Customizing My Emotional Spin Cycle:

Annotated Bibliography

Psych 409b--Fall 2001--G15

Dr. Leon James, Instructor

by Nicole Reaves

Date:  October 23, 2001

Instructions for this Report

Introduction

    For this project, I will be doing two reports.  This is report 1 which is an annotated bibliography about the emotional spin cycle.  For this report, I will be listing sources that are very useful in trying to understand how terms such as emotions, feelings, the threefold self, and hierarchy of motives is related to the emotional spin cycle. (Instructions for this report)  Report 2 will be a data analysis of my personal daily emotional spin cycle and my attempt to bridge the negative to the positive.  I bet at this point you are wondering "What is the emotional spin cycle"?  First, let me define a few terms that are important in understanding the emotional spin cycle.

• Feelings-feelings are sensory information that we receive from inside ourselves or from external sources in the environment.  For example, if someone does something mean to you it can make you feel angry.  Your feeling is that of anger because someone has done something wrong to you.  Another more basic idea of feeling is the sensations you receive from external sources.  For example, if you cut your hand you many feel pain.  

• Emotions-emotions are closely related to feelings.  I think of emotions as being how you express your feelings.  These expressions can sometimes be visible and sometimes not.  If you are feeling anger, you may clinch your fist and tighten your lips.  You also could express the feeling of anger by not showing any visible signs even though you are thinking many thoughts in your head.  These expressions of anger are what I think of as being emotions.  They are the expression of feelings.

• Threefold self (affective, cognitive, sensorimotor)-The threefold self refers to three functions that work together to form what Dr. James has called the emotional spin cycle.  The three functions are:

• Feeling

• Thinking

• Doing

  The emotinal spin cycle represents how individuals are constantly moving from one of the functions to the other.  You can pick out any moment in your life and you will always be going through one of these three functions.  Sometimes you will move through them very quickly (in seconds), and other times you may move through them much slower (in days, weeks, etc.).  I would now like to show you a figure that  that Dr. James provided to  represent what he calls the emotional spin cycle.  Then, I will try to explain the cycle in more detail.

  

   

  There are two areas in which the threefold-self can function.  These areas are known as "others" and "self".  The "others" area is known as the "blue zone" and the "self" area is known as the "red zone".  Each zone has a positive side and a negative side.  Within each zone you can see the three functions that I mentioned earlier.  These are:  Feeling, Thinking, and Doing.  As you move from zone 1 to zone 2, you can see the repeat of these functions.  They continue to repeat through zone 3 and zone 4.  The functions around the spin-cycle have been labeled as settings one through twelve.  Let's look at zone 1 to explain how these functions play a role in the emotional spin cycle.  Suppose someone cut you off on the freeway.  The first thing that may happen is that you have a feeling of anger.  At this point you are at setting 1.  Followed by this anger are thoughts about "What an idiot.  I should go cut them off and see how they like it".  At this point you are thinking emotionally impaired thoughts that would then place you in setting 2.  If you then follow through and do decide to cut them off, then you are now doing aggressive or destructive behavior which places you in setting 3.

• Hierarchy of motives (emotions, feelings, values)- I'm sure you are wondering why knowing this emotional spin-cycle is important.  I think you would be surprised to know that most people spend their day on the negative side of the cycle.  If we learn to become more aware of our daily cycle then we can work towards spending more time on the positive side.  There is a process for this change from the negative to positive.  It is known as the red bridge (others) and the blue bridge (self).  If you are aware that you are feeling angry, then you can work to bridge those emotionally impaired thoughts (setting 2) to emotionally intelligent thoughts (setting 11).  You can work to cross this bridge by doing things like:  Questioning you logic, Remind yourself that aggressive behavior won't bring you what you want, or Figure out a more effective action.  In doing these things, you will find that you are using the hierarchy of motives.  This means that you are looking at what is most important to you.  Your goals are arranged in hierarchies of importance or value.  You can control being angry by finding something more important to you such as acting appropriately.  It is more important that people see you as calm instead of loosing control because of angry.  Therefore you have used your heirarchy of motives to help you cross the bridge from negative to positive.  My report 2 will focus on my attempts to cross the bridge from the negative to the positive.  Check back later to see how things go.  The daily emotional spin-cycle can be very confusing.  I hope you have some understanding of what I have told you so far.  Please visit the General Instructions for more information on the Daily Emotional Spin Cycle.

   

  Annotated Bibliography      

   

   In the introduction, I defined the terms emotions, feelings, threefold self, and hierarchy of motives.  Now, I will be using three types of sources in my annotated bibliography to refer to more information about these terms.  The sources will come from web sites, generational curriculum, and news media.

   

  Web sites

   

  Citation:  "Identifying Basic Human Emotions." Internet 17 Oct. 2001. Available:  http://www.edb.utexas.edu/resta97/aisd/students/sanders/2page.htm

What is an emotion?

