When all decisions/emotions/attractions/thoughts etc. originate form the brain, why do people use “heart” in such contexts?
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Having Heart is simply another way of ascribing some supernatural power to an achievement that was difficult or seen as beyond the capability of the individual.
The saying became popular after the race horse [Seattle Slew](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_Slew) passed away and the autopsy showed his heart was twice the size of any other horse seen. Seattle Slew retired as undefeated and a triple crown winner. He was the first horse in history to achieve that distinction.
I know this is an ELI5, but if you’re interested in further reading The Source of All Things: A Heart Surgeon’s Quest to Understand Our Most Mysterious Organ and Heart: A History are good books that explain the history of the heart
most likely because you can physically feel your heart beating differently when you actually feel different emotions
Because your heart responds to your emotional state. It may beat faster or slower or feel like it’s caving in and being sucked into a hole or beat so hard it feels like it’ll burst.
So it basically responds very visibly to emotion so it makes sense to use it metaphorically that way. Also it’s worth noting that such expressions came about many years ago when people did not have the understanding of the human body we have today.
You ever had a bad breakup? It hurts exactly where your heart is. A broken heart is an actual condition. Extreme heartbreak weakens the muscle and the heart can give out and if it’s bad enough it can kill.
I would think that because the feeling of anguish that comes from a breakup is an emotion, and it can have an effect on the heart, that we believe that any sort of emotion may be tied to the heart as a source.
We feel glee and we feel it in our chest. Like a fire.
I’m sure it goes deeper than just this from cultural roots and religious ideas. It seems to be a universal thought.
Might have something to do with vagus nerve as well. We physically feel lot of strong emotions in our chest and stomach because of it. I know I’ve felt stuff where my “heart” is.
We tend to intellectualize emotions and don’t fully feel them, which is why it might not always be noticeable. But they are very physical.
i assume a lot of it has to do with how when you feel a deep love, you feel a warmth in your chest. when you experience heartbreak, you feel pain in your chest, where your heart is. when you are anxious and worried, you feel tightness in your heart. people have probably been experiencing this since before words were invented. think about it, when was the last time you felt a strong emotion and felt any physical stimuli in your brain? we know now that this is where thoughts and emotions happen but until very recently, i think it’s easy to see why people thought all of that happened in the heart. that’s been part of human culture for such a long time, it’s not going away any time soon.
I think the vagus nerve that ends in our abdomen has something to do with our emotions. The expression “gut feeling” is real.
Dont quite me on this, but I’m pretty sure ancient philosophers and, really the general public believed the heart to be the center of emotions due to the butterflies you feel when nervous or scared or such. Or something like that
Our hearts react to our emotions. You feel attraction, your heart speeds up, you feel loss your heart feels pain, you get scared your heart can skip a beat.
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