The Emotion Wheel: What is It and How Do You Use It?
Emotions are complex, and sometimes out of control.
Some of us find we are more attached to our emotions than others, wearing our hearts on our sleeves.
Others of us are very stoic in our approach, maintaining the appearance that nothing really brings us joy or stresses us out.
Whichever way we feel or express our emotions, how we feel is a unique experience to each and every one of us. An experience that changes the way we interact with the world and the people around us.
So, how can we better understand emotions - and why should we?
For starters, research has shown a higher level of emotional intelligence is linked to higher salaries and increased job satisfaction. Âč
Not only that:
A high emotional quotient (EQ) assists decision making, helps stress management, and leads to an increase in overall happiness.
Therefore, itâs a great idea to place EQ at the top of your self-improvement list. Hereâs how to increase your emotional intelligence and be better at life.
What is Plutchikâs Wheel Of Emotions?
Plutchikâs wheel of emotions, known more broadly as the emotion wheel, is a visual guide to the complete spectrum of human emotion. The wheel was initially created by researchers within the field of evolutionary psychology to support a theory defining the role of emotions in human development over many centuries.
These researchers basically asked, why do we experience emotions? They hypothesized that emotions serve some kind of evolutionary advantage - and evidence suggests that they were right.
The theory that accompanies the wheel of emotions posits that primary emotions of anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy, served an important adaptive role in evolution: Each emotion trigger behaviors that are key to survival.
Researchers used this theory to standardize the classification of responses in test environments and identify the expression of emotion common to humans experience across languages, cultures, and continents.
Today, the emotion wheel is widely used in psychology, counseling, and emotional literacy education to help individuals identify, understand, and articulate their emotional states more precisely.
Plutchikâs Psychoevolutionary Theory
The original wheel of emotions was created by the psychologist Dr. Robert Plutchik in 1980. Plutchik was a professor emeritus at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and a professor at the University of South Florida. He was a prolific researcher, publishing more than 260 articles, 45 chapters, and eight books.
His research included studies on suicide, violence, psychotherapy, and, most famously - emotions.
In his work, Plutchik proposed a psychoevolutionary classification system for emotional response.
Plutchik believed there were eight primary emotions: anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy.
Plutchik argued that these eight primary emotions all have survival qualities and have evolved to negotiate environmental pressures placed upon an organism.
His psychoevolutionary theory of basic emotions contains 10 postulations: ÂČ
Both animals and humans experience the same emotions in comparable ways.
Emotions have an evolutionary history, they have evolved different forms of expression in various species.
Emotions, therefore, serve as an adaptive role in aiding organisms to handle survival situations posed by environmental pressures.
Despite the different ways to express emotions in different species, there are commonalities or prototype emotions that can be identified.
There exists a small number of basic, primary, or prototype emotions.
All other emotions are derivatives that occur as combinations or mixtures of these basic, primary, or prototype emotions.
Emotions are constructs or ideas that are used to label or describe experiences.
Basic emotions can be conceptualized as pairs that are polar opposites of one another.
All experienced emotions vary in their degree of difference and similarity to each other.
Every emotion can exist in differing degrees of intensity or vary in their level of arousal.
The 8 Basic Emotions
Plutchikâs eight postulated basic emotions - anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, anticipation, trust, and joy - have polar, corresponding opposites:
Joy â Sadness
Fear â Anger
Anticipation â Surprise
Disgust â Trust
Wheel of Emotions
You can see the opposites and derivatives of these emotions in this Emotion Wheel below:
As you can see, the combination of basic emotions leads to varying emotions. And they are also experienced in differing degrees of intensity. The closer to the center of the wheel the stronger the emotion is felt and the further away from the center of the wheel the emotion isnât felt as strongly.
Different Ways to Use Plutchikâs Emotion Wheel
So how can you put theory into practice? The key here is to think of the emotion wheel as a compass to the inner world. Learning to skillfully identify emotions with the wheel will help you navigate through life by nourishing your personal growth, infusing your relationships with empathy, and even fuelling creative processes.
