By Natalia Lukey

Instructions for this report

Check Dr.Leon James webpage for more information

Or our class webpage

 Contents

II. Terms’ connection in the Emotional Spin Cycle (Annotated bibliography) 

1. Definitions of the terms (emotions, feelings, threefold self and hierarchy of motives).
2. Emotions, feelings, threefold self and hierarchy of motives in the Emotional Spin Cycle

1. Introduction

 

Description of the overall project

 

Humans are social beings. This means that a great percentage of our behavior is acquired or learned. From our class lectures, we understand that some of the things that we acquire are habits. Habits of feeling, thinking and acting characterize our personality. These three habits together are called the threefold self (http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15reports-instructions.html). Dr. Leon James in this web page has explained that the threefold self has two arenas of functioning. The arena of "others" (or the environment), and the arena of "self." He also says that the threefold self can be either positive or negative. To have a better visual understanding of how these aspects work together, Dr. Leon James created a graph which he calls a "Map of the Daily Emotional Spin Cycle." He calls it a cycle because we pass through all the threefold self zones (negative-others-zone1, negative-self-zone2, positive-self-zone3, and positive-others-zone4) during our day, or during a week, a month, etc, if we are not able to cope with our problems. Dr. James says that people today spend too much time in the negative zones, which might lead to serious and/or dangerous consequences. However, it is possible to change this situation if we use the Bridge technique - a technique that can take us from the negative to the positive side. The success of this technique depends on our motives. However, if we want to change something we need to be at least aware of what it is! Our first step for changing is to know what behavior we want to change. To complete this task we need to observe our behavior. Second, we need to try to control it, and then, finally, modify it.

The goal of this Project (which is divided in two parts: Report 1 and Report 2) is precisely what was just mentioned above: Understand our Emotional Spin Cycle so we can control and modify it. In Report 1, there will be an overview of what the terms used in the Emotional Spin Cycle mean, their relationship and interconnection using sources from the Generational curriculum, News Media, Web sites and books. First let me give the definition of these terms in my own words which, further on, will be presented together with the sources used.

Feelings- Feelings are the awareness that we are receiving information (also called sensations) from the environment and/or from inside ourselves. Feelings tend to evoke our actions. For example: When we say: "I feel so angry!" "I feel sad today." "I feel happy!" this means that we are aware of our inner condition, which we show to the environment through our emotions (but only if they are intense). People sometimes do not show their emotions and sometimes they even try to show the opposite of it. If we feel angry we might act more aggressively, if we feel sad we might act more slowly, if we feel happy we might act positively and energetically, etc.

Emotions- Emotions are our response to what we are perceiving in our circle of needs. Emotions are intense feelings. For example: You have a strong need for achievement but you are not being able to understand the material given in class and you get an F on your exam. You feel extremely upset. Your emotions will be negative in this situation because your need had not been fulfilled.

Threefold self- This is a cycle formed by our affective, cognitive and sensorimotor selves that influence each other in sequence and that depends of our past experience to built new behavior (new affective, cognitive and sensorimotor behavior). For example: Two guys are walking down the street and a robber attacks them asking for money. The first one feels surprised, then angry, thinks about hitting the robber and hits him. The second one feels surprised than scared, thinks about giving him the money, then gives it and runs away. The consequence for the person who hit the robber was that the robber hit him back and the man ended up in a hospital almost dead. In the second case, the person was safe. If this happens again, the decisions can be very different, depending on the person. Let us suppose that the first guy, who has an aggressive and wants to fight back, becomes a Karate black-belt after the first attack so that he will be better prepared should he be robbed again. Our future ways of thinking and acting always depend on our past experiences with those similar affective, cognitive and sensorimotor states (if the situation was successfully resolved or not).

Hierarchy of motives (emotions, feelings and values)- We have several motives (needs), which might be learned, unlearned, social or primary. There are lower motives, connected with our physiological needs, which when satisfied show certain emotions and feelings that are called lower emotions. And there are also higher motives, connected with our social needs, which when satisfied show higher emotions and feelings (such as values). For example: Your have strong need to achieve (a social, learned need), you are inside one of your classes, and you are very hungry (primary, unlearned, inborn need). You could just leave the class and go buy something to eat, but in your hierarchy of motives your need to achieve is more important, so you listen to the lecture and when it is over you go buy a snack. When you leave the class you feel good about yourself, you show positive emotion because you have accomplished what is important, you developed values about things around you and within yourself.

In Report 2, what was learned from Report 1 will be put into practice. Self-observations concerning our Daily Spin Cycle will be described, as well as the methods used to control and modify it.

