The Relationship Between Emotions And Religiosity: A Psychological Perspective

The Expression of Emotions & Religiosity

The Role of Emotions in Psychology

Discuss about the Expression of Emotions & Religiosity.

Emotions are the lead factor which regulates human behavior. Emotions are the feelings which change the thought procedure and point of view of a person. The behavior of human changes according to his/her emotions. Here this is to mention that emotions are not static in nature, it varies and due to this human nature, behavior, the way of responding also changes.  In addition to these emotions also influences the personality of people. Emotions are somewhere related to the human psychology.  Psychology is a study of brain, behavior, and reactions of a human in a scientific manner (Barrett, 2009). It is a kind of modern science. Phycology describes that every other person is different and they all have their own thinking and behavior. There is a different type of psychology such as cognitive, forensic, social, and developmental psychology. 

Psychology is not a physical aspect but matters at a very high level in human behavior; it is all related to the mind. In this subject, a person gets to know that how a human brain works and in which manner the same perform it is functions. Emotions are one of the areas of psychology (Humphreys, 2011). It may state that psychology is the wide term whereas emotions are it is one of the factors. Emotions affect others and also get affected by them. Various theories have been given by many of the scientists on the subject of emotions and psychology. Here this is to understand that emotions are not a thing to control and in fact, no one can control his/her emotions completely. These are an important aspect of human behavior which describes the personality of a person.

Sometimes while watching a movie or reading a book, a person feels something weird in his/her nature. These are the situations, where a person feels the emotions which are not the real one. These kinds of feelings are quasi-emotions which occur according to an imaginary situation (Säätelä, 1994) Emotions play a very vital role in psychology. Further emotions are the natural reaction towards a particular situation. For Instance, if somebody wins a lottery, he/she must be happy and on the other side when someone experiences some mishappening in his/her life, he/she becomes sad (Thagard, 2010). Emotions often get influenced by some of the factors such as biological factors, personal perception, social factors and religion. Religion is one of the important factors that affect a person’s emotions.

Understanding Psychology

Across the globe, there are number and kind of religion such as Hinduism, Islam, Catholic, Buddhism, and Judaism which are followed by people. These religions control and regulate emotions of their followers up to a great extent. Whatever a person learns from his/her religion, the same turns into an emotion somewhere in his/her behavior (Smith, 2009). This is the reason that two persons of different religion commonly have different emotions and perception. The main logic behind this is that people from same religion have same belief and learning.

Although everyone has their different personality and thinking procedure, yet religion is the factor which united people by it is essentials. No matter what, people from same religion have the same point of views regarding their religion and they have the same concept. Every religion gives the different lessons, and follower of particular religion gets the same education and instruction. Most of the times religious theory work as lead factor behind emotional experiences. Every religion has different thinking about gender, music, culture religion and so on (Rees, 2017). People behave accordingly and their emotions also flow in the same direction only. Some religion focuses on education, some focuses on early marriage and so on; people follow the practices according to their religion. The same is also vice-versa. It means as religion affects emotions, similarly, emotions also affect religious theories.  This study focuses on the terms emotions, religions, and their relations.

Here in the study of emotions and religions, this is to mention that they are connected with each other in a psychological context. What is psychology? In order to answer this question, this is to cite that psychology is a manner of thinking (Pastorino & Portillo, 2011). This is a subject, which comprises mental theories and perception of a person. The Human body reacts according to the signals received from the brain, and psychology controls the brain. Emotions have a great place in the subject of psychology as content. There many of the religions do exist. How they have been developed, how they got influenced by emotions, what were the emotions, which played a significant role in the development of religion, these all are necessary to study in the subject of psychology when it is about emotions and religion.

Further, religion also put an impact on emotions of it is followers. This is very important topic to study those emotions and religions are connected with each other (Wilson, 2012). People who have positive emotions are often leading to religion and spirituality in their lives. Whereas those people who have some negative views about life are less spiritual in their nature. Psychology is all about the thought procedure and behavioral reaction about a particular thing or place or person or a situation. But the same get influenced by religion and emotions of people.

Different Types of Psychology

This literature review is based on the topic Emotions & Religiosity from the psychological perspective. This discussion is adhering to include an understanding of emotions, religion and psychology as the first phrase. The relation between emotions and religiosity can only be understood by defining these terms in details. Further, the importance of psychological study, the relation of religion and emotions and their significance in the area of psychology will also describe in this literature review. As this research is expected to be done from a psychological perspective, required terms and description will be acknowledged.

In addition to this, different religions, their evolution, development, the role of emotion in their development will also include. To understand the fact that how these different religions affect emotions of people is also an important part of this literature review. This literature research would include the discussion on world’s most common religion followed by people across the globe such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism in order to understand the impact of emotions in development of these religions. Further, this discussion would also focus on Sikhism religion which is not followed by people as much as other religions, yet has it is a significant influence in the area of emotions.

