Jealousy

[Gribble]

The girl I'm seeing just told me she was asked out by a random guy on the subway. I felt a pang of jealousy in my chest. The prick of a knife. Very quick, very brief. Gone in an instant. But I felt it all the same. What was that? I don't care about the psychological mumbo jumbo. What physically made me feel that? Was it a chemical reaction? What chemical? Was it just my heart constricting bizarrely in reaction? Why would that happen? What does a jolt in my chest have to do with anything? Why would my body react that way? I suppose the reaction was intended to drive me into protecting my mate and securing her for myself, but how does the knowledge that someone asked her out create such an immediate physical sensation?

Has anyone studied the science of emotion? Does anyone have any answers or know of books that do? I don't care about "feelings", I care about facts.

[vashti]

I don't know for sure, but my guess is that your heart rate and blood pressure rise dramatically, and your heart temporarily isn't getting enough oxygen, which causes pain similar to angina.

[Spoonandfork]

I don't know for sure, but my guess is that your heart rate and blood pressure rise dramatically, and your heart temporarily isn't getting enough oxygen, which causes pain similar to angina.

^^^ this. For a split second, your brain perceived a rival male as a threat which stimulated your sympathetic nervous system

[doppelgaenger]

I used to get that feeling when I was jealous or something, but I don't anymore. I think it's a combination of chemical reactions and muscle spasms.

[Mish]

I suppose the reaction was intended to drive me into protecting my mate and securing her for myself, but how does the knowledge that someone asked her out create such an immediate physical sensation?

I thought you said you don't care about pschological mumbo jumbo?


Fact:

Feelings drive your behaviour not facts. You don't eat because you have an understanding that your body needs food for you to survive, you eat because you feel hungry.

[Gribble]

Yes, but then I would ask what physically makes you experience hunger? What are those rumbles? That's what interests me. Feelings are meaningless. The physical and chemical reactions that lead to those feelings, that fool us into believing we have free will, are what I find fascinating.

The biology is what I care about.

[Mish]

Yes, but then I would ask what physically makes you experience hunger? What are those rumbles? That's what interests me. Feelings are meaningless. The physical and chemical reactions that lead to those feelings, that fool us into believing we have free will, are what I find fascinating.

What do you mean when you say feelings are meaningless? Those chemical reactions, those physical sensations and those rumbles are what we define as feelings

[Gribble]

I'm more interested in knowing that jealously is a spike in blood pressure, or that my stomach rumbles because my hypothalamus switches on my desire to eat, causing muscle contractions and the release of digestive fluids. I don't want to hear that I'm hungry because I haven't eaten for a while or I'm jealous because I've encountered a rival male, that's all.

[Mish]

So you mean to say you are interested in minute detail of operation of various individual organs instead of the bird's eye view of the process?

Fair enough. I remember I was interested once in finding out the mechanics of sight, how is it that we see images from the outside, not just that light travels through our retina, but what's actually involved. I found a 500 page scientific book which detailed the process. It turned out this was just a summary, to read about each individual component involved in the sight function I'd have to read hundreds of thousands of pages of medical research and this is just to understand how the electrical signals travel from A to B to C to D... and not the detail of each individual component. To find out everything minutely you'd probably need a couple of life times. I found since then that it's much easier to settle for the bigger picture.

[sparkle_jello]

I felt a pang of jealousy while reading your post. I used to get hit on all the time in NY and AZ, now that I've moved to TX the last guy I remember hitting on me worked at Burger King, was missing a significant amount of teeth, had tattoos that looked like they had been done in prison, and didn't speak proper english.

[Incognito]

I certainly cannot dispute anything that Vashti says because she works in the medical field, but isn't what Gribble felt a simple stress response? Isn't a short burst of adrenaline what causes chest constriction, blood pressure to rise, and the digestive process to stop when someone reacts to stress? I'd think he'd have had the same reaction to any other momentary stressor like someone scaring him or thinking that someone stole all the money from his bank account for a minute or two.

[vashti]

I certainly cannot dispute anything that Vashti says because she works in the medical field, but isn't what Gribble felt a simple stress response? Isn't a short burst of adrenaline what causes chest constriction, blood pressure to rise, and the digestive process to stop when someone reacts to stress? I'd think he'd have had the same reaction to any other momentary stressor like someone scaring him or thinking that someone stole all the money from his bank account for a minute or two.

Yeah, it's all the same. Spoon/fork already mentioned it. It's the sympathetic nervous system kicking in, which causes adrenaline to be released, and heart rate and blood pressure to rise suddenly. The actual PAIN is (I believe) caused by the the temporary reduction of oxygen rich blood to the heart due to the sudden change in heart rate and BP, but it is quickly compensated for.

[Incognito]

^^^Is that good enough for you Gribble.