Emotion Stimulus for the Emotion: Physiological and Non-Verbal Responses to look for in ourselves and others: Typical Natural Survival Instinct Response: Awareness and Self Control in Regulating how we respond to our Emotions:
Fear Present Threat – Created by physical threat or a threat to our esteem or perception of danger to our self. Heart rate increases, Blood flows to large muscles including the legs to prepare for flight Flight –we want to escape and get away from what we fear to put separation between what we perceive as a threat to our physically or to our self-image. Flow of blood away from the brain and to our legs in the desire to escape the danger. Our real goals is safety. If the threat is not a physical threat and is a threat to our esteem controlling and consciously choosing how we respond carefully will do a better job protecting our esteem than the emotional response.   Take a deep breath, will improve oxygen flow to the brain, create time separation between the stimulus that created the perceived treat. This will give us time to let our cognitive brain catch up and think of how we should respond in a manner that will give us safety and not threaten our sense of self-esteem.
Anger Present Threat – Created by a physical obstacle or obstacle to our goals by someone perceived as an “enemy” that is holding us back from trying to accomplish something. Heart rate increases, Adrenaline and hormones increase, Blood flows to hands as if getting ready to fight an enemy. Fight – Our natural response when we feel anger is to attack – either physically or more often in our lives verbally. Our reaction to fight is to remove the obstacle. Increased adrenaline and heart rate with blood flowing away from our cognitive brains can cause us to respond to our “enemy” in a verbal attack, with words that our cognitive brains were unable to process due to the emotional hijacking of anger. In response to the emotion taking a deep breath in this case will improve oxygen flow to the brain, create time separation between the stimulus that makes us want to physically or verbally attack our real or perceived “Enemy”. This will give us time to let our cognitive brain to catch up and think of how we should respond in a manner that does not attack our perceived enemy.     Making a verbal attack on someone at home or at work will further strain our relationship and can fester into the future. Our family members and coworker are all on the same team – so we need to work together to remove obstacles not against one another. There are enough people outside that want to see us fail so we do not need to create enemies in our relationships inside our groups. Anger can be detrimental to our personal and professional relationships. More can be accomplished with a soft voice than a hard voice, and controlling our verbal responses.
Sadness Past – Loss of a valued object or person. Decrease in energy, eyes watering/crying, Retracts and pulls into ourselves or stays close to home, family, or close friends in desire to reattach to what was lost. Our cognitive brains can perceive abandonment Seeks to Reattach – Tries to find the object or person. If person has died may recall memories in seeking to reattach with what was lost.

 

Freeze – Loss of object or person, can create a decreased drive to go out and pursue new things, until the grieving process is over.

 Loss of a valued object or person, can make us feel abandoned or the need to try and reattach to the object.
Happiness Present – Content in the feeling and experiencing the present moment At ease or rest physically. Lack of a compelling external stimulus for action our cognitive brains can spend increased time thinking and reflecting. Rest/Relax – no compelling cause for action By understanding and recognizing the situations that bring us happiness.   Self-awareness can help use in our pursuit of happier lives.
Love Present – Feeling a sense of connection and/or desire to avoid loneliness Calm, relaxed, connection, Romance Attraction – opposite of the fight and flight reactions – we want to move towards something or someone and connect and have romance
Surprise Present – Unexpected Event

 

 

 Eye open wide, heightened senses as we take in and collect more information from our environment and become introspective in terms of trying to determine how to act. Responses can vary based on the intensity of the level of surprise (very-surprised to little surprise) and the level can impact the level response. The assessment of additional information will determine our response or based on perception could trigger fight, flight, or freeze. Surprise occurs when the events or a comment made by a person is unexpected and breaks the rules of what we would expect.     Surprise is an emotion that can take many forms – it can be neutral, pleasant, unpleasant, positive, or negative.

 

In our relationships at home or at work when something surprises us, we can seek more understanding by asking questions of people to gather more information and understand why an unexpected event took place and broke from the rules and norms.

 

If upon further discovery it broke from the norms and values of our team we should provide feedback to the individual.
Disgust Present – Unpalatable object or behavior Physiological responses are similar to if we ate something that did not taste good. Our upper lip may curl, or our nose may wrinkle, or eyes shut as if something smelt or tasted bad. It is something we perceive as toxic or poisonous. Vomit, Sick to Stomach, similar to if we ate something poisonous or toxic. We want to eject the poison from our body or organization. If disgust is with a person or their behaviors our natural instinct will be to get them out of our lives.   In our organizations and relationships, we need to assess if the person is toxic or if they just acted in a way that was distasteful.   If their behavior is the issue we should talk to the person about that behavior and give them feedback. If after discussing the behavior with the person it is determine the person is toxic, they should be expelled from our organizations the same way we would expel poison from our body – least they will become toxic and destroy our teams.
Acceptance Present – Feeling a sense of being part of something or a member of a group. As a high level emotion when we feel that we are part of something we want to groom, nurture, and take care of the group to provide mutual support. Groom – Do what is required to maintain the group, provide mutual support, and keep the group together. Acceptance is not an emotion is created by a real or perceived threat to our survival, it is however required for our health and survival as humans.   When we are in groups we should ensure that we do not let acceptance turn into complacency, otherwise we could take our relationships for granted and if we do not if we take it for granted.
Anticipation Future – Reward – Expectations about what our experience will be in the future and a reward we will have by going into new territory or doing something new. As higher level emotion with anticipation we tend to create a picture of the future we will experience in an idealistic fashion. We create a map or picture of what we believe the future will look like when we go into some new or uncharted territory in our lives. We should be aware that with anticipation we draw a map or paint a picture of what the future will look like after we undertake something new – this creates an expectation or what the future will look like. Maps are not always accurate and the terrain that they chart out may be different in real life as the world is changing.   Many times in life our experiences will not match the expectations and when this happens we will be dissatisfied.   It is important that we are aware the experience and expectations will not always be aligned so we don’t become dissatisfied. It is also important for us to communicate to other people clearly on expectations and to work to align the experience we give others with the expectations we set with them so that they do not become disappointed with us.
Anxiety Future – Threat – Perceived threat about something that may or may not happen. Perception that we will be under attack in the future.     We paint a picture in our mind on the negative things that could happen to us. Freeze – Anxiety can be debilitating and cause us to not act out of a perceived fear about what may or may not happen in the future.     We can sometimes overanalyze the future and become indecisive and delay action. Anxiety is not an immediate threat, it is a perceived or manifested threat in our head about something that will or could happen in the future. Anxiety is similar to fear but fear is in the present vs anxiety is about the future. Anxiety can be debilitating if not recognized. Learning to focus on the present and taking accountability for the things we can control in live, and accepting the things we cannot control in life can help us overcome anxiety.