surge of emotions in the event of a sudden danger causes the activation of many mental and physiological processes in our body. This increases his resistance, reaction speed and aggressiveness, which allows him to avoid danger or overcome an obstacle. This state in psychology is known as a state of affect.

Emotions are so closely connected with all processes occurring in our body that they are an integral part of our personality. When assessing people, we pay great attention to their emotionality.

What is another name for overly emotional people?

An emotional person is no matter how they call it, the following synonyms are common in everyday life:

• hypersensitive;
• hot;
• ardent;
• passionate;
• temperamental;
• excitable;
• pathetic;
• zealous;
• gusty;
• empathic;
• affective;
• gusty;
• expansive.

The adjective emotional has noticeably fewer antonyms - it is insensitive, callous, dry, cool or balanced.

Signs of hypersensitivity

You can understand that you or someone is a hypersensitive person by several signs:

1. Deep, intense, complex and persistent emotions. Such people are unusually lively, sometimes “painfully alive.” They feel everything so acutely that they often cannot cope with the release of emotions, they simply cannot control themselves. Their mood changes instantly. They can feel very good, and five minutes later incredibly bad. They perceive music as wave-like streams that awaken feelings corresponding to the motive - joy or sadness, delight or despondency. The plots of books and films captivate you, and the paintings of great artists bring you to tears.
2. High sensitivity. For hypersensitive individuals, there are practically no people who are mysteries. They see through everyone, recognize intentions and read the moods of others. Plus, such individuals notice every little thing, instantly grasp the meaning, as they say, “see to the root,” not paying attention to the superficial husk. This is not always good. It's hard to control yourself when you see injustice and hypocrisy. It is difficult to adequately communicate with unpleasant people if it is impossible to avoid such communication (for example, with your superiors). This causes torment or even trouble for emotional natures.
3. Rich inner world and developed imagination. Hypersensitive people have dialogues with themselves, have imaginary friends and dive inward, closing themselves off in their own little world. They can live imaginary lives, feeling like heroes of incredible stories. Imagination for them is a lifeline in especially difficult life moments. They hide behind fantasies to make it easier to survive difficulties. Emotional individuals grasp everything on the fly, they quickly collect grains of important information from the world around them, digest them and put the picture together into a single whole. They see the essence of things, not the shell. They persistently try to get to the bottom of their essence. Therefore, they are characterized by ardent self-criticism. They are often dissatisfied with themselves. They are characterized by such qualities as criticality, perfectionism and the “excellent student syndrome.”
4. Indifference to the experiences of others. An empathetic person is what they say about those who read other people’s emotions on a subconscious level and experience them together with the owner. Sympathy, empathy, the desire to share grief or joy with someone, the inability to say “no” are the key characteristics of empaths. Empaths are always hypersensitive, but not every emotional person is empathetic. It is worth talking about who empaths are in more detail, which is done below.
5. Existential anxiety. Emotional individuals are characterized by worries about the global - the transience of time, the finitude of life, the purposelessness of existence and other incomprehensible things. They are annoyed that others do not care about all this and do not think about the future, do not try to leave a mark in history. Therefore, they themselves strive to continuously develop, move forward and worry about how others will remember them.
6. Self-expression in creativity. The emotions of hypersensitive individuals are expressed in creativity. Their products are not necessarily displayed publicly. They can gather dust on the closet and be shown to those closest to you. But even among famous writers, poets, musicians and artists there are a lot of hypersensitive people.

The presence of all or several signs (some may be implicit) indicates a person with increased emotionality and hypersensitivity.

Pros and cons of hypersensitivity

Is it good or bad to be an overly emotional person? In fact, it is impossible to answer this question unequivocally. First the good:

