Saturday, November 18, 2006

Bob Plutchik !

When I’m happy I buy myself flowers. When I’m anxious I begin a new jigsaw puzzle. And when I’m depressed I get the chocolate box :)But when I’m confused about my feelings I get Bob’s Flower !


The “academic” name for my flower is Plutchik’s Emotions Model. I am sure most of you have come across it in school if you had any psychology classes. I have only began to appreciate its value recently.

The single petal of the flower represents a single dimension of increasing/decreasing intensity. For example: serenity, joy and ecstasy represent one dimension of escalating intensity. The opposite petal (grief, sadness and pensiveness) represent the opposite dimension. So in total there are 4 basic opposing emotional dimensions.

The core circle shows how close and yet superficially different are the basic emotions. For example, check how close terror to admiration and amazement!

Most interestingly to me is the complex emotions representation in this model. Complex emotions are shown in the space between the flower petals. Each complex emotion is a result of the basic emotions on both sides. For example, love is a combination of feeling acceptance and serenity.

When you close down the flower you see the relations between the different intensity levels of the basic emotions. You can see how sadness, disgust and surprise are very close in their cores.



What I love most about this model is that it gives you the vocabulary to name you feelings most of the times, especially when your feelings are complex.

The other thing I like about it is that it helps a lot explaining what we perceive as “weird” relationships. For example: it makes sense why some people “admire” someone like Saddam Hussein when you see how easily people can confuse terror with admiration. Or why some express their rage as loathing or hate.

On of the things I still get confused with is whether I feel fear or lack of trust. Why am I uncomfortable with X person? Does she scare me? Or is it a trust issue? Or is the fear caused by the mistrust? It was a relief to me to