In order to understand that how emotions and religion affects a human nature in terms of psychology, this is to understand that what is meant by the term “Psychology” is. In an academic meaning, Psychology is a scientific learning of brain. Psychology is not a subject which only related to human body, but the same is an essential element in respect of every living element. Psychology is a general concept in the study of behavioral science.  In addition to the study of the brain, it also includes a study of the behavior including unconscious and conscious phenomena. As an isolated science, this subject focuses on the study of behavior of a specific person and his/her reactions and responding with respect to a particular situation. While on the opposite side as social science, it studies and focuses on groups. A person who practices this subject is known as “psychologist” (Kasket, 2017). This is the person who studies the cases and treats people when they face issues related to this subject.

Phycology can also be considered as mental characteristics of a person or a group. Psychology is a wide subject and it includes the topic such as what are the components and functions of the brain, how a similar work, how individuals act and collaborate in gatherings (Pandya, 2011). There is kind of psychology according to the area of practice. Some of the common types of psychologies are counseling psychology, forensic psychology, organizational psychology and educational psychology. According to American Psychological Association, this is a scientific study of behavior and mental processes. When a person reacts in a similar way, again and again, people often say that it becomes his/her psychology. So here it can comprehend that in broad sense individuals consider the term “behavior” as psychology. As prior specified this is an extensive subject, one cannot know about each and every component of this subject. People are still researching the area of this subject.

Religion and Emotions

Human behavior is a complicated element. This varies from person to person and further in relation to one person, situation to situation. But there are some elements which affect human behavior (Disaster Management Institute, Bhopal, 2018). In reality these elements do not affect human behavior directly, instead, they control human emotions and then after human behavior affect accordingly. So in this context, in spite of the fact that it can be mention that psychology influences human conduct however not in an immediate way.

This is additionally important to comprehend that why the research and investigation of psychology are critical yet necessary? This subject is important in order to understand the behavioral development of an individual as well as society. This subject characterizes the mental instability of a person and can also help to resolve the same (Philipee, 2017). This subject deeply studies a human brain and defines the problems with the same. All the mental ailments are someplace comes into the region of psychology.

To discuss the impacts of religion on emotion, in the first place it is important to know that what precisely emotions are? There is no explanation or interpretation of emotion is accessible. It can be comprehended that emotions are not a materialistic element. A person neither can contact the same not can be in touch with the same. But everyone can feel emotions. This is a very personal aspect. Everyone has their own emotions according to which they behave (Griffiths, 1997). Emotions have a very significant influence on a person’s behavior. A person reacts to situations according to his/her mood and the mood is influenced by emotions. A person makes choices according to his/her emotions. Emotions play a vital role in psychology. Emotions often treated similar to feelings and also includes experiences such as love, pain, joy, happiness, fear, anger and grief.

Emotions often dealt with like moods and but there is a difference between mood and emotion (Sixseconds, 2018). Emotions are the more specific whereas moods are more general in sense. Emotions have an identifiable cause. For instance in the wake of being failed in an examination, one could detect discouraged. This depression is an emotion here. On the other side, moods are milder than emotions. Moods do not have a particular reason and they are not specific in nature similar to emotions.  Advance it might state that emotions are the result of a particular event whereas mood influence behavior of a person in relation to upcoming events. Mainly emotions have three significant parts/components such as subjective feelings; physiological response and behavioral response (Human Diseases And Conditions Forum, 2018).

The Impact of Religion on Emotions

Subjective feelings component is typical to describe. This can be described as that all over the globe, people experience a different kind of emotions such as anger, excitement, happiness, fear and so on. These emotions are common across the globe. Superfluous to the way of culture and religion, emotions are general in nature (Burton, 2016). Everyone at a portion existing apart from everything else of his/her life feels these feelings. However, this is to mention that these feelings fluctuate individual to individual. Level of emotions can be different according to person. Further, people also do not always experience a pure version of each emotion. This is very common that people often face and experience a mixed form of two or more emotions. A person can react weirdly towards a particular situation because he/she experience a mixture of many emotions. For instance while joining a new job; a person can feel happiness, excitement, and nervousness together (Cherry, 2018).

Physiological response is the physical reaction of a human cause of his/her emotion. Sweating palms, rapid breathing, laughter all are the physical reaction towards a particular emotion. The human body works according to the mind and mind often brings emotions. Emotions do not only have the intellectual appearance but it has also physiological response. Emotions send messages to brain and body works accordingly (TeensHealth, 2018). In a body, there are many of the parts which have their different functions such as blood circulation is a function of the heart, similarly, nervous system responds against emotions. So this is to mention that an emotion does not have only mental and behavior aspects but also has physical reactions in respect of Particular situation.

Behavioral Response is also a significant component related to emotions. It defines that due to various type of emotions, people award a different kind of behavior and expressions. There are some common behavior and expression of every identified emotion, which works as a symbol of emotion. Such as smile is the symbol of happiness and, experiencing shortness of breath defines a situation of nervousness (Abell & Smith, 2016).