1. Such individuals build deep and lasting relationships. They give themselves to their other half without reserve. They love sincerely, express it in every possible way, feel their partner, empathize with him and live with their chosen one all their lives.
2. Highly sensitive people always know what they feel. They do not have average unrecognized states; if they are sad, then they are sad, if they are happy, then they are happy. In this regard, it’s easy with him: you don’t need to sit and guess what’s in a person’s soul.
3. They strive for balance and perfection, so they are not afraid of change. If they feel bad, they try to make it feel good.
4. People who are too emotional understand perfectly well what mental pain is, so they try not to cause it to anyone; they are not capable of meanness and betrayal. They do not plot and do not manipulate people.
5. They are critical of themselves, so they avoid judging others.
6. They never hypocrite and always say what they think, although it often backfires on them. But such straightforward individuals can be trusted one hundred percent.
7. They are adventurous and inventive. There's never a dull moment with them.
8. They easily do good and do not expect anything in return. This is a plus for those around them, but sometimes it becomes a minus for themselves, since self-interested people quickly understand what’s what and, without a twinge of conscience, begin to take advantage of their kindness.
9. Emotional individuals value attention and every little detail. You don't have to go out of your way to please them. It is enough to say a few kind words or give, for example, a chocolate bar or a bouquet of daisies from the yard.
10. They are positive and look for the good in everything.
11. They find a common language with everyone, can carry on a conversation on any topic and do not know what awkward silence is.
12. They are always ready for adventure. It’s easy to start a new project, hitchhike to the ends of the world, change your image to support a friend, move to another country for your loved one!

These are all the advantages that lead to the disadvantages of emotional people. Sometimes there are “too many” of them, especially introverts and phlegmatic people feel this way. On the one hand, they are drawn to them to fill the gaps in their dull life. On the other hand, they quickly get tired and irritated. There are always those who want to take advantage of selflessness and the desire to help others. Intolerance to hypocrisy creates a lot of problems for them in communicating with the “right” people. But they cannot smile on demand, knowing that this guy, whoever he is, is a hypocrite and a scoundrel. In addition, those around them often mistake their hypersensitivity for hysteria, not understanding the nature of such individuals, and their easy-going nature for frivolity.

What to do if you are too sensitive. And it's noticeable

If you cannot stand bright light and turmoil around you, cannot watch horror films, and if you watch the news about an earthquake or military conflict, you begin to cry with pity for the victims, you are a highly sensitive person. According to the author of the term, Elaine N. Aron, there are about 20% of people like you in the world. This means it's time to stop hiding your feelings and no longer be ashamed of crying at the movies.

In the modern Western world, it’s a shame to be a weakling - and that’s why we have to hide our feelings, constantly stay on our toes, pretend that we can live without lunch and sleep and work 12 hours a day, otherwise our colleagues will look at us askance, and the bosses make jokes at our expense.

In our country it is not customary to be capricious - and therefore we are forced to agree to the conditions that exist, to work in a basement or open space, under the wind of an air conditioner, in the harsh light of fluorescent lamps and under the shouts of colleagues from neighboring departments.

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Do we suffer from all this? Yes, we are suffering. In general, we suffer from a lot of things: we can’t stand the feeling of hunger, we can’t watch films about the war, we don’t wear woolen things because they prick, we rip off the tags from T-shirts because they get in the way. We cannot work when it is cold, hungry or noisy, we react sharply to criticism and take any comments personally, we detect changes in the mood of others. All that remains is to say who we are.

We are highly sensitive people. Don’t rush to laugh and call us sissies - and not just because it’s very offensive to us.

You may also be one of the fifth of the world's population that is particularly sensitive to sensory processing. Then you are one of us.

You were probably also forbidden to watch a news program as a child because they showed war and starving children in Africa? Maybe you were dying of shame when a geography teacher gave you a bad mark once in your life? Maybe you hated running and, in general, any form of competition, when everyone is looking at you, and you run no more than a C? Maybe at school it was sheer torture for you to raise your hand in class, even if you knew exactly the right answer? Maybe. Or perhaps you have other examples from childhood that will help you say that you were a highly sensitive child and probably grew into an equally highly sensitive adult.

The term “highly sensitive person” was first used in its current sense by Dr. Elaine Aron, a scientist and author of the book The Highly Sensitive Person, published in the United States in 1997. The hypothesis that high sensitivity to external stimuli is a feature inherent in approximately 20% of the Earth’s inhabitants was put forward by a psychologist twenty years ago.

However, real interest in this idea has awakened among the public only now, when it became clear that more and more people cannot cope with stress.

And I woke up just in time: over twenty years, Dr. Aron and her colleagues conducted many studies that helped to understand what processes occur in the brain of a highly sensitive person, and to conclude that this feature is innate: certain areas of the brain of such a person react more sharply to external stimuli, than other, less sensitive people.

