Get to know the principal human emotions and develop your Emotional Intelligence!

To understand emotions, which are feelings present in the life of any human being, the science of emotions relies on several theories.

Emotions are essential for our survival. They affect our whole life, such as our thoughts, our dreams, our social relationships, our decisions, in short, everything. Therefore, it is crucial to know the emotions and how to deal with them.

In addition, having a well-developed Emotional Intelligence is essential to lead life more profitably and peacefully, in addition to achieving important achievements on both the personal and professional sides.

With this in mind, we decided to bring more information on the subject so that you can better understand what emotions and Emotional Intelligence are.

In this article you will see:

• What is emotion?
• Stimuli and reactions
• What are the primary emotions?
• What are the existing emotions?
• What is Emotional Intelligence?
• Benefits of developing Emotional Intelligence
• 7 tips for developing Emotional Intelligence

What is emotion?

Emotion is latent feelings that we cannot contain, and most of the time it results in some form of expression, and may even cause physical effects on our bodies. The science of emotions is a study focused on the main themes involving human emotions.

To understand how emotions are formed and how to manage them, several researchers, philosophers, and scientists have studied emotions.

There are several approaches to emotions. Some researchers, such as philosophers Albert Newen and Luca Barlassina, argue that emotions should be interpreted as a sophisticated state of mind, which results from the interaction between physiological and cognitive processes.

For others, they are biological reactions of an animal nature, being considered survival mechanisms, even with existing social functions.

Some authors prefer to state that emotions are ways of thinking or even a way of seeing the world around us.

Despite these different currents of thought, it is known that emotions are feelings that govern our lives. Knowing and controlling them is essential for our daily lives, our social coexistence, and our emotional well-being.

Stimuli and reactions

According to Joseph LeDoux, psychologist and neuroscientist at New York University, little is known about the neural bases of emotions.

In the first phase, emotions occur on an unconscious level, through rapid neurological responses to each situation. That's why we feel an emotion and only then do we reflect on what their causes were and the sensations they provoked.

In addition to primary emotions, there are more complex emotions that are caused by social situations. This is the case of shame, shyness, pride, and haughtiness.

Studies show that emotions are generated in different regions of the brain through stimuli that cause physiological changes in response to some emotional trigger.

After this stimulus, behavioral reactions are activated, having three fundamental characteristics:

• Action trends: There are emotions more visually connected with these reactions, such as disgust and surprise, which are usually linked to situations of extrapolating limits, generating voice elevations, and sometimes brutality.
• Physiological reactions: We can mention fear, as an example of a physiological reaction to sweating cold with an accelerated beat. This can also happen with sadness, due to the production of tears on the surface of the eyes.
• Subjective experience: The Wheel of Emotions theory consists of pairing some emotions that add up to a feeling while configuring opposite emotions at the opposite ends of an octagon. Thus, anger and fear would be opposite, while the combination of irritation and disgust generates contempt.

But how do manage all these stimuli?

What are the primary emotions?

The primary emotions are 6, and also known as universal emotions: sadness, fear, anger, disgust (or aversion), surprise, and happiness.

They are more easily perceived in humans than secondary ones, derived from these because they individually have different facial movements.

From a study by Darwin, it was possible to conclude that primary emotions are also present in animals and apply regardless of social context or personal experience scenario.

They can be divided between adaptive or maladaptive. The first would be anger, sadness, and fear, because they arise and disappear in response to the situation encountered, in a faster construction process. The others, disgust, joy, and surprise, can lead to a more prolonged reaction, even cases of exaggerated behavior.

What are the existing emotions?

27 existing emotions were identified: fun, anxiety, estrangement, desire, excitement, fear, fear, horror, boredom, calm, empathy, doubt, disgust, enchantment, nostalgia, satisfaction, adoration, admiration, visual appreciation, envy, romance, sadness, surprise, sympathy, triumph, interest, and joy.

This list of emotions was discovered in an American survey and published in 2017, based on the reactions generated by videos to men and women. It was concluded that the perceptions of variance between the different emotional states were minimal, and these were much more interconnected than imagined.

The research was conducted to assist psychiatric work in the assertiveness of understanding the brain through emotions, and the levels of correlation with its muscular expressiveness and state of mind.

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence can be described as the ability to understand and deal with your own emotions, know how to manage them, and lead them in your favor to better relate to yourself and the people around you. Emotional Intelligence is divided into 5 main pillars, which will be detailed later: Self-knowledge, Self-management, Self-motivation, Empathy, and Sociability.