Here this is also to understand that why emotions do exist, what their requirements are? To answer this it may state that emotions are the basic factors for human behavior. These differentiate people. Imagine a world without emotions, the same would be blank and crumb. Emotions also regulate a person’s behavior. So these have an important role.

Different Religions and Their Emotional Impact

To discuss the religion, importance, and role of the same in human life; it is essential to know that what does mean in actual. Religion is a guide of practices and set of beliefs, which has provided by some of the people years ago. As earlier discussed there are so many religion and they all have their different beliefs and practices. There are very fewer people in the world that do not follow any religion in their lives; such people are termed as apatheist in a social context (Shook, 2011). In addition to this there are also some people exist who believe in more than one religion. Every religion of the world has their own moral guide, in which it is described that how a person should act in general as well as some specific circumstance. Religion describes the moral values (Harris, 2011).

 Religion has very influencing behavior and the same has a great impact on a person’s behavior. This is the reason due to which people from same religions have similar thoughts and believes somewhere. It is not always necessary that every follower of a particular religion would have similar faiths but religions affect their thinking in the same direction (Markley, 2012). As a single book always gives the same lesson to everyone, yet the readers have their own perception, similarly a single religion gives the same set of rules to everyone but people who follow such religion can get different lessons from the same due to their personal opinions and thinking procedures.

Religion plays a vital role in human life. It is an important aspect of character building and development. It provides principals such as Justice, righteousness, brotherhood, tolerance, sacrifice, honesty, virtuousness, and equality. These principals make a person, moral human (Keller, 2010). To live in a society it is necessary to have some basic etiquette, essential behavior and way to live and religion give the same. Further religion provides power to face adversities in life and give a positive belief. Unimportant to the name of religion, each religion help it is adherents to defeat from circumstances of sadness and dissatisfaction. Here it is also to mention that religion does not only affect the mental perception of a person but the same is also plays a significant role in it is physical aspect. Many of the times it has noted that people suffering from diseases overcome from the same due to their religious belief (Behere, Das, Yadav & Behere, 2013).

Conclusion

Every religion has it is exclusive area and they give different lessons to their followers. But there are also negative sides of following a particular religion do exist. Many of the times people blame their religion for everything wrong they have experienced in their life. The Existence of religions gives an excuse to those people who do not want to make them responsible for anything in life. Religions have both individual and social aspects. At individual level, people often follow the religion to learn the standard behavior such as how they should act in their life, how they should behave with others, and for this reason, at an individual level, religion works in a positive manner (Agorastos, Demiralay & Huber, 2014). 

In addition to this when it comes to social aspects, some people take unfair benefit of their religion by mixing the same with social issues. Many of them do immoral activities and consider those, requirement of their religion, whereas no religion provides any immoral lesson (Marvell, 1974). Often, it has observed that some unsocial factors commit terrorist and other activities in the name of religion, but is to specify that one is not encouraged to do likewise as religion assumes an indispensable part in human life and has It is claimed positive angles.

Emotions and Religion are connected with each other in a very natural way. A person who has reviewed every aspect related to these two topics can easily interconnect these two terms. Emotions and religions influence each other and also get influenced by each other. In order to know the relation of these terms, it is necessary to review the role of emotions in religion and vice versa.  The story of emotion and religion has a long history.

Emotions have their physical phenomena. Emotions often are related to human body and parts thereof such as heart and brain. As prior specified that brain has an imperative part in the subject of psychology, it may state that emotions affect religiosity in an indirect manner (Corrigan, 2008). Role of emotions in religion can comprehend by the appropriate response of the inquiry “how religions have created.” Emotions are nothing except an experience and people have marked a particular emotion or experience as religion. Later on, these emotions have developed as a symbol of that religion.  In this manner, emotions are the forces behind the development of religions. People in the ancient era had their own emotions and according to that they have written and developed various religions according to their personal perception (Leuba, 1912). In this context, every religion is influenced by those emotions. Such people have given theories and lesson what they have considered correct in their views and opinions. Followers of a religion were dependent on the writing and lessons provided by their ancestors, and in this manner, emotions have assumed a very crucial role in the evolution of religion.

Although religions have devolved due to particular emotions and experiences of people, later on, these religions have begun to influence emotions of their followers. This is the reason that in a particular religion, a particular emotion exists at an extensive level (Saroglou, Buxant & Tilquin, 2007). There are numerous religions and they all have their one of kind highlights and they also focus on a particular emotion. For instance, in Hindu religion, people give so much respect to a woman; they treat their ladies as the goddess. So, in this religion, people have the emotion of respect and love towards females. Whereas on the other side in Islam religion, people get the opportunity to discover that they should follow their religion with trustworthiness, this is the reason that followers of this religion have high commitment level towards everything in life.

So, here it may state that firstly emotions have influenced the development of religion and thereafter religions are influencing emotions of people. Religions which are generally followed and practiced by people are Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Nonreligious, and Buddhism. Each of the religion is centered on some of the emotions and followers of the same also have an abundance of those emotions (IBCSR, 2018). How these religions have been developed and how their followers respond to different emotions and thinking procedure are defined further in this discussion.

