How are emotions activated

The answer to this question appears at the very end of this long explanation.

This explanation is not correct in terms of popular theories but is useful to understand how various components are connected and how activation of thoughts, feelings, emotions and bodily sensations takes place.

Memory caches. These store many types of data inputs - conscious, extra-conscious and unconscious meaning beyond our understanding and conscious awareness. Also of people, names, things, knowledge, ideas, learning, conclusions and everything else.

Psyche - Memory caches of experiences, unresolved matters, genetically installed memories and those received, learnt, copied from parents and parental figures. Each unit has thinking and feeling as components with visual, auditory and kinesthetic components and with associated understanding.

Mind is the space in which creations of the brain are projected and perceived by us as thoughts, feelings, emotions and bodily sensations. These are projected by external activators - people, things and events etc and internal activators - the psychic memories.

Mind is name for the set of faculties including cognitive aspects such as consciousness, imagination, perception, thinking, intelligence, judgement, language and memory, as well as noncognitive aspects such as emotion and instinct.

Memory caches are of two types. Those storing psychic memories (MCSPMs) and those storing other memories (MCSOMs).

There is an association between thinking, associated feeling and related emotion.

When psyche is affected (adversely or beneficially) mind is affected. Feelings show up as related escalated emotions.

Emotions have a thinking and bodily (somatic) component as well.

When brain is affected body is affected.

There is a subtle connection between mind and brain.

So whether psychic memories or mind or brain are affected, emotions are churned up and body is also affected.

We have many entities and they are linked as follows for ease of our understanding.

Emotions are escalations of related forms of feelings with components of body and thoughts.

This circle of feelings / emotions explains. From six feelings arise / we find generated thirty eight primary and seventy six secondary emotions. We are therefore affected by a hundred and fourteen emotions. There are further variations due to depth, impact and associated emotions being activated together.

Feelings are sensations. Feelings arouse the cognitive centres of the brain on the one hand and hormonal system on the other hand to deal with the situation - thereby activating all the body systems - circulatory, respiratory, muscular, excretory, urinary, digestive mainly. These to my mind generate a mix of thinking-feeling-somatic trio experienced as emotion.

The Limbic System of our brain plays a major role in generation of emotions.

The limbic system includes the hypothalamus. This organ plays a role in myriad functions by releasing hormones that help sustain homeostasis — the ability of the body to maintain relatively consistent conditions. Other limbic system organs include neurons, the basal ganglia, portions of the prefrontal cortex, the cingulate gyrus, and the ventral segmental area.

Its activation triggers memories coupled with cognitive assessment and release of hormones activating bodily systems. Our perception and appraisal thereby undergoes change from objective to subjective with resultant temperamental and attitudinal change.

Link to article on Limbic System