And not only for negative ones, but also for positive ones too. Yes, highly sensitive people feel acute discomfort in awkward situations. But they experience more vividly the pleasure of contemplating objects of art and views of nature, listening to music, and communicating with pleasant people.

How to Tell If You're a Highly Sensitive Person

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1. You have deep feelings

One of the main characteristics of highly sensitive people is the ability to deeply feel what is happening around them. They have developed intuition, which allows them to be more insightful than their less sensitive companions.

2. You react more emotionally than others.

Highly sensitive people experience more intense emotions and are often affected by the emotions of others. These are not necessarily close people; they can easily pick up a bad mood from a friend or become preoccupied with the problems of a colleague. This makes them hate delivering bad news or making unpopular decisions—they worry about how others will react.

3. You are often told: “Don’t take it to heart”

Different cultures treat sensitive people differently: if in the West emotionality is a sign of weakness, then in the East everything is not so simple.

Dr. Ted Zeff, author of The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide, states based on his research that in India and Thailand, sensitive men are teased very rarely, while in North America, men with a fine mental organization often find themselves the objects of ridicule.

4. You prefer to exercise alone

Highly sensitive people hate team sports, according to Dr. Zeff. And our experience confirms this: such people like cycling, swimming or race walking, but playing football or basketball causes them to panic.

However, there are exceptions: if such a person is lucky with smart and understanding parents, he may not be afraid to express himself in a team.

5. You find it difficult to make basic decisions

Highly sensitive people are attentive to the details of the situation and the subtleties of circumstances. Because of this, they try to take everything into account and fall into a stupor, because it’s all too much.

Even the task of choosing ice cream can confuse them. However, there is good news: having once understood how to behave in a certain situation, in similar conditions in the future such a person, without getting lost, will immediately do the right thing.

6. You get upset when you make a mistake.

Mistakes upset everyone, but highly sensitive people especially: because of annoying little things and mistakes that others have forgotten about, they can suffer for weeks, imagining that they still remember the mistake.

7. You are an introvert

But there are exceptions: according to Dr. Aron, 30% of highly sensitive individuals are extroverts. This happens when a person grows up in a closed environment, where everything is visible, in a village, small town, religious community or family of a public person.

8. You know how to work in a team

Paradoxically, but true: the depth of experience makes highly sensitive people excellent employees. Only they should not be in positions where they have to make final decisions: for example, if he is a doctor, he should have the opportunity to consult with colleagues before prescribing treatment.

9. You are prone to anxiety and depression

This only happens if you have suffered a lot of adversity in the past - but how many of us are lucky enough to do without them at all? Shy people are often teased in childhood: if a highly sensitive person is not given proper support in childhood, he grows up feeling that the world is hostile, and only doctors and antidepressants can help.

It’s worth taking a closer look at your child: high sensitivity is often inherited.

10. You can't stand loud noises

Some people can’t stand it when foam plastic squeaks on glass. Someone - the sound of a hammer drill or drill. Some people get annoyed when others eat loudly: the slurping and smacking is really unbearable, why do people even allow themselves to eat with their mouths open?!

11. You can't see violence on screen

A highly sensitive person cannot watch horror films about dismemberment, disaster films about drowning dogs, and arthouse films about rape. Lars von Trier, Gaspar Noe and Michael Haneke are cinematic enemies.

"Lard" by Pier Paolo Pasolini? Look in your VGIK, and all we have to do is read the story.

But you can watch Game of Thrones by closing your eyes in certain places, because the costumes are beautiful.

12. You may cry out of nowhere.

When such a person is offended for some reason to the point of tears, he really is capable of bursting into tears. And, by the way, it costs him a lot of effort not to do this. A sad film (without violence), a touching commercial for a charity campaign, a story about a penguin that annually swims to the Brazilian (or Chilean?) who saved him - in general, anything can cause a surge of feelings.

13. You are very polite

Good manners are a hallmark of highly sensitive people: it is important for them not to hurt the feelings of others. They try not to inconvenience others: they regularly give up their seat on public transport, carefully place their cart in the supermarket, let people go ahead and endlessly apologize and thank them. So much so that it is sometimes even annoying.

14. You overreact to criticism.

Highly sensitive people literally cannot handle criticism, taking it to heart. When their team is criticized, they take it personally.