Perhaps the most common way of using the emotion wheel is in personal reflection, which weâll walk through in more detail below. However, the emotion wheel is helpful in a wide variety of contexts that center human experience, from therapy to design. Here are a few examples of how you can use the wheel of emotions:
Personal Growth: You can use the emotion wheel to help you recognize and name your feelings to promote greater emotional awareness and self-compassion.
Parenting: Parents can use a kid-friendly version of the emotion wheel to help little ones understand and express their feelings in words.
Therapy and Counseling: The emotion wheel is widely used in therapy. Mental health professionals can use it to assist clients in defining the role that their emotional experiences have in their mental health.
Conflict Resolution: Miscommunication around the role of emotion in conflict is a major obstacle in finding resolution. When introduced by a skilled facilitator, the emotion wheel can facilitate better communication between couples and within groups in conflict.
Education: Educators at all levels can use the emotion wheel to teach emotional literacy to support critical thinking, leadership training, and group projects.
Mindfulness Practice: The emotion wheel can be used to support mindfulness practice by providing a guide to emotional states. The wheel enables practitioners to notice the relationship between these emotional states and thought patterns.
Storytelling: The wheel can also be used as a creative tool! Writers can use the emotion wheel to explore and convey the emotional depth of characters and narratives more effectively.
Creative Expression: Painters, musicians, dancers and artists can use the emotion wheel to explore and express a spectrum of emotions articulately through their artworks.
Healthcare and Patient Interaction: Healthcare professionals can use the emotion wheel as a tool to establish psychological safety in high-stress care situations. The wheel can also be used as a guide to help patients describe the emotional experiences related to their health conditions.
Team Building: You can also use the emotion wheel in team-building exercises to foster emotional intelligence, enhance team communication, and improve workplace relationships.
Accountability Groups: In peer support settings, the emotion wheel can facilitate deeper, empathetic conversations, helping you share and understand each otherâs emotional experiences more clearly.
Design: Designers can use the emotion wheel to create more user-centered products, spaces, interfaces, and brands. The wheel can assist designers in making intentional choicesâfrom color palettes to user experiencesâthat evoke desired emotions, enhance user satisfaction, and foster a stronger emotional connection with the finished design.
How to Use the Emotion Wheel for Personal Growth
Whatever your goals may be for boosting your emotional awareness, one of the best ways to get familiar with using the emotion wheel is to combine it with the reflective practice of journaling. For the deepest learning, itâs a good idea to make time on a regular basis for journaling with your emotion wheel a regular practice so you get an accurate picture of how your emotions evolve over a period of time. Set aside dedicated times to revisit your emotions, record your reflections, and track your progress. Consistency will help reinforce what you learn, allowing your emotional intelligence and self-compassion to flourish. Here is a step-by-step guide for how to develop a regular journaling routine using the emotion wheel as a tool for reflection:
Step 1: Get familiar with the full spectrum of emotions on your wheel.
Time: 20 minutes
Prompt: Which emotions arise for you most frequently in daily life?
Begin by sitting with the emotion wheel and exploring its various categories and segments. In your journal, note down three emotions on the wheel that you are the most familiar with. Itâs helpful if you select emotions from the second or third ring of the wheel so that you can explore the nuance of the emotion. Describe the feelings in detail by exploring the sensations, thoughts and experiences that you associate with it. Repeat with three emotions that you are the least familiar with.
Step 2: Identify areas of emotional resistance.
Time: 15 minutes
Prompt: Which emotion(s) do you tend to resist?
Some emotions may feel elusive or challenging to identify. In your journal, explore areas where you feel resistance or confusion. Using the wheel for reference, identify any emotions that are difficult for you to experience or accept and make a list of them in your journal. For each emotion, list which of the eight primary emotion groups it belongs to. When youâre done with your list, spend 10 minutes reflecting on your results. Which primary emotion do you tend to resist? Why do you think this is?
Step 3: Cultivate self-compassion to help you accept, experience and express your emotions.
Time: 20 minutes
Prompt: How can you develop greater self-compassion around the emotions that you tend to resist?
