We‘ve looked into this question in science and so has Hollywood.

我們和好萊塢都已經著手研究這個問題

Back in 1943, Disney released a short film called Reason and Emotion, which shows

回溯到1943年，迪士尼發表了一部短片叫「理智及情感」，

emotions driving our behaviour beyond the control offered by reason or logic.

顯示情緒影響我們的行為遠比理智及邏輯影響的多

Skip forward 70 odd years and Disney Pixar's Inside Out gets up close and personal with some of our emotions: Joy, Sadness, Disgust, Fear and Anger.

跳至七十餘年後，迪士尼皮克斯的動畫電影「腦筋急轉彎」解釋一些我們的情緒－愉悅、悲傷、厭惡、恐懼及憤怒

The film mainly takes place inside the mind of an 11-year-old girl, Riley, as she struggles

這部片主要的內容發生在一位十一歲小女孩的思緒中，萊莉，

with her family moving from the Midwest to San Francisco.

掙扎著家人要從中西部搬至舊金山。

So we spend a lot of time with what we often call negative emotions – think sadness,

所以我們花了很多時間在我們常說的「負面情緒」中，想著悲傷、

fear and anger.

恐懼、憤怒。

But, are they really negative? Is there such a thing as negative emotions?

但，他們真的是負面的嗎？真的有「負面情緒」這個東西嗎？

In the 1960s, American psychologist Paul Ekman suggested that people have six basic emotions

在1960年代，美國心理學家Paul Ekman曾經提出：人有六種基本情緒，分別是

– happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise. Ekman's research took him

快樂、悲傷、憤怒、恐懼、厭惡和驚訝。Ekman的研究

from Japan to Brazil to a remote part of Papua New Guinea where he found that emotional expression

讓他從日本到巴西，甚至到巴布紐亞幾內亞的偏遠角落，他找到情緒的表達

stays the same across cultures. It's universal.

在各種不同的文化中是相同的，是通用的。

He was inspired by Charles Darwin's 1872 book, The Expression of Emotions in Man and

他被查理達爾文1872年的研究所啟發，《人類和動物的情緒表達》，

Animals, where Darwin suggests that our emotional expressions are determined by our evolution.

達爾文提出我們情緒的表達是在我們演化過程被決定的

For example, a fear reaction leads to a response of, say, running away from a predator that in turn, ensures your survival. Hopefully.

舉例來說，對於恐懼的反應會導致一些行為，例如讓你遠離掠食者等。反過來說，就是確保自己能生存。希望是如此啦！

Although some psychologists have argued the way that we experience emotions is more individual.

雖然有些心理學家有爭論，說我們感受到情緒是獨立的。

And others have suggested that the basic emotions of fear/surprise and anger/disgust should be combined, because

其他（心理學家）指出一些基本情緒是混合著的，恐懼和驚訝，還有憤怒及厭惡，

they're biologically similar.

因為在生物學上來說，他們是相似的。

Still, Ekman's theories have been really influential over the past 50 years, so much so that Inside Out adopted five of his six basic emotions as pretty adorable characters.

Ekman的理論對於過去的五十年來說，仍有巨大的影響力，所以「腦筋急轉彎」採用他基本六個情緒中的五個，使他們成為惹人喜歡的角色，

Which was probably helped by the fact he acted as a scientific consultant on the film.

這或許也是因為他擔任這部電影的科學顧問角色。

Though Inside Out shows us the power of what we normally describe as negative emotions.

雖然 「腦筋急轉彎」展現出我們平時口中所說的「負面情緒」的力量，

Namely, sadness.

換句話說，悲傷

It's often culturally and socially reinforced that there's something wrong or shameful about

在文化和社會層面，感到悲傷會被認為是不太對勁或是丟臉的事

feeling sad. We tend to have this cultural bias towards valuing positive thinking.

我們通常會有文化偏見，比較重視正面思考。

But studies have shown that those who try and suppress negative thoughts actually experience

但研究顯示，那些想要壓抑負面想法的人，事實上會產生更多（負面想法），

more of them, which can lead to overeating and stronger stress responses.

這會導致暴飲暴食和對於壓力有比較強烈的反應，

Another study found that people who experience happy and sad emotions at the same time, like

另外一個研究顯示，人們如果同時經歷快樂和悲傷的情緒，

"I'm sad or disgusted that there's broccoli on my pizza but happy because it means I can

像是「我覺得很傷心和噁心，因為我的披薩上有花椰菜，但我還是開心，因為那表示

experience new things" show improvements in mental well-being over the next few weeks,

我可以嘗試新的東西」，這樣的雙重情緒會使你接下來幾週產生心理的愉悅感，

even if the mixed feelings were unpleasant at the time.

即使當時混雜的情緒讓你感覺不太好，

Inside Out shows us that our negative emotions can guide our rational thinking. Sadness is a

「腦筋急轉彎」讓我們知道負面情緒會主導我們理性的思考，悲傷是

trigger for seeking comfort and bonding. We're often tough on sadness, but it's important

尋找安慰和聯結的觸發點。我們常常在悲傷的時候堅強，但重要的是，

to our understanding of who we are.

我們要了解自己是誰

In his 1621 work "Anatomy of Melancholy", Robert Burton wrote in experiencing melancholy,

1621年的《憂鬱的解剖》，在研究憂鬱的過程中， Robert Burton寫下：

"increaseth sorrow… increaseth wisdom." Even those emotions that we consider as negative

「增加悲傷.....增加智慧」 那些我們認為負面的情緒

can help guide us to good, rational decisions.

也可以引導我們做出好的、理性的決定。

So even if you're riding down or inside out the emotional roller coaster, remember that

所以，即使你正在經歷情緒的高潮起伏，記住

your positive and negative emotions can and do team up. There's always an upside.

你正面和負面的情緒會結合起來幫助你，永遠都有好的一面。

And if you don't already, make sure you subscribe to BrainCraft! I have a new brainy episode out every Thursday.

如果你還沒訂閱的話，記得訂閱BrainCraft！每個星期四我都會上傳有關腦、新的一集！