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Marcus Huggins Instructor: Malcolm Campbell English 1102 September 4, 2013 Topic Proposal: Influences of Emotions Introduction/Overview If I as e! "ou ho# "ou #ere feeling right no# #hat #oul! "ou sa"$ Happ"$ Sa!$ %ngr"$ &he !ictionar" !efines these feelings or 'emotions( as a mental state that arises spontaneousl" rather than through conscious effort)often accompanie! b" ph"siological changes* In other #or!s, emotion is the part of our consciousness that in+ol+es our feelings* Ho#e+er, ho# "ou e,perience emotion an! ho# "ou feel is !ictate! b" the amount of specific neurotransmitters that are in the brain at that moment* -urthermore, the amount of neurotransmitters in the brain are affecte! b" stress, #hich can !eplete neurotransmitters* &his lea!s me to as m"self '.o #e ha+e control o+er our emotions$ If so, ho# much control !o #e actuall" ha+e o+er our emotions$( /ith this in min!, I #ill be e,amining ho# neurotransmitter !epletion an! other factors influence peoples 'emotions*( &he human min! is one of the most comple, phenomenon in e,istence* It ne+er ceases to ama0e me ho# unpre!ictable an! uni1ue the min! is* 2ne aspect in particular that interests me is human emotion* &he corte, is the part of the brain that controls conscious thought, #hich is #here people e,perience thought an! feeling* 3et#een each of the ten billion neurons in the brain, there are neurotransmitters)chemical messengers)that transmit thought from one cell to the ne,t* &his communication of brain cells is ho# people e,perience emotion an! feelings* &he t"pes of transmitters change regularl" bet#een cells in "our brain to meet the nee!s of "our

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current circumstance, but factors such as stress an! certain genetic !isor!ers can cause neurotransmitter !epletion* &his !epletion can lea! to negati+e emotions such as !epression, irritabilit", an,iet", etc* I began researching m" topic the beginning of last #ee after hearing that #e4! ha+e to choose a comple, topic proposal that #e fin! interesting an! emotion #as the first thing that came to min!* %fter recei+ing goo! fee!bac from m" small group !iscussion about m" topic, I began b" searching the #eb an! seeing #hat I coul! fin! out about #hat causes humans to feel emotions an! if certain e+ents coul! ha+e an influence on emotions* &he first #ebsite that I foun! that #as +er" useful #as a page on neurotransmitters that #ent into specific !etail on ho# the" #or , an! #hat factors influence our emotions, %fter choosing this as m" topic, I searche! the #eb scholarl" articles that I coul! rea! to gi+e a better grasp of #hat contro+ersies still lie in the stu!" of emotion* I also met up #ith m" classmate %n!rea to tal about possible topics an! narro#ing !o#n #hich topic to use* 5ltimatel", this process !efinitel" helpe! in !eci!ing #hich topic I #ante! to choose an! ga+e me a better un!erstan!ing an! focus to#ar! m" initial i!ea* 3efore con!ucting research, I ha! no clue ho# comple, this topic actuall" is* .escribe the comple,it" of "our topic* .ifferent opinions an! positions arise #hen !iscussing #hether certain e+ents or people can influence a person4s emotions* Cogniti+e6beha+iorists an! rational emoti+e therapists ha+e argue! for !eca!es that e,ternal e+ents an! people can4t ma e us feel an" one certain #a" e+en though it ma" seem that #a", #hile others belie+e that factors such as a person4s i!entit" or personalit" !ictates ho# the" 'feel( to#ar! certain situations* &he !iscussion I foun! #as on a public ps"cholog" blog calle! 7s"chCentral #here people can post freel"* 2ther publications relating this topic can be foun! on 8oogle Scholar an! the public librar" here at the 5ni+ersit" of 9orth Carolina at Charlotte*

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Initial Inquiry Question(s) M" main 1uestion that I4! li e to learn more about is if #e ha+e control o+er our emotions* If so, ho# much control !o #e actuall" ha+e o+er our emotions$ I coul! also go further as to see if it is actuall" possible to manipulate the t"pe of neurotransmitters in the brain to in!uce certain emotions*

My Interest in t is Topic I4m intereste! in this topic because I4+e al#a"s been curious about the human min! an! ho# it #or s* If I #eren4t ma:oring in Electrical Engineering I #oul! !efinitel" be ma:oring in 7s"cholog"* Helping an! un!erstan!ing other people has al#a"s been a passion of mine* /hen people come to me for a!+ice, it4s goo! to no# ho# the" are feeling an! #hat I can !o to ma e them feel better* &his #ill also allo# me to connect better #ith others b" ha+ing a better un!erstan!ing of their emotions an! #h" the" feel the #a" that the" !o* 2n the other han!, I also !on4t un!erstan! some of the actions occurring in to!a"4s societ" such as suici!es, mur!ers, an! things of that sort* I al#a"s #on!er #hat is going through their min! or #hat the" #ere feeling #hen the thought occurre!* M" basic un!erstan!ing of emotions is that the" are create! in the corte, b" neurotransmitters #ithin the brain* I hope to learn in !etail about ho# specific emotions are create! an! a !eeper !epth of emotions in general* !e"t #teps Some further steps in broa!ening m" no#le!ge of emotions inclu!e +isiting scholarl" an! reliable sources online such as &he 9e# ;or &imes an! the Charlotte 2bser+er to get other perspecti+es, the librar"4s !atabase to search for peer6re+ie#e! sources that co+er emotions, an! also real6research b" testing some of the e+ents !escribe! in the research an! seeing its effect on

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m"self* I also plan on as ing the reference librarians for help fin!ing goo! sources of information about emotions*