Are There People Without Feelings?

Do people without feelings exist? Many of us have asked ourselves this question time and time again. We do this especially when we meet someone who seems cold and not very empathetic.

We tend to say of these people that they have hearts of ice, not only do they catch our attention because of the way they act, but also because they sometimes make us feel uncomfortable.

It is also common to associate this type of profile with psychopathic personalities. It is very easy to think that those who are not able to understand the emotional realities of others have a problem. That people who are capable of harming others in one way or another, physically or psychologically, are devoid of emotions.

However, it is terrifying to think that some people are empty of feelings and unable to experience love, fear, sadness, delusion, shame or happiness. To be with these characteristics would indeed not be human.  We might be faced with a sophisticated robot prototype equipped with artificial intelligence.

We must then assume that we all actually have feelings and emotions. Whether we are able to understand them, express them or use them correctly is quite another matter, however. Let’s see this in more detail.

People without feelings

Reading the emotions of others is an essential characteristic of any psychologist. We can say that we are fine when we are in the grip of anger, rage, disappointment or frustration. Everyone has desires and every desire, whether good or bad, hides an emotion.

Here we want to express the obvious: people without feelings do not exist. We all have them because they are psychophysiological states that orchestrate who we are.

They are what facilitate learning, our development, our daily interaction and, in essence, all that we are. There is no brain in which these processes are not present. That they are present, however, does not mean that they are “functioning” in the right way. Let’s analyze these processes.

Antisocial personalities: emotional void and instrumental emotions

It’s common to think of psychopaths almost instantly when we wonder if there are people without feelings. Today we no longer speak of “psychopaths” as such, but of people with an antisocial personality disorder.

This condition affects 1% of the population. The main characteristics of the data subjects are generally the following:

• They are unable to form strong emotional bonds.
• They are motivated e s as instrumental purposes  : they seek to experience sensations and get what they want.
• Beyond popular belief, psychopaths have empathy. But there are nuances.
• Studies like the one conducted at the University of Rotterdam (Netherlands) show that they have cognitive empathy. In other words, they understand how the other person is feeling. They lack emotional empathy, however  : they don’t connect emotionally with others. They deceive and manipulate more easily.

Alexithymic people exist

These people will tell you that they like you but not show it to you the way you want. They are distant, cold, humorless, taciturn most of the time. They are instantly bored and lack that spark that facilitates and ignites emotional connection.

Alexithymics are for many the clear example that there are people without feelings. To assume this would, however, still be a mistake. The alexithymia originates from an emotional learning disorder or neurological impairment.

The result, however, is the same: these are people unable to understand their own emotional states, to understand those of others, and to name what they are feeling. Despite this, they love and feel emotions; it’s just that they feel them in a distorted way and are unable to express them.

Do they exist or not?

People without feelings do not exist. There are no human beings without the ability to experience emotions, just as there is no brain without the limbic system. This region is the one that orchestrates (to a large extent) every process, every sensation, every impulse that makes us laugh, cry, become emotional …

Individuals are not rational beings. We are emotional beings who reason. 

Emotions (neurochemical and hormonal responses that cause sensations in us) and feelings (mental representations of emotions) are constant processes in all of us. There isn’t a day or a time when we don’t feel something.

Every human being feels, but we don’t all do it the same way. In addition, we do not use all the emotions to promote cohabitation, to generate enriching connections. And this is perhaps our most important problem and our current challenge.

Our thoughts

Emotions are the engine of everything. But do you know more precisely what their functions are and how they affect us at the level p …