After get downplaying of what is psychology, emotions and religion ad relation between emotions and religion, this is also necessary to understand that how emotions and religion have a significant impact in psychology (Buxant, 2011). Religion is a matter of belief and it is related to emotions. As earlier discussed that emotions affect religious concepts and religion also affect emotions of it is followers, these all are interconnected and make a great influence on the human brain. A person behaves according to his/her emotions. This is the reason that when a person becomes sad, he makes unhappy faces. As mentioned in the aforesaid discussion, that psychology has various types, the study of religion and emotions is a part of social psychology. A person always behaves according to the instructions his/her brain gives and the brain gives such instruction according to the emotions it gets from situations (Kosslyn & Miller, 2013). This relation can be better understood by the consecutive graph:

Study of emotions and religion is also important in order to know that how a human behaves. Psychology of emotions and psychology of religion are two different aspects.  Religious belief controls emotional intelligence of a person and they both define a person’s psychology together. As discussed every religion provides different lessons, people who follow that religion started to think about those lessons and also makes perceptions accordingly. It affects his/her emotions and that person behaves accordingly (Schaefer, 2015). This is the reason that individuals from same religion oftentimes have analogous thinking since they have taken in similar lessons and exercises about a specific thing. After the aforesaid study of different religion and impact of the same on emotions, it may state that religion and emotions influence the psychology of a person. How a person would react in a particular situation is generally affected by his/her emotions.

Study of a particular religion and emotions thereon is completely a subject matter related to psychology. Emotions are the feelings which a person feels in respect to a particular incident or about some of the factor. Psychological configurations have several components such as spiritual component, cognitive component and emotional component (Greenwood, 2015). Spiritual component are those who make people believe about the existence of God; whereas cognitive component consists of types of various mental processes, that a person can have. In conjunction with this, third and most vital component i.e. emotional component covers the zone of emotions a person experience; such as happiness, anger, sorrow, excitement, shame, guilt, fear and so on. Emotional component likewise vital since this is the only aspect which works behind human behavior. A human always responds according to his/her emotions and emotions are influenced by his/her religion (Corrigan, Crump, Kloos & Kloos, 2000).

Alike every other religion Islam also provided some basic emotions and lessons. In Islam, a prophet is an important person as it is believed that he is the person who describes lessons given by Allah. Prophet was a messenger of God who provides that a person must behave with a level of mercy. Study of emotional component is also necessary to understand that why God has granted these emotions to people, what was the purpose? It can understand that emotions are the reaction of people in respect of an incident or about another person or about a thing. This is to mention that emotions are not in control or one cannot choose that what emotions he/she must have at a point of time, instead these are natural and one cannot control them. Although how to react towards an emotion, is a thing which can be controlled or it can say that people can choose the way to react when they arise (Farooq, 2014).

Being a Muslim or a follower of Islam, one can assume that Allah has created this universe. Further, it is also believed that in order to maintain this universe, he has given various emotions to people. Later on, he has sent his messengers to earth to teach others the manner to live. According to Islam, this religion is not just a tool to worship but it defines the manner in which a person should spend his/her life (Ahmad, 2018). Islam describes that people do not have any control over their emotions but they can regulate the manner in which they respond to those emotions. This religion says that one should not overreact towards any of the emotions whether it is negative or a positive one since extreme reactions can be turned into destructive one in the event where the same would leave uncontrolled. “Quran” is the lead guide in Islam. It defines and explains the entire practices one should follow throughout his/her life and in conjunction with this, Quran also provides lessons for some specific situations and circumstance.

In Quran, it is mentioned that a person should develop positive emotions such as love, enthusiasm, hope, kindness, determination and so on. Quran encourages all these positive emotions as it believes that these can maintain peace in individual lives as well as in society and other surroundings of a person. There are also negative emotions exist in a human nature for instance anger, jealousy, hate and similar other (Mehmood & Valiante, 2018). Quran strictly discourages development of these negative emotions as these are harmful to everyone. A Muslim or practitioner of Islam is clearly advised to control his/her negative emotions and by doing so, he/she can be in touch with Allah. Islam stipulated that a person should never let his/her emotion to control his/her decision but they should try to control their emotions.

Quran gives a message to people that a person must behave with positive aspects to other people and also to animals. So here it may state that Islam acknowledges and respect every human emotion and provides the guide that how one should deal with the same (Abdulhameed, 2015). The aforesaid discussion was focused on the religious aspect in the study of emotions but as earlier discussed that religion also regulates and directs the emotions of people, the further discussion is focused on the influence of religion in the area of human emotions and behavior.