 

2. The connection of terms in the Emotional Spin Cycle

1. Definition of the terms

"Emotions are the primary idiom for defining and negotiating social relations of the self in a moral order" (Lutz and White: 1986, p. 417). This quotation was used by Keltner D. and Haidt J. in their article called Social Functions of Emotions where they talked about the importance of emotions in solving critical problems for the individual and the new ways of using emotions in different cultures.

Emotions, according to the web page, http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/morris2/chapter9/custom1/deluxe-content.html , are forces that arouse and direct our behavior. Emotions prompt us to move toward or away from an object. They may trigger a complex chain of behavior that may promote or interfere with the accomplishment of our goals. In this web page the author helps us understand what motivation is giving perspectives from different theories (such as Drive-reduction theory). He also talks about Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Motives and its connection with our emotions.

Dr. Leon James coined this term, and he gives us the following explanation: "…differentiated affective states pre-exist as person variables and these are selectively occasioned under appropriate sensory input. Once these affective states are selected or occasioned, it selects from the available cognitive hierarchies and items that are congruent with the already existing affective states. These congruent cognitive interpretations or understandings or meanings then elicit specific physiological responses that one can sense through feedback and they also come out into over action (sensorimotor acts) unless inhibited by contrary or ambivalent affective states that are unconsciously occasioned by the same sensory input" (http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/already.html). On this web page Dr. James and Dr. Nahl talk about the question, which is still being debated, of whether the affective or the cognitive is primary. They analyze the apparent and real sequences (affective --> cognitive --> sensorimotor) of our behavior and the genetic culture's definition and its objective methods.

Based on Abraham Maslow’s theory, (http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/morris2/chapter9/custom1/deluxe-content.html - I had explained this web page's content above) and on Kuzin’s definition (1997), I understand that we have several motives, which might be learned, unlearned, social, or primary, and which are all arranged in some hierarchy depending on our needs. There are lower motives, connected with our physiological needs, which when satisfied show certain emotions and feelings that are called lower emotions and feelings (Kuzin, p.244). There are also higher motives, connected with our social needs, which when satisfied show higher emotions and feelings (Kuzin, p.244), such as values.

Now that we have a better understanding of the terminology used in the Project, let us first start with the account of how our feelings (affective self) are connected with our Emotional Spin Cycle. As I mentioned above, our feelings are one of the components of our threefold self, which in turn appears in all of the four zones of our Emotional Spin Cycle. Our feelings are very important because without them our cognitive skills would not be able to develop http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=simile/issue2/nahl1.html . In this web page, Dr. Nahl talks about the taxonomic approach which tries to describe the levels and sub-components of information behaviors in the affective, cognitive, and sensorimotor fields). Feelings are our primary source of information, as Whitehead states, "Everything we know, we know by our bodies, by feelings" (Sandelands: 1998, p.41-42, I mentioned this source above). Feelings also call forth our already existing thoughts (i.e., understanding of the situation) and emotions (e.g., "Is this situation important, dangerous, or good for me?"). Let us analyze Sakodash’s example, which was taken from the Generational Curriculum (Forum6). [The Generational Curriculum is a great source of personal experiences given by Dr. Leon James' students. It is divided in 14 categories where we can find topics connected with emotions, feelings, hierarchy of motives, threefold self, etc, in other words, connected with our Emotional Spin Cycle].

In the given example, we can see what we just mentioned above, how feelings influence our thoughts and emotions. This person is feeling sick, an unpleasant feeling which calls forth a negative response (emotions and thoughts) towards herself/himself and toward the environment. Looking at the Emotional Spin Cycle, we understand that she/he was in zone 2, on the stage of feeling depressed and dissatisfied. Another example that is similar to the one above is given by another student (Forum 8).

Now, focusing on the emotions separately, we understand that they appear within seconds, revealing our reaction toward the received information (which can be from our external or internal world). How, or what kind of, emotions will be shown depends on the importance of the object. "Is the object connected with some of my needs?" "Are these needs significant to me in this moment?" As Steve Hein says, "…with every emotion, it has a lesson for us. It can teach us what we value, what we need, what we lack, what we believe, and what our insecurities are. It can help us become more aware of what we feel strongly about and which emotional needs are important to us"(http://www.eqi.org/anger.htm). In this web page, Steve Heins talks about anger as an important emotional state and as secondary feelings. He explains its importance and how we can better understand a situation by being aware of our emotions and being able to control it.

