Naming Emotions
A Guide to Identifying and Understanding Your Feelings
The Plutchik Emotion Wheel illustrates eight basic emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, disgust, anger, and anticipation.
Be One with Your Emotions
The emotional wheel, also known as the emotion wheel, is a visual tool designed to help individuals identify and understand their emotions. It was created by American psychologist Dr. Robert Plutchik. The wheel illustrates the relationships between different emotions and how they can combine to form more complex feelings.
Key Features of the Emotion Wheel:
Primary Emotions: Plutchik identified eight primary emotions that serve as the foundation for all other emotions: joy, sadness, acceptance, disgust, fear, anger, surprise, and anticipation.
Opposing Emotions: Each primary emotion has a polar opposite. For example, joy is opposite to sadness, and fear is opposite to anger.
Combinations of Emotions: Emotions can blend to form more complex feelings. For instance, joy and trust combine to create love, while fear and surprise combine to create awe.
Degrees of Emotions: Emotions can vary in intensity. For example, anger can range from annoyance to rage, and joy can range from serenity to ecstasy.
Using the Emotion Wheel:
Self-Awareness: The wheel helps individuals become more aware of their emotions and understand the nuances of their feelings.
Emotional Regulation: By identifying emotions accurately, individuals can better manage and regulate their emotional responses.
Communication: The wheel can improve communication by providing a common language to describe emotions, making it easier to express feelings to others.
The emotion wheel is a valuable tool for anyone looking to enhance their emotional intelligence and gain a deeper understanding of their emotional landscape.