“An emotion is your brain’s creation of what your bodily sensations mean, in relation to what is going on around you in the world.” Lisa BarrettĪ 2017 study by researchers Alan Cowen and Dacher Keltner found that 27 distinct varieties of emotion exist within the human experience. How to Use the Emotion Wheel (With Examples) His feeling wheel showed that emotions present in varying degrees (from extreme to less extreme) and that when two emotions are combined (joy and trust, for example), a new emotion cultivates (love). As part of his psycho-evolutionary theory of emotion, Plutchik added to the idea that there were six primary emotions, proposing that there are eight emotions that all humans experience. The emotion wheel was created in 1980 by American psychologist Robert Plutchik. The emotion wheel is also referred to as the feelings wheel or wheel of feelings. Its purpose is to help people identify and communicate their emotions. The emotion wheel features two concentric circles that demonstrate emotional degrees by color as they relate to eight basic emotions: anger, anticipation, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, surprise, and trust.

In this article, discover how to use the emotion wheel to articulate your feelings and increase the strength of your interpersonal relationships. When you realize this disconnect, learning how to fix it becomes the next step. Without communicating how we feel, we not only hold ourselves back from becoming our best version but also hold others back. For example, if you refuse to communicate about a problem, logically, the issue will persist.Ĭommunicating our emotions helps build bonds with others, foster trust, increase emotional intelligence at work, and promote collaboration. However, it can also cause misunderstandings and unnecessary or prolonged conflict.

we armored up, and at some point, that armor no longer serves us.”Ĭlamming up can, of course, provide a sense of safety and security. As researcher and best-selling author Brené Brown explains, “We all grew up and experienced it in varying degrees trauma, disappointment, hard stuff. Whether these feelings originate from trauma, frequent hardships, or what we learned from our parents, they may have caused us to shut down. We all have reasons for not being able to identify or communicate our emotions.

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How to Use the Emotion Wheel (With Examples).

Printable color wheel of emotions