Emotions are felt experiences, contrasted with dissocation, and emptiness.

The ability to feel emotions is double-edged, there are pleasant and unpleasant emotions.

There are lots of ways to conceptalize emotions, the system I use is Non-Violent Communications which puts emotions into two main groups.

Feelings Wheel

Same as above but a PDF with citation

Needs Met

  • Pride, Joy, Intrigue, Trust, Love, Peace

Needs Unmet

  • Anger, Disgust, Fear, Surprise, Sadness, Shame

Prompting Events for Emotions

Use this list to reason backwards to what emotion was probably felt.

Needs Met

Pride or self-acceptance

  • Effectual An activity you value was performed well.
  • Encouraged Someone you trust/value gave you a positive appraisal.

Joy or gain

  • You've gained something.
  • A need has been met.

Intrigue or attentiveness

  • Paying close attention leads towards positive emotions.

Trust or security

  • Associating with someone/something could lead toward getting a need met.

Love or attractiveness

  • Loving a person, animal, or object enhances quality of life for you or for those you care about.
  • Loving a person, animal, or object increases your chances of attaining your own personal goals.
    • Affectionate The urge to take care of someone/something to get more love.
    • Reverance The urge to worship someone/something as they are viewed as godly/divine/perfect.

Peace or acceptance

  • Events occurring should keep occurring as they are.

Needs Not Met

Anger or judgement

  • An important goal is blocked or a desired activity is interrupted or prevented.
  • You/Your-group/Someone-you-care-about is offended/insulted/attacked/hurt/threatened.
    • Envy Someone-else/group gets/has things you want/need/crave.
    • Jealousy A very important and desired relationship or object in your life is in danger of being damaged or lost.

Disgust or repulsion

  • Nauseous tasting something you do not want to swallow
  • Sickened observing something that violates your core values
  • Contempt Something or someone fails to meet a personal standard

Fear or threatened

  • Anxious a new or unfamiliar situation.

  • Vulnerable be at the mercy of someone else (walking home alone).

  • Scared being in the dark.

  • Helpless being in a bad situation with no percieved ability to control it.

  • Terrified being in a bad situation with a percieved likelyhood of injury or death.

  • There is a threat to your life/health/well-being of you or someone you care about.

Surprise or caught off guard

  • Paying close attention could prevent negative emotions.

Sadness or loss

  • Hurt being rejected or excluded.
  • Discouraged hearing about future difficulty.
  • Heartbreak a relationship ending.
  • Grief death of a loved one.
  • Hopeless believing you will not get what you need in your life.

Shame or self-judgement

  • Shame Urge towards silence. You risk being abandoned by a group if characteristics of yourself or of your behavior are made public.
  • Guilt Your own behavior violates your own values or moral code

References

DBT Emotion Regulation Handouts

Test Your Emotional Intelligence (Berkley Greater Good)

NVC Needs Inventory

v1.6 8-Jan-2025

This work is dedicated to the Public Domain via CC0 1.0