The Four Basic Emotions and their Triggers

Did you any time think how many emotions a human being can feel?

Psychological research says we can feel hundreds of emotions and even thousands!

So, wouldn't it be difficult to recognize hundreds and thousands of emotions of others and of ourselves?

Definitely it is going to be a difficult job!

So, what do we do?

If you have seen the animated movie, "Inside Out" (2015), you will easily understand what the main emotions are: Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust.

Psychologists had been saying that there were eight basic emotions. Later on psychologists reduced the basic emotions to seven...six...and even to five. However, quite recently, psychological research has accepted four emotions as basic emotions.

The Four Basic Emotions and their Shades

1. Often, we feel pleased, contented, amused, cheerful, delighted, excited, elated and ecstatic... The intensity of these emotions may vary, but all these emotions are grouped under one emotion i.e. HAPPINESS
2. We also feel  disappointed, upset, moody, heart-broken, miserable, sorrowful, depressed... In spite of their variation in intensity, all these emotions can be grouped under one emotion i.e. SADNESS.S
3. We also feel irritated, sulky, annoyed, frustrated, mad, irate, outraged, enraged, furious...These emotions can be grouped under one emotion i.e. ANGER
4. We also feel anxious, worried, nervous, frightened, apprehensive, panicky, petrified, horrified, terrified...These emotions can be grouped under one emotion i.e. FEAR

Emotions and their General Triggers

Dr. Paul Ekman, the world's authority on emotions and facial expressions, says that every emotion has a reason or a broad trigger which he calls a 'theme'. The following are the triggers for the four basic emotions:

1. ANGER: The general trigger or theme for anger is that we get angry when things don't go the way we planned. For example, we get angry with the salesman for getting a delivery late. A father gets angry with his son if he does not do as he wishes. 
2. FEAR:  The general trigger or theme for fear is that we get frightened or afraid when there is a threat to our welfare. For example, we get worried when our health gets affected. We are nervous before an exam or presentation. We get terrified when we see a car coming to hit us. 
3. SADNESS: The broad theme of sadness is that we become sad when we lose something. For example, we get sad when we lose a purse or money. We are sad we break up with friends. The most intense feeling of sadness one experiences is when a loved dies.
4. HAPPINESS: The general reason for happiness is when things happen our way or something good happens to us. For example, we are happy when somebody accepts a friend request. We are happy when we get a promotion or get married to the love of our life.      

How can we Recognize these Emotions?

Recognizing these emotions is easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy because we recognize other people's emotions all the time without our knowledge. For example, we know unconsciously when somebody is angry or somebody is sad. Only thing is that we don't do it consciously. The moment we try to do it consciously,  it becomes difficult unless you master it. The following are the basic signs to recognize the four basic emotions:

1. SADNESS: When someone becomes sad, we observe a certain sagging in the body posture and a lack of energy or enthusiasm. When it comes to the facial expressions, the inner corners of the eyebrows go up and the lips get widened and turn downwards.
2. ANGER: When someone is angry, their posture becomes upright and they look strong. They often clench their fist or point a finger. As per the facial expressions, the eyebrows come down; the eyelids go up and the mouth and the jaw become tense.
3. FEAR: When someone is afraid, there is a slouch in the posture as opposed to anger. In the facial expressions, the eyebrows are pulled up and the eyelids are pulled up too; and the mouth is half open.  
4. HAPPINESS: When some one is happy, the most common thing to observe is the smile. In a genuine smile, not only the muscles around the mouth relax, bu also the muscles around the eyes contract. In body posture, one becomes relaxed and the body opens up we feel happy.

Observing body language and recognizing the emotions of the other person will surely benefit us as it helps us empathize with the person. And sometimes it can help us in making a decision as to run away from the person or  show that we are not happy with the person or situation. 

References

• 'Emotions Revealed: Understanding Faces and Feelings" by Paul Ekman, 2004.

To learn more about emotions and for Emotional Intelligence Coaching, contact the author. The author is a Psychotherapist, Life Coach and Behavioral Communication Trainer.

Developing Emotional Sensitivity for Better Relationships

Are you Sensitive to your Partner's Emotions in your Relationship?

Emotional Insensitivity

Many of us are insensitive to the emotions of our partners in our relationships-be it a husband-wife, friend-friend, colleague-colleague, peer-peer or parent-child relationship. Some people are blind to the emotions of the others, sometimes. Some other people are blind  to the emotional state of others all the time. Or  Some others can tune into the emotional state of the partner, but they cannot empathize or respond appropriately to their partners. 

I would like to give some examples of emotional insensitivity from my counseling experience:

• One client I was counseling confessed to me that her husband has never understood her feelings for the last fifteen years. 
• A student I was counseling told me that she has been trying to get a hug from her mother for the last 9 years, but in vain.
• A parent told me that his son was grossly insensitive to the emotions and concerns of the parents in the family.

How does it Matter?

Emotional Sensitivity Matters. For, If you are insensitive to the partner's emotional state, you cannot respond to it appropriately. As a result, the relationship gets deteriorated.

• For example, your partner is angry with you for something. If you also get angry with her just because she is angry, then it leads to a clash. In this case, you are not taking time to understand why she is angry with you. As a result, you never get a chance to understand her emotions and you never get to bond with her emotionally.   

On the other hand, if you are sensitive to your partner's emotions, you can respond to the emotional state appropriately and the relationship gets strengthened.

• Taking the example given above, your partner is angry with you for something and you take time to tune into her feeling of anger and you discuss with her and tell her that you understand her feelings, then the emotional bonding strengthened between you both.  

Tuning into the Emotional State of the Other Person

Emotional Sensitivity

The ability to sense the emotional state of the other person is called empathy. Empathy is the ability
to get into the perceptual world of the other person and experience their feelings.

Five Things you can do to Develop Emotional Sensitivity

1. Listen not just to what the other person is saying, but also to what they are feeling: When we listen, focusing on feelings is more important than focusing on content or information because relationships are all about emotions rather than information.
2. Experience the emotion of the other person by imagining yourself in their position: This is what is called empathy, the ability to get into the emotional world of the other person.
3. Focus especially around the eyes and lips of the speaker while they are talking: Observing the eyes and the lips is essential to understanding the emotions of the other person because the eyes and the lips are the areas where the subtlest of emotions can be gauged.
4. Tell them that you understand their feelings and show it in your later interactions: This communicates that you are sensitive to their emotions and that you care for their feelings. 
5. Spend time with the people in your relationships:  For,  spending time with the people in your relationships not only shows that you care for them, but it can also help you to enhance your emotional sensitivity towards them.

The more you do the things above, the more you expand your Emotional Sensitivity Radar (ESR). We will discuss more about the ESR in the later posts...