Practicing self-compassion is vitally important to successfully developing and applying emotional awareness in your everyday life. According to the educational psychologist Dr Kristin Neff in her 2013 book Mindfulness, Acceptance, and Positive Psychology, self-compassion is based on three principles:
Being Kind to Yourself: cultivating self-love by taking a gentle approach to processing pain and failure
Recognizing Common Humanity: You are not alone. Viewing your experience as part of the larger human experience
Mindfulness: holding your painful thoughts and emotions in balanced awareness with everything else around you.
Keeping these principles in mind, take some time to review your previous journal entries. Then, take 20 minutes to respond to the following prompt in your journal: How can you develop greater self-compassion around the emotions that you tend to resist? This is a great prompt to follow with personalized affirmations to help you manifest self-compassion.
Step 4: Commit to a daily check-in.
Time: 5-20 minutes
Prompt: Which emotions are you experiencing right now?
Once youâve taken some time to get to know your emotional self, begin tracking your natural ups and downs with a daily journal daily check-in. The key to this prompt is consistency: The time you take to write the check-in is less important than the fact that you do it daily so you can gather data! Begin your daily emotional check-in by finding a place to center yourself where you wonât be disturbed. Take some deep breaths to move inward, and gradually bring awareness to your present emotional state. Refer to the emotion wheel, and use it to select words for exactly what you are feeling, one at a time. List as many emotions from the wheel as are relevant to your experience. Conclude your check-in with a few short sentences reflecting on your findings and setting the tone for the day ahead.
Step 5: Unpack complex emotions as they arise.
Time: 10 minutes
Prompt: Unpack an emotionally-charged event or interaction that came up during your day.
You can also use the emotion wheel as a tool to help you decode more complicated interactions. This practice is usually the most enlightening if you journal the same day as the interaction that triggered your emotional response, so the experience is fresh in your mind. Give yourself a couple of hours to wind down from an emotional interaction, and then pull out your emotion wheel to guide your reflection. Which primary emotion did you identify in the moment of the interaction? Reflecting on the event now, which other underlying or more nuanced emotions did this interaction provoke? This practice is helpful as a personal reflection, but it can also prepare you to follow up with others after a heated interaction.
Step 6: Recognize emotional triggers.
Time: 20 minutes
Prompt: What are your emotional triggers?
After a couple of months practicing daily check-ins and unpacking highly charged events with your emotion wheel, you should have enough material in your journal to notice patterns that arise in your emotional life. Take about 20 minutes to dive into your journal, reviewing your entries and check-ins. Then, create a new entry answering the following prompt: What thoughts, circumstances, events, or people trigger strong emotions in you? The purpose here is to become aware of patterns and connections, so try to write with curiosity and an open mind.
Mindful Tips for Self-Regulating Your Emotions
Remember these golden rules next time you feel your thoughts or emotions running away from you:
Attend to your emotions. Give your emotions space, but donât allow them to dictate to you how you are thinking or feeling.
Be patient. Donât be angry at yourself for feeling a certain way. Instead, ask yourself why you may be feeling that way.
Accept how you feel. Sometimes itâs ok to be feeling frustrated or jealous. recognize it, dissect it, and acknowledge the stimulus that is the cause of you feeling that way.
Share your experience. Bring others with you on your journey to emotional awareness! Talking about your emotions with others can help to break down complex emotions, making them easier to attend to.
Learn how to channel emotional energy. This takes practice and patience, but it is possible to transform rage, disgust, and fear into focus
Embrace emotional freedom. We never want to suppress the way we feel so much that we are unable to feel pressure, joy, and happiness. Enjoy the beautiful moments in your life to their fullest potential!
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Brooks, Chad. âEmotional Intelligence Skills: How to Spot Them in Hiring.â Business News Daily, February 21, 2023. https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10429-emotional-intelligence-career-success.html.
Plutchik, Robert. âA GENERAL PSYCHOEVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF EMOTION.â In Elsevier EBooks, 3â33, 1980. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-558701-3.50007-7.