Have you ever found yourself so immersed in an enthralling movie, a dynamic piece of music, or a riveting story that you, at one point, experienced a full-body shiver flowing from the top of your spine to the bottom? To my understanding, it is associated with an event that signifies that an individual's vital need for cognition is satisfied and reaches its crescendo. These are psychogenic shivers, colloquially referred to as ‘tingles’ or ‘chills’, and it is a concept that transcends the objective concept of temperature and grazes over the deeper psychological experiences of an individual.
I believe this concept can be the first step towards getting a deeper understanding of the dynamics of aesthetic emotions and what truly matters to the mind and society of minds. At first glance, shivers may seem like a typical physiological reaction, but they emanate from the brain’s limbic system, which is the hot seat for our memory and emotions. This can be bound to the research conducted by Neese (1990) which gave an evolutionary-based explanation for this phenomenon and its potential to aid in social bonding and communal survival. If we focus on the neurological pathway, we can sequential a beautiful interplay between the amygdala, the hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.
These shivers are often accompanied by emotional resonance, like anxiety, pride, nostalgia, awe, or a deep sense of connection. It is as if our brains possess some alchemical programming that perceives the abstract glory in the art that unleashes before us and metamorphosizes it into a tangible, visceral reaction. Van Cappellen and Saroglou (2012) studied the influence of emotions like awe and admiration (under religious contexts) on feelings that connote peace and spirituality. They found out that the feeling of awe has a direct effect on spiritual feelings, which in turn affects the behavioral intentions of the individual. Even when scanning through various other contexts, we can see that this phenomenon is prevalent from the haunting octaves of a music composition to the flawless poignance articulated in films, the intentional manipulation of emotions can trigger psychogenic shivers, especially the kind of stimuli that can be controlled. That brings us to the influence of the substance, and this state, is often traced back to the excitant, opioid-antagonist Naloxone. Besides its obvious influence on the anatomy, it also gives us a wider view of the analogy behind the exploratory drive and its impending effects.
The true origins of psychogenic shivers are still shrouded in mystery. Still, the most definite explanation lies in the evolution-based arguments, the second-most predominant argument being that of anxiety and the body’s coping mechanism to “shake it off” the system. So the next time you find yourself hooked in the rapture of a magnificent sunset, a soul-stirring piece of art, or a particularly heartwarming story, pay heed to the subtle shivers that blanket your shoulders down to the bottom of your spine: that is a true testament to the mind-boggling interplay of emotions and the beguiling power of human experience. As research continues to unravel the intricacies of our neurobiology and emotional intelligence, let us as inquisitive beings embrace the mystery surrounding this peculiar phenomenon that makes the human body itself befuddled to reason it.
References:-
Auctores. (n.d.). Investigating the role of Psychogenic shivers in Mental Health | Auctores. Auctores. https://www.auctoresonline.org/article/investigating-the-role-of-psychogenic-shivers-in-mental-health
Nesse, R. M. (2004). Natural selection and the elusiveness of happiness. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 359(1449), 1333–1347. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2004.1511
Valdesolo, P., & Graham, J. (2013). Awe, uncertainty, and agency detection. Psychological Science, 25(1), 170–178. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613501884
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