Here is a good example (Forum6)

Lavaflow 02/16/01 7:15 PM Bus Driver:

During development our behavior is influenced by several motives: inner motives, which are unlearned (biological needs); and external motives, which are learned (social needs), such as motives for achievement, power and affiliation (which center on our relationships with others). This is seen in the following example, (Forum6)

This person got frustrated and irritated because his/her need to accomplish an important task (homework) was not being satisfied. While in the example bellow, the person is getting too angry, overreacted about something that is not even blocking him from accomplishing his task. (Forum8)

Spoiled Brat 03/04/01 5:34 PM Road Rage:

When we confront a situation where some of our needs are involved, our emotions toward them are reflected in our gestures, language, and/or actions. Here, the involvement of our cognition is very important because even though one of our needs might be involved in the incident, this need might not be as important as our other needs. Our cognition reminds us about our hierarchy of needs, which can sometimes help us avoid useless conflicts. http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/morris2/chapter9/custom1/deluxe-content.html (I had mentioned this web page above). Another way to understand it is by looking at the graph of our Emotional Spin Cycle. The graph shows that in the 4 THINKING stages of the cycle thoughts are usually connected with our emotions and that they can also change from the negative to the positive side using the Bridge technique (i.e., zone1-emotionally impaired thoughts can change to zone4-emotionally intelligent thoughts, zone2- pessimistic and cynical thoughts can change to zone3- optimistic and realistic thoughts).

The conclusion recommended by the above is that all the terms are interconnected in a very important sequence that makes us recognize that they not only work in cycles (i.e., influencing each other, changing, and improving with every new experience), but that they also can change their arena from others to self and from positive to negative poles.  

1. Observing, controlling and modifying our Emotional Spin Cycle 

I think everybody understands the importance of being aware of our actions. Unfortunately, not all of us achieve this. How many times do we catch ourselves getting angry at someone or something that indeed does not have anything to do with our situation? This happens because we have "a natural tendency to be overcritical. We behave as though we have to personally care about everything that is going on around us," Dr. Leon James (2000) says in his book Road Rage (p.124). In this section of the book, called Shrinking your emotional territory the focus is on the importance of getting control over the situation, being able to evaluate the situation in a more objective way through self-questioning and self-talk which help shrink our emotional territory. When you see someone who you "think" is being rude, you allow yourself to blame or "punish" the person - a situation that can really get out of control and have a very sad ending. Why do we need that? Why do we need to get angry and spoil our day? We do not need it. And the important detail is that we can change this situation. But we need first to acknowledge that we are reacting in a wrong way to different situations. And second, we need to be willing to change. As soon as we have these two important components "turned on" we can start the Bridge technique. Our next step is to recognize that we are experiencing a rage episode, for example, we say "I’m raging". Then we need to be consciously aware of our threefold self (what are my actions, feelings and thoughts?) and modify it, starting from our actions.

III. Conclusion 

Generational Curriculum

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/updates/aihara/forumfiles/g14forum6.htm

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/updates/aihara/forumfiles/g14forum8.htm

Anderson, C. A. Bushman, B. J. (2001). Effects of violence video games on aggressive

behavior, aggressive cognition, aggressive affect, physiological arousal, and prosocial

behavior: A meta-analytic review of the scientific literature. Psychological Science, 12, 355.

Howard, C. C. (2001). The mindful monk. Psychology Today, June, 36-37.

Calabia, A. (2000). Healthy mind, healthy heart. Psychology Today. Nov/Dec, 23

Lucas, K. (2001). Reminding ourselves what really matters. The Honolulu Advertiser. Sunday,

September 30.

Park, A. (2001). Take it easy. Time. February 5, 58.

Paul, A.M. (2001). Self-help: Shattering the myths. Psychology Today, April, 62.

http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/morris2/chapter9/custom1/deluxe-content.html

http://www.eqi.org/anger.htm

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15reports-instructions.html

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15report1.html

http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy/instructor/gloss/already.html

http://www.utpjournals.com/jour.ihtml?lp=simile/issue2/nahl1.html

James, L. Nahl, D. (2000). Road rage and aggressive driving: steering clear of highway warfare. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York. pp.124-126

Elster, J. (1997). Strong feelings. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Masschusetts. p.28

Lutz, C.A., and White, G. (1986). The anthropology of emotion. Annual Review of

Anthropology, 15, p.405.

Kuzin, V. (1997). Psychology. Moscow: Agar, p.244.

Sandelands, L. E. (1998). Feelings and form in social life. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers,

Inc. Lanham, Boulder, New York, Oxford. pp. 42-43