Albeit every religion gives the lesson to follow ethical practices and to embrace positive emotions in life, yet there are some practices which a particular religion follows which influences emotions of it is devotees. Here the discussion is about the practices adopted by people of a religion in their regular life, not the lesson a religion gives. For instance, Purdah Pratha is very common in practice when it comes to Islam (Cornell, 2007). According to this Practice, female practitioners of Islam should cover their face with the help of niqab or burqa. A woman who wears a burqa is known as “Purdahnashin”. For Purdahnashin, it is necessary to hide her face from every unknown person. Only other females and some very close male members of the family are allowed to see her face out of burqa. This practice brings many emotions such as fear and dependency to Purdahnashin. In this manner, religion influences their emotions; whereas females from other religion do not feel as much fear.

So it is a practice in Islam which works as forces behind these emotions. Further, the people who follow Islam keep fast of around 30 days in the month of Ramadan (religionfacts, 2018). This practice gives inner strength to them. Due to this practice positive emotions such as peace, confidence and happiness get to develop. Further, every Muslim at least once in life is expected to visit Mecca. This visit is popularly known as “Hajj”. This practice also develops commitment level of people towards their religion and brings positive attitude along with the emotions of happiness and satisfaction. In Islam, people are advised to perform ritual player five times in a day. This practice is known as Salat (BBC, 2009). Performing these prayers gives positive attitude and inner peace to people. Due to this practice, often it has noted that Islam practitioners have emotions of satisfaction and happiness. In this way, it may state here that religion has great impact and influence on emotions.

What are the emotions and why a person needs to study the same? This inquiry can reply as that emotions are the most essential power which works behind human conduct. As discussed earlier every religion has developed according to emotions of it is ancestors and further influenced emotion of it is practitioners. Emotions are an important part of human life which actually makes them a person, human. One is advised to accept his/her emotions rather than suppressing them. In Hindu religion there are mainly 10 types of emotions are described under “Natyashastra” (Hejmadi, Davidson & Rozin, 2000). These emotions are disgust, peace, fear, love, shame-embarrassment, sadness, human- amusement, anger and wonder and heroism. These emotions are basically the learning which has provided by the creators of this religion. Here this is also necessary to study that how this religion has evolved and developed in order to understand the role of emotions in the same.

As in Islam Quran is a guide which leads a human behavior, similarly in Hinduism Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana are there to teach that how a person should react towards a situation (Manna & Chakraborti, 2010). Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world and this is the third largest religion which has over 1 billion followers. This religion is a polytheistic religion and because of this is motivated by a number of emotions. In addition to this Vedas and Upanishads are also important sources of Hinduism. Bhagavad Gita and Ramayana are based on the life events of Lord Krishna and Lord Ram. These two writings are the story of said two lords. Both of these lords were human avatar who later on considered as god, as people do believe that they have done such acts which were great lessons to human lives.

Lord Krishna’s life was focused on Karma, as he believed that there is nothing more powerful than the karma. One should not blame anyone else for the downfalls of his/her life. Further, in his life he has seen some cases where people fought with their close relatives for their personal benefits, so emotions of regret, sadness, and anger were the part of his life. Further, as mentioned that Bhagavad Gita is based on the life of Lord Krishna, it can observe that it is influenced by the emotions experienced by Lord Krishna (BiographyOnline, 2018); whereas on the other side, Ramayana also had enormous centrality in the development of Hindu religion.

Life of Lord Ram was based on some principles. It is a belief that Lord Ram was a person of principles and left his house due to the order of his father. During his lifetime he faced so many problems but he always makes choices wisely and performed all of his duties ethically. As Ramayana is based on his life, it gives a lesson of calmness. It provides that a person should always remain calm and should never let his/her morality down. It is influenced by the emotion which Lord Ram experienced during his lifespan, such as discipline (Ranjan, 2013).

Now, this is also to mention that further, this religion impacted emotion of it is adherents. In Hinduism, people consider female as Goddess and there are feeling of respect towards females do exist in heart of Hindus. This is the reason that Hindus have the emotion of respect and love for them. Society does not accept the person who disrespects a lady; because of this emotion of dread exist while doing anything amiss with a female. As this religion is based on Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita somewhere, the lesson given in these writings put a great impact on the emotions of Hindus (Macrohistory and World Timeline, 2018). In Ramayana, the lesson of respect, love, and discipline is granted, and this is the reason that followers of this religion have emotions of respect and love in their lives. Further according to Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has given provided learning on brotherhood, attachments, and karma.

It has noted and observed over decades that  Bhagavad Gita, Lord Krishna has stipulated that one should not have an attachment with anything in his/her life. It crates dilemma and develops a hurdle in the way of success. As Hindus practice this religion and consider lessons of Krishna a manner to live their lives, they do not easily get attach to their surroundings, this thing gives birth to an emotion named selfishness. This is the reason that Hindus are often remaining isolate from society in comparison to people from other religion. Further, in Bhagavad Gita, it is also mentioned that people must keep their personal relation set aside when it comes to performance their moral duties (listovative, 2018). In Hindus, a factor of professionalism has founded at it is great level.

