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

回溯到 1943 年，迪士尼發表了一部短片叫《理智及情感》，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》解釋了一些我們擁有的情緒——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 with her family moving from the Midwest to San Francisco.

這部片主要的內容發生在一位名叫萊莉的 11 歲小女孩的腦海中，她正努力適應與家人從中西部搬到舊金山後的變化。

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

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、恐懼、憤怒。

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

但，它們真的是負面的嗎？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 – happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise.

在 1960 年代，美國心理學家 Paul Ekman 曾經提出人有六種基本情緒，分別是快樂、悲傷、憤怒、恐懼、厭惡和驚訝。

Ekman's research took him from Japan to Brazil to a remote part of Papua New Guinea where he found that emotional expression stays the same across cultures. It's universal.

Ekman 的研究讓他從日本到巴西，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 Animals, where Darwin suggests that our emotional expressions are determined by our evolution.

他受到查理達爾文 1872 年的研究《人類和動物的情緒表達》所啟發，在該研究中，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.

雖然有些心理學家爭論我們感受到的情緒是獨立的。

And others have suggested that the basic emotions of fear/surprise and anger/disgust should be combined, because they're biologically similar.

其他心理學家指出一些基本情緒是混合著的，像是恐懼和驚訝，還有憤怒及厭惡，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，讓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.

也就是悲傷。

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

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。

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

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，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,

另外一個研究顯示，人們如果同時經歷快樂和悲傷的情緒，

like "I'm sad or disgusted that there's broccoli on my pizza but happy because it means I can experience new things." show improvements in mental well-being over the next few weeks,

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.

《腦筋急轉彎》讓我們知道負面情緒會主導我們理性的思考，

Sadness is a trigger for seeking comfort and bonding.

悲傷是尋找慰藉和聯結的觸發點。

We're often tough on sadness, but it's important to our understanding of who we are.

我們常常在悲傷的時候堅強，但重要的是，我們要了解自己是誰

In his 1621 work "Anatomy of Melancholy", Robert Burton wrote in experiencing melancholy, "Increaseth sorrow... Increaseth wisdom."

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

Even those emotions that we consider as negative can help guide us to good, rational decisions.

「增加悲傷.....增加智慧」 那些我們認為負面的情緒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 your positive and negative emotions can and do team up.

所以，即使你正在經歷情緒的高潮起伏，記住我們常常在悲傷的時候堅強。

There's always an upside.

但重要的是，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 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部知識的影片！