How to use Plutchik's wheel of emotions
A little bit about Robert Plutchik's work: he was a thought leader in the study of emotions, before he passed away in 2006. He was responsible for 8 books, editing 7, nearly 300 articles, and 45 chapters in emotional research as a psychologist. He held a doctorate degree as well as positions at the professorial level at two respected universities. Plutchik was a master of emotions ~ he devised the psycho-evolutionary theory of emotion and this helps categorize emotions into primary emotions and the responses to them. He argued that the primary emotions are an evolutionary development and that the response to each suchemotion is the one that is likely to deliver the highest level of survival possibility.
8 Primary Emotions:
- Fear → feeling afraid.
- Anger → feeling angry.
- Sadness → feeling sad.
- Joy → feeling happy.
- Disgust → feeling something is wrong or nasty
- Trust → a positive emotion.
- Anticipation → in the sense of looking forward positively to something which is going to happen.
- Surprise → how one feels when something unexpected happens
Each of these primary emotions has a polar opposite: Joy is the opposite of sadness | fear is the opposite of anger | anticipation is the opposite of surprise | disgust is the opposite of trust.
Secondary emotions are emotional reactions we have to other emotions. For example, a person may feel ashamed as a result of becoming anxious or sad. In this case, anxiety would be the primary emotion while shame would be the secondary emotion.The spaces between the emotions demonstrate combinations when primary emotions mix. So we see the emergence of emotions like love, submission, optimism, aggressiveness, contempt, remorse, disapproval, awe, and submission.
The beauty of this tool is it enables the user to visualize their emotions, and understand which combinations of emotions created this outcome.
How to approach Plutchik's wheel of emotions:
- Along the outer edges, you’ll find low-intensity emotions: acceptance, distraction, boredom etc...
- As you move toward the centre, the colour deepens and milder emotions become your basic emotions: trust, surprise, disgust, etc...
- The center circle holds the most intense manifestations: admiration, amazement, loathing, ecstasy etc...
- Here, you’ll find what are called mixed emotions — contempt, for example, rises out of a combination of anger and disgust.
Let’s say you have some awareness of a vague sense of discontent, look at the wheel, find the emotions that resonate with your feelings the most:
Example:
Allow yourself to feel your feelings; notice the physical sensations in your body (i.e. sweaty palms, pressure in your chest, stomach is turning). Then identify whether you are experiencing a primary or secondary emotion. Start with the basic emotions, then keep going until you find the word that closely describes your emotional experience.
There isn't really a right or wrong way to use the wheel. What matters more is having a vocabulary that you can lean on when you need to add more detail to your emotions beyond the basic feeling of just feeling good or bad and not knowing why. By attuning to your body and paying attention to the external and internal factors that may be contributing to your feelings, this will help you slow-down and co-regulate your emotions. Eventually allowing you to have complete control over your emotions.
Next time you find yourself in a scenario producing a range of unfiltered emotions that are clearly alarming to you, try using Robert's wheel of emotions and slowly try to instil the understanding behind his method. This will lead to a more promising outcomes and eventually more control of situations that you might find yourself feeling attacked or taken advantage of. Lean how to take control, it's one of the best qualities in life you can teach yourself.
- Shit Happens™️
Special TIME Edition, December 27, 2019