Further Hinduism is one of the biggest religions in the world, it has some rituals such as fasting, prayers and temple visits. These rituals also affect human emotions as these put an effect on the human brain and the same is connected to psychology in a direct manner. So it this manner it may say that like every other religion, Scriptures, and rituals of Hinduism also affect emotions of the person who follow and practice this religion.

Christianity is the biggest religion of this world. It means it has followers more than any of other religion. In this context, it becomes more important to study this religion and to understand that in which manner the same is connected with emotions. This religion has around 2 billion followers all over the globe (rankerreview, 2018). As many of the person following and practicing this religion, this is necessary to understand that which emotions were there in development of the same.

Emotions are nothing more than the psychological concept of a person. In order to understand that how Christianity is connected with the emotions and how psychological approach works in this area, it is important to study that this religion has developed and from which emotions the same was influenced. Christianity is based on the life lesson of Jesus. In this religion, people do believe that Jesus is the one, who is “Son of God” (Piper, 1991). This religion is based on the belief that there is god and Jesus is his son. They also consider Jesus as “Messiah”. This religion has initiated in 1st Century AD and later on spread throughout the area of Greco-Roman World.

The Holy Bible is the lead Scripture of this religion which is based on the lessons given by Jesus. Jesus in actual was a religious leader, to whom people have considered messenger of god or son of God (Jesus Christ, 2018). Later on, these people practiced the lessons given by Jesus. Development of this religion is based on the life lessons of Jesus. The emotions he personally experienced throughout his life. It is a very general rule that a person teaches other what he/she considers correct in his/her views. Similarly, when it comes to a religion, the religious leaders give lessons according to their opinions and experienced emotions.

As Quran in Islam, Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism give the motive and manner in respect of human life, like these, in Christianity, Holy Bible is there to define the manner for life (Wellman, 2015). Holy Bible is based on the lessons given by Jesus. This is the reason that it can be considered here that Bible is a reflection of Jesus in an indirect manner. This Scripture is influenced by the emotions of Jesus and further gives lessons and a leaning accordingly to it is practitioners. People who follow this religion are known as “Christian”.

According to Holy Bible, a person must do the right things and must take ethical steps in the course of living his/her life. It also gives a lesson to show mercy and love to others. The Holy Bible is here to teach people that one should always be humble while dealing with other individuals and creatures. This religion gives a lesson of kindness to it is practitioners (Steeves 2014). This is the reason that why individuals who take after Christianity are a more kind of correlation with other. These people have emotions of satisfaction and happiness. Although every person has different behavior and nature, yet being the follower of same religion they have some emotions in common. As discussed in the aforesaid discussion, religion affects emotions of people, this can demonstrate here as relatively every Christian has feelings of benevolence far beyond his/her other emotion. It would be wrong to mention that people from other religion are not helping in nature, but here the correction is Christians have these emotions more in their nature (Scazzero, 2011).

Further, it is a practice in Christianity to sing prayers while worship, this practice also affects emotions; it gives people mental peace and satisfaction. In addition to this X-mas day is the annual festival in this religion, which is commonly practiced to celebrate as the birthday of Jesus. On this day, Christians give gifts to each other. It develops a lesson of mercy and brotherhood among them. This function also affects emotions of the followers of this religion (Christmas day, 2018). This celebration and it is appearances are the advance factors behind positive emotions of Christians. This can express that this religion, it is customs and practices has a great impact on the emotions of it is supporters.

The Connection of emotions and religion is a necessary aspect of human development. From religious practices to scholastic theories, emotions are the important factor to study in the field of religion. Emotions are the factors behind the development of a religion. Humankind either follow that religion which their precursors have followed or that one with which they candidly associated. Every religion gives different theories and the reason is that all of them are influenced by the emotions of different people, human avatars or lords. Correspondingly, religion also has it is claimed critical esteem (Religious, 2018).

The more a person practices a religion, the more his/her emotions get influenced by that religion. Being a child, a person does not know what is correct or what is incorrect. He/she cannot judge anything, but it is the religion which gives shape to a human brain in the emotional context. Religion has a huge role in promotion and discouragement of certain emotions (Brown & Baker, 2016). A person gets emotional strategies from surrounding and religion has a significant place in the area of the surrounding, so it might state that religions control emotions of a person in a prime manner.

Buddhism is another religion which is trailed by huge numbers of the general population all over the world. This religion has founded before 2500 years by Gautama Buddha in India (BBC, 2009). As Buddha has founded this religion, the same is influenced by his emotions and lessons. To understand the development of this religion, it is required to understand that how this religion has evolved and arrived into it is a present condition. The story behind this religion is that Siddhartha Gautama was born over 2500 years ago into a royal family. He was living a luxurious life. One day he left his palace in search of truth, knowledge, and Moksha (Landaw, 2011). Siddhartha was a man of regulations and moral values from the beginning.