Because of this, they often use ridiculous defense mechanisms: they try to please everyone in advance, criticize themselves, and avoid anything that could be a source of criticism.

Dr. Aron argues that such people use the following methods to protect themselves, which may seem strange to most: minimizing contact, blaming, trying to achieve too high a result, resentment, projecting, refusal to compete.

15. You can't work in an open office.

An open space is a nightmare for any office employee: noise, bright light, which not everyone can tolerate, constant movement, talking on the phone, arguments and foreign smells - all this makes a highly sensitive person’s head spin, and it’s impossible to concentrate. He is generally incapable of working under pressure: maybe some people need a good kick to start working, but not him.

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10 Rules for Being a Highly Sensitive Person

1. Remember that you are not alone and what is happening to you is normal.

2. Avoid people you don't like.

3. Avoid situations that tire you.

4. Don't overload your schedule - otherwise you may collapse at the most inopportune moment.

5. Set healthy boundaries with people who use your ability to empathize.

6. Keep a diary that will help you clear your head and learn to make decisions.

7. Enjoy good music, viewing art, and being with people who support you.

8. Find time every day to relax: take a bath, meditate, go for a massage, sit quietly with a book. Alcohol in this sense is a bad option for relaxation: you get tired every day, but you can’t get drunk every day.

9. Find opportunities to be alone.

10. Take care of yourself: You need to take care of yourself the same way you take care of your loved ones.

Who is an empath

And now about empaths, what empathy is and why not every emotional person is empathic. Psychologists began to study empathy as a personality quality at the beginning of the twentieth century. The term defines a person’s ability to absorb emotional flows from the surrounding world (people, animals) and experience them as their own. In this case, the object does not have to be nearby. Just learning about someone's joy, and especially about someone's grief, an empath begins to worry. Such people do not watch or listen to the news, because it is emotionally difficult for them to cope with themselves after hearing stories about incidents, wars, disasters and other horrors happening in the world.

A little more about empaths:

1. An empathic person sympathizes with everyone - people and animals, acquaintances and strangers, and is easily moved. He is able to give his last to help someone. Therefore, it is better for empaths not to see messages from charitable foundations, such as “the child urgently needs surgery” or “the dog was hit by a car.” This is not stupidity. They just feel the pain of others fully and even more strongly and cannot do anything about it.
2. They have special knowledge, greater than intuition. They recognize lies and suffer when loved ones deceive them.
3. In crowded places they feel depressed, because other people's emotions roll over them like a wave.
4. If loved ones are sick, then empaths may experience the same symptoms, since they take everything on themselves.
5. They often become a “vest” for those around them, and their soul turns into a “dumping ground” for other people’s problems. This is a heavy load.
6. They are often used, so fatigue and emotional burnout are constant companions of empaths.
7. Loneliness is like medicine for them. Only by hiding from the world can these people rest.
8. They are always sincere and fair.
9. Empathetic individuals are constantly searching for answers and have a thirst for new knowledge.
10. They hate clutter and love cleanliness. But at the same time, strict rules for them are like shackles that deprive them of freedom.
11. Such people speak little, but are excellent listeners.
12. They don't buy used items because they feel the energy of the previous owners.
13. Most empaths are vegetarians, as they acutely feel the fear and pain of a killed animal or fish.
14. They try in every possible way to renounce the world, so they may seek solace in alcohol, tobacco or even drugs.

Empaths are considered by many to be strange, headstrong, overly shy or unsociable. After all, they avoid large companies, are always unaware of the news, do not like to discuss others, do not put a smile on their face and do not feign happiness. Almost all the time they look unhappy and depressed, which is not surprising when you feel all the emotions of those around you.

Do we need over-emotional people? Definitely yes! Without them, this world would be gray and insipid. Understanding such a person is not easy, and getting used to him is even more difficult. But if he is nearby, then it will definitely never be boring.

Emotionality in women and men

Emotional women have extreme sensuality and impressionability, which in some situations leads to hysterics.

Emotional men are very attentive to others and are able to win over with their charm. An external sign of emotional people is an overly obvious manifestation of feelings through active gestures and facial expressions. They are able to capture the attention of a huge audience and become leaders if they learn to combine their emotional beginnings with a logical analysis of events. Emotionality is what most people respond to.