Learning The Function Of Emotions With Del Revés (InsideOut)
The film begins by explaining the function of emotions: joy, disgust, anger, fear… But what about sadness? What is sadness for?
With “Del Revés” (Inside Out), Pixar has managed to bring the world of emotions to the public and its many functions in making decisions, forming and evoking memories and how all this contributes to creating a unique personality. Obviously, all this is much more complex, and, although many miss a central administrator role or some other emotions, the film can be very useful for working on aspects of Emotional Intelligence and, in the case that concerns this article, learn the function of emotions.
At the beginning of the film, Alegría tells usresents other emotions and explains to us what they are for:
Disgust: rejects what may be harmful to us, thus avoiding poisoning us.
Gonna: It makes sure that we are treated fairly and that we restore boundaries when they have been crossed.
Fear: It keeps us safe by alerting us to possible dangers.
Sadness: and… what’s the point of being sad? This will be the question that will be answered throughout the film.
In the film, the importance of sadness is highlighted to generate compassion in others and that comfort us, which makes us feel loved and valued. But this is not the only function of sadness.
All negative emotions (so called because they make us feel bad): anger, fear, disgust, shame, guilt and sadness; Try to inform us that there is something important to us that is not right and that we should change to feel comfortable. In this way they prepare us for action aimed at this change. At the same time they are evaluating how we are making this change. Furthermore, emotions are fundamental for our interpersonal relationships since they monitor your state and tell others how you feel, which also regulates their behavior towards us.
Sadness causes us a lot of pain, a pain that is just as adaptive as physical pain. If we didn’t feel like we were burning, we wouldn’t avoid continuing to touch something that is hurting our skin. Likewise, if we did not feel psychological pain, we would continue exposing ourselves to situations that hurt us. If we did not feel the pain of loss, we would lurch from one place to another without feeling a home and we would not know what is really important to us. The sadness is directed to an action: We must stop harming ourselves and rest to heal that wound. We need time to express our pain, to rethink our values, our way of acting… Sometimes the strategy we use to rest in the first instance turns out to be of little use to heal our wound and sadness, again, informs us again. of the need for a change in strategy.
For example: After the loss of someone significant to you, you decide that you can no longer relate to people, since you cannot bear any more losses. At first, loneliness may comfort you, but as the days go by, you feel sorry for missing other people in your life and this indicates your need to reconnect with them. Others may have felt despised by your distance, but by contacting you, by your voice, your facial expression, your slow movements… they can understand how you feel and understand why you needed that solitude and, instead of getting angry with you, they welcome you and comfort you.
This sadness has informed you that you have lost someone important to you and that you needed time and space to grieve, but it has reminded you that there are still people you love and that they are there for you, which will undoubtedly help to heal that wound correctly. The emotions they always have a function, are never “bad” in and of themselves. We just have to learn to appreciate and interpret them to use them correctly.