Later on, he attained deep thinking and meditation in order to meet that enlightens power of the universe. Siddhartha was a very kind person and he sacrificed so much in his life because he wanted to be in touch with nature and it is basics. One night when he was searching answers for his questions from several days, he went into done deep meditation under a Bodhi tree and got enlightened. Later on, he has provided his lessons and learning to the world and people considered him as God named “Gautama Buddha” (Blomfield, 2013).

This religion consists of the lessons which Gautama Buddha experienced during his meditation and rest of his life. Buddhism focuses on some lessons, which Buddha has delivered to the world in his words. Buddha may be considered as the only source of this religion. So, Buddhism is a set of rule, regulations and moral lessons which is affected by the incidents and life events of Buddha (Olson, 2005). Similar to any other religion, Buddhism also spotlights some emotions such as love, mercy and sacrifice. These emotions were actually the emotions of Buddha, which has regarded as religion later on.

People who follow Buddhism are called Buddhists. In Buddhism, there are lessons which focus on emotions of love and mercy; this is the reason that Buddhists see the world brimming with delightful articles. According to Buddhism, there is no existence of God, but it is to believe that nothing is permanent (Jacob, 2012). There is a great power of universe which is taking count of everything so one should be always kind and helpful towards other. This religion specifically stipulated that a person must have control over his/her words as these can do hurt as well as heal. It has noted that people who follow and practice Buddhism often remain awake and aware about their inside feelings. They have a belief that happiness increase by being shared (Saviuc, 2017). These people think that one should not believe everything they have been told about. In Buddhism, it has granted that spirituality is a necessary aspect of life and one should know himself/herself first. In addition to physical health, mental health of human is also an important aspect. As Buddhism focuses on self-assessment, it gives mental strength and relaxation to it is followers.

In addition to lessons and learning, there a few ceremonies and rituals are also followed in Buddhism, which affects people’s emotions. Why all Buddhist are kind by nature generally, the answer can found by the psychological study done on the topic of emotions and Buddhism. Rituals in this religion are of that nature which increases positive emotions in human. Meditation is the lead ritual of this religion. It gives positive energy to followers (Fronsdal, 2018). Further, confession of faults is also one of the major and unique rituals of this religion, which differentiate the same Such rituals provide positivity to a person and further enhance emotions such as love, joy, gratitude, pride, hope, inspiration and so on (Sangharakshita, 2013).

After the above discussion, it may say that In Buddhism there is no god but the followers of this religion consider and mind instructions provided by Gautama Buddha. This is the only religion in which focus has been made on physical as well as mental health.  Emotion and experience of Buddha, has created and developed this religion and now this religion is affecting and influencing behavior and emotions of it is followers in a psychological manner.

Alike the other religions mentioned above, Sikhism also one of the significant religion which is practiced globally and founded around 500 years ago by Guru Nanak.  The basics of this religion come from Guru Nanak and his inheritors. Although this religion is following by millions across the world, the same is mostly spread in Punjab, which is a state in India. This religion is based on the lesson of equity (Ahluwalia, 2011). What this religion precisely comprises, and what are the impact on emotions are discussed hereafter. This religion is relatively young and not as ancient as Hinduism and Islam, however, has spread it is roots universally.

People who follow this religion are known as “Sikh”. In an unvarnished meaning, Sikh is a person who follows his teacher’s lesson and learning provided by him/her. Guru Nanak has started the concept of religion and later on nine gurus have followed Nanak. Guru Nanak has given concepts which were distinct from Islam and Hinduism. The one thing which makes this religion unique is that followers of this religion do not believe in any idol worship, instead, they believe in their scripture that is Guru Granth Sahib (Prasoon, 2007). Sikhs treat their scripture as their Guru. Similar to Quran in Islam and Ramayana and Bhagavad Gita in Hinduism, Guru Granth Sahib is a set of rules and regulation. This scripture comprises and convey lessons of all 10 Gurus. Guru Gobind Singh was the last guru of this religion and he has declared that after this death, the Guru Granth Sahib would be treated as Guru. This is the reason why Sikhs believe in this scripture as much. When the theme is about religion, it becomes necessary to comprehend that what are the values of emotions and how the same is associated with spirituality (Thagard, 2016).

Guru Granth Sahib is a lengthy text which comprises 1430 pages and provides lessons and views of all 10 Gurus. Guru Nanak (who was the first Guru of Sikhs) had the curiosity to know about life and god since his childhood. Later on, he has developed his rules and regulations and developed Sikhism.  This religion is based on and affected by the emotions of Guru Nanak (BBC, 2011). According to Guru Nanak, one should never forget poor people around himself/herself. It was his belief that if a person is worthy enough to help others then he/she must help others. He trusted and believed that there is no segregation of religion on this planet and there cannot be more than one God. There is only a one god and he is taking care of all. This is the reason that it can be observed that in Sikhism there is no particular god is define (Kunal, 2017). At the time of Guru Nanak, the situation of society in terms of gender equality was not good, it bothered him and he spread the message that society should treat men and women equally. These were the emotions and psychological theory of Nanak Sahib, which later on has developed a vast religion named “Sikhism”.

