Emotion in Action
With Dr Sven Hansen
Emotion in Action
Introduction
Emotion is a powerful force in our health, resilience and
social skills. The word emotion (emote, emovare) means to
move. Its primary biological function is to move living creatures
either towards (happy, excited, care, connection) or away from
(fear, anger, sadness) objects depending on whether we judge them
desirable or harmful. Human emotions are complex with approximately
412 mutually exclusive emotions which we display in our facial
expressions, tone of voice and internal neurological, biochemical
or hormonal changes.
Emotional intelligence is the learned ability to understand and regulate our emotions and those of others. It is twice as important as IQ and technical skill. In outstanding leadership, emotional intelligence is responsible for 85% of performance. Emotional intelligence might be the single biggest contribution parents, schools and business can make to our society - if we want to be healthy, resilient and successful.
Basic Science
Charles Darwin documented human and animal emotions in
1872. It is only in the past 20 years that modern science has
caught up and taken notice. Today, emotion is a central theme
in medical, psychological, neurobiological and business
research.
We cycle the 412 emotions through about 250,000 expressions of emotion every day. Expressions are fast at 0.15 to 0.5 seconds, emotions last minutes to hours, moods can go on for weeks and a disposition is a long-term style. It is important to remember that each emotion has a clear objective expression in the body. All humans share exactly the same emotions. The seven primary emotions are:
Anger: downward movement of eyebrows, tight lips and tight lower
eyelid
Sadness: upward movement of inner eyebrow, downwards curve of mouth
and lip
Fear: raised, straight eyebrows, wide eyes and horizontal grimace
of mouth
Happiness: upward curve of lips and crinkle in the outer corner of
the eyes
Surprise: raised and curved eyebrows, wide eyes and open, soft
mouth
Disgust: downward movement of eyebrows, upward curl of upper
lips
Contempt: one-sided smile
The emotions have powerful effects on our bodies. For example: anger causes raised heart rate and blood pressure, immune compromise and extra cortisol. Over time anger can increase your risk of heart attack and perhaps cancer. Fear causes raised heart rate, extra adrenaline and reduced blood to skin and bowel. Happiness is good for our health, improving immune function, creativity and thinking.
There are four aspects to Emotional Intelligence. First self-awareness, second self-mastery (emotion regulation), third empathy (ability to detect and understand the emotions of others, and fourth, social skills. The Aspergers / Autism range of disorders show a significant failure of these functions.
Mastering Emotion & Building Emotional Intelligence
(EQ)
Investing in this topic will have an enormously positive
impact on your life, your family, sport and business. The
rewards are experienced within a couple of hours of practice.
Here are some basic steps:
Self-Awareness
1. Look out for books on Emotional
Intelligence. Popularised by Daniel Goleman, you can now find
many books in any bookstore or library
2. Learn the basic emotional signatures (above). You can practice in the mirror, watch a movie (Pixar is great) and discuss with friends. Go to Professor Paul Ekman's site (below) where you can learn the basics and purchase training
3. Notice your emotional states. Take time to listen to and understand any strong feelings. Identify what triggered the emotion, how it feels in your body and what you are thinking.
Self-Mastery
1. Destructive emotions such as anger, fear and
sadness generally get us into trouble in modern life.
Practice restraint. If you feel anger for example, try not to
do the first thing that comes up such as shout, gesture or
punch. Zip it! Breathe out slowly and take time to calm
down before you respond.
2. Identify and generate positive emotion whenever you can. Enjoy a sunrise, say a sincere thank you, celebrate a victory and aim to have at least 3 positive emotions to every negative one (see positivity ratio below). People who have more than 3:1 enjoy better health, more happiness, improved thinking and better social outcomes.
Empathy
1. Take time to study people's faces and listen to
the tone of voice when you communicate. Too much
"communication" happens by e-mail, text and while distracted on
other tasks. When you listen, really listen. Detect the
different emotions and gently check in with those close to you to
see if you are correct.
2. Search for Facial Expressions (see below) and take some time to learn the basics. An hour of training can make a huge difference to your ability to understand others.
For more information:
The Resilience Institute:
www.resiliencei.com
Facial Expressions:
www.paulekman.com
Emotional positivity:
www.positivityratio.com
Books
Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman, 1995 and
2010
Positivity: Barbara Fredrickson, 2009
Flourish: Martin Seligman, 2011
Engage your Emotions, Sven Hansen, 2006
(Broadcast 24 July 2012)