The individual who has the best developed Emotional Intelligence is also able to make better decisions and make choices consciously, resulting in a better quality of life, both in the personal and professional spheres.

Benefits of developing Emotional Intelligence

Among the benefits of developing Emotional Intelligence is the fact that you know how to deal better with your emotions. An emotionally unbalanced person can cause damage to his life and that of the people around him. You may have heard the following sentence: "People are hired for their technical skills, but are fired for their behavioral skills," or something like that.

At this point in the championship you must have understood how important it is to develop Emotional Intelligence, isn't it? The way of hiring people has also changed. You don't hire with a focus only on technical skills! Soft skills have been one of the decisive factors in hiring.

Since it is directly linked to the ability to make good decisions, developing it is a way to ensure that the choices you make throughout life are aligned with your plans rather than being only consequences of momentary emotions.

The advantages of developing Emotional Intelligence are:

• Reduction of conflicts in interpersonal relationships;
• Emotional balance - reduction of internal conflicts;
• Understanding people's emotions and increasing worldview;
• Increased quality of life;
• Increase in the level of happiness;
• Greater self-discipline, commitment, clarity, and sense of responsibility;
• Decreased stress levels;
• Enrichment of personal relationships;
• Improve skill in sales and negotiations;
• Ability to develop complex problems;
• Lead and undertake better.

The advantages of developing Emotional Intelligence are numerous and the ability to be successful in all areas of life is directly linked to emotional development.

In addition, according to the World Economic Forum, an organization located in Switzerland that brings together the world's leading business leaders in annual meetings, has included Emotional Intelligence as one of the 10 skills of the professionals of the Future.

7 tips for developing Emotional Intelligence

Here are some tips to develop your Emotional Intelligence and benefit from the results in your personal and professional life.

1. Pay attention to your body's signs and behaviors

Start paying attention to the signs your body gives and also the reactions to situations that appear daily. This tip is based on self-knowledge, pillar number one of the skills listed by Daniel Goleman.

Try to understand how you react to things that happen, moments of stress, and other challenging situations. Also analyze the signs that your body gives, such as tachycardia, adrenaline levels, sweat, and nervousness, among other "symptoms".

2. Create a harmonious environment

Living in a harmonious environment not only improves your quality of life but also that of everyone who shares the same space.

Practice the habit of recognizing the positive points of your life, what is going well and what you are thankful for every day.

3. Reduce the impact of negative emotions

One of the biggest damages of the lack of emotional balance is the impulsive reaction to negative reactions. Therefore, it is recommended that you start practicing actions that reduce these impacts.

When feeling at the mercy of negative emotion, try to breathe, not make decisions at the time of anger, wait for the dust to settle, and take advantage of this feeling to understand and analyze your emotions, as explained in the first tip.

4. Read and understand about it

One way to develop your emotional intelligence is by understanding everything it can do for you, and knowing how to identify emotions and deal with them.

For this, it is recommended that you read a lot about the subject, take courses about it and invest in knowledge to know how to master your emotions and feelings.

Don't forget: you can only master what you know!

5. Know your limits

Try your best to understand what your limits are. If you are in the middle of a fight, for example, know the time to withdraw recognizing that the arguments presented will not take you anywhere.

Don't let yourself be burst by the excess of negative emotions. Be aware of your limits and try your best not to overcome them. Decisions and actions taken on impulse are very harmful to your life.

6. Listen more, talk less

You need to listen to people more before speaking. In a conversation like this, you can understand a lot of a situation simply by stopping and listening.

This action also helps you develop empathy, making you put yourself in your colleague's shoes and understand what he is feeling, thus improving the relationship between you.

7. Have a diary

If you feel the need to talk, know that a diary can be a great solution. This is a way to organize your thoughts and feelings, unload on paper what you might do to someone else, and spoil a relationship by misspoken words.

Keeping a diary is no longer a teenager's thing because those who want to develop and have a greater emotional balance can benefit - and a lot - from the daily writing of thoughts, ideas, and emotions.

Take Your Career to the Next Level with Leadership Development Program

Want to know how to jumpstart your career and become a true leader?

Discover the Leadership Development Program for FREE, which prepares you to be a complete leader through personal development, communication techniques, feedback practices and coaching concepts to help you achieve high performance.

Do you know the importance of self-knowledge in shaping a true leader? Knowing your options and weaknesses is fundamental for you to be ahead of a team and be prepared for the most adverse situations.