Religion has great impact and control on emotions of people. This is a psychological aspect. People who follow the same practices for years become habitual with the same and also started thinking in a single direction. They create a perception about things and people according to the lessons they get from their religion. Every religion gives different lessons; this is the reason that a person from a religion has different perception in comparison to the person from other religion. Sikhism has also a huge impact on the mentality and psychology of the people who follow this religion (Corrigan, 2008). According to Guru Granth Sahib, five factors such as ego, anger, greed, attachment, and lust ruin a human life. These factors termed as evil in Sikhism. This is the reason that Sikhs are often far from these elements in their lives. As this religion taught that one should help others, people of this religion follow the practices of Langar in Gurudwara. In these rich people help poor by distributing food among them (searchsikhism, 2018). These moral practices affect emotions of people in a positive manner.

Sikh people are very positive in nature and also have emotions of sympathy for others. They have emotions of equality and kindness. It has noted over the period that Sikh people have great control over anger and they also have emotions of brevity. As Sikh people are helpful in nature, they have emotions of proud for themselves. It may state here that the emotions such as love, pride, hope and so on, Sikh have are influenced by the lessons and learning they get from their religion. All Sikh have these emotions in their nature generally, and religion is the only thing which is similar among them. In this context, it would not be wrong to mention that religion place a significant role in the area of emotions and psychology (Corrigan, 2004).

Conclusion

Emotions are the significant factors in the study of psychology.  These are directly connected to human mind and behavior. Emotions are the feelings which a person feels about an event or about a particular thing or person in his/her life, but there are some basic differences in between feelings and emotions. Emotions are more quick and responding. How does a human body works? The appropriate response is with the assistance of Brain. The Brain is the part of a body which comprehends circumstances and goffers signals to rest of the body about responses.  This aspect is deeply related to psychology.

Psychology is another branch of science. As science works on factors and causes, similarly, in subject named psychology, people study the thinking procedure and assumptions of the human mind. It is also to understand that why distinctive individuals react differently in respect of the same situation, the answer is because they have different views, perception, and psychological views. How much is an important study of psychology? This investigation can reply as that when a person does not remain sound in his/her mental condition, the same need to take help of a psychologist. As discussed in this literature review that how emotions control the behavior of a human, it may state here that emotions also perform their significant role in the field of psychology.

On the other side, religions are the set of practices which people follow in different manner across the globe. Religion has a huge impact on human life and behavior followed by different people.

Lessons arrange by different religions disciplines, regulate and influence the emotions of it is practitioners; this is the reason that individuals who pursue the same religion have a relatively same point of views about an element and have the comparative sort of emotions. Although there numerous factors such as surrounding, personal experiences, and perceptions exist, which influences human emotions still religion also plays an important role in defining and deciding kinds of emotions in human behavior.

It is not necessary that a religion provides a same emotion to it is every follower. Such emotions can additionally rely upon the gathering of individuals. As earlier discussed in this literature review, Islamic people do have emotions of self-control as they keep fast for one month in the Ramadan and they also have emotions of inner peace and happiness as they perform supplications 5 times in a day; whereas on the other side, female Muslim followers have emotions of fear due to their Purdah Pratha. Here even being a single religion, emotions differ on the basis of the gender of the follower. Further, in Hinduism people do have emotions of brotherhood but they also neglect the habit of attachment. This is so because their religion taught them and given them theories and lessons like this. Whereas in Christianity, people have emotions of mercy and kindness towards others at very well level because they follow the rituals which give them lessons to be kind in nature and develop the emotion of mercy.

Buddhism on the other side does not consider any god, but provides the practices of helping others and sacrifice for others. This provides self-assessment theories to it is followers and make them more intellectual towards their emotions. Similarly, Sikhism gives the lesson of the help of others and kindness and develop the emotions such as inner peace, happiness, and pride. Further, in Sikhism, it a lesson provided that one should equally treat men and women, this is the reason that why Sikh people have emotions of respect and equality toward females. It is not about one or some religion, but every religion has it is own lessons that affect emotions of it is followers.

Every religion has it is own practices and rituals, and one is not advised to judge the positivity or negativity of those practices or rituals, but the motive is to understand that regardless the type of religion, every religion has developed after getting influenced by emotions of it is ancestors or developers or their theories and in the present era the same put an impact on emotions of it is followers and also get influenced. It is a topic to understand that what the primary source of a religion is. Sources are the starting point of an element. In the study of religiosity, this is the factor by reviewing which a person can know that a particular religion is influenced by whom or which factors.

After the research conducted on the topics such as basics of various religions, sources, emotions, and relations among them, it may mention that in the subject of psychology, emotions and religion are the two important chapters. In conclusion, this is to mention that both the aspects i.e. religion and emotions have their significance in human behavior, both are connected with each other and both are influencing in nature for each other. Emotions and Religion have great significance in the area of social and behavioral psychology. Both of these elements play their unique yet vital role in a human conduct and phycology related consequently.

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