*emotions are complex

*emotions are feelings

*emotions involve behavior

*emotions can be managed

    This site describes emotions as "acts of expression and reactions."  You can look at someone's body language to help figure out what emotion they are feeling.  Emotions can be displayed through a smile or a frown.  This site also describes emotions as behavior and thoughts.  People show emotion through behaviors such as running away, screaming, hitting, etc.  Emotions are a part of thoughts such as resentment, depression, fear of rejection, etc. This site is an good example to show that emotions are not limited to one realm.  They are part of the emotional spin cycle because they are involved in the feeling, thinking, and doing.

Citation:  "Importance of Emotions." Internet 17 Oct. 2001. Available: http://eqi.org/emotions.htm

Importance of Emotions

    This site is useful in identifying how emotions are important in people's lives.  

• Survival-emotions are useful as an internal guidance system.  "Our emotions aler us when natural human need is not being met.  For example, when we feel lonely, our need for connection with other people is unmet.  When we feel afraid, our need for safety is unmet.  When we feel rejected, it is our need for acceptance which is unmet."

• Decision Making-Our emotions give us information that allows us to make informed decisions.  "Studies show that when a person's emotional connections are severed in the brain, he can not make even simple decision.  Why?  Because he doesn't know how he will feel about his choices."

• Boundary Setting-Our emotions protect us by letting us know when we are in an uncomfortable situation.  If we trust our emotions we can use them as a guide to let people know when they are making us feel uncomfortable.  "This will help us set our boundaries which are necessary to protect our physical and mental health.

• Communication-Emotions are also very important in allowing us to communicate to others our emotions.  "Our facial expressions, for example, convey a wide range of emotions.  If we look sad or hurt, we are signalling to others that we need their help.  If we are verbally skilled we will be able to express more of our emotional needs and thereby have a better chance of filling them.  If we are effective at listening to the emotional troubles of others, we are better able to help them feel understood, important and cared about."

• Unity-Emotions are considered to be the greatest source responsible for uniting all members of our species.  It has been found that emotions are universal.  "The emotions of empathy, compassion, cooperation, and forgiveness, for instance, all have the potential to unite us as a species.  It seems fair to say that, generally speaking:  Beliefs divide us.  Emotions unite us.

  As you can see, emotions play a huge role in many different aspects of everyday life.  Could you imagine a world in which there were no emotions?

   

  Citation:  "Matayoshi's Report" Internet 18 Oct. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409as97/atakahas/499/matayoshi.html

   

  The Threefold Self

   

"Within these levels and categories, there are different behaviors and levels of thinking. In every human being, the Threefold Self exists. The Threefold Self is our way of thinking, our inmost feelings, desires, loves, hates, our ability to rationalize, etc. We all relate to the three levels of the Threefold self in our daily lives. Given is a chart of the Threefold Self to help you visualize what it actually is.

Self witnessing is a concept that we have learned in order to really think about our feelings and emotions. It's a way of studying ourselves like no one else can. We, as individuals, can be a self witness to ourselves. What this concept actually means is that, when we think about something or do something, we as individuals can look at ourselves and ask ourselves, "Why am I angry? or Why am I thinking this way?". This is called self witnessing. No one else but ourselves can be our own self witness. Self witnessing is when you look at your reactions to situations and are able to see yourself and the way you reacted. No one knows what you are thinking about and no one knows what you're feeling, therefore you are the only self witness to yourself."

This report was written in 1983 and reflects the early ideas that Dr. James had about the Threefold Self.  I thought this site would be useful so that you would have an opportunity to see how the idea of the Threefold Self has evolved over the years.  

Citation: "Conclusion" Internet 19 Oct. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/409as97/atakahas/499/sunada.html

    This site is part of a paper written discussing the importance of the method of self-witnessing.  In order to cross the bridge from the negative side of the Emotional Spin Cycle to the positive side, it is necessary to first become more aware of ourselves.  This can be accomplished through self-witnessing.

    "I feel that self-witnessing is a very good method for studying.  When you internalize things that you read or hear, you are better able to remember these things.  This is because as you explore your innermost thoughts about something, you are better able to understand it and remember it.  Self-witnessing opens the closed doors of your mind.  It helps me to overcome my biases when hearing or reading things."

     "Prior to learning about the effective tool of self-witnessing, I used to only internalize my feelings and behaviors on the automatic level.  Now, after learning of the ennead matrix and the self-witnessing method, I find myself internalizing deeper into my innermost thoughts, where I am able to reason out why I feel and behave in certain ways."

Generational Curriculum

Citation:  "Imelda Vidad Traffic Psychology" Internet 20 Oct. 2001. Available: http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/499f97/dolfo/vidad.html

Controlling Aggression

    This site offers a look at how we can work to control aggression.  There is also mention of using the self theory in controlling agression.  This article suggest that it is important to observe "self theory" in order to gain control.  "This theory states that one needs to restore affirmation and significance to self, providing a sense of personal worth and significance."  This author tried to accomplish this by ridding themself of the idea that external stimulus were responsible for the aggression.  There was also another idea that could be used to control aggression.  "Another suggestion was the result of Baron's field study of incompatible responses, that is substituting pleasant, humorous thoughts to prevent potential and on going aggression.  His study showed that using nonhostile humor decreased aggression considerable."  I believe that both of these ideas can be very successful at helping someone cross the blue or red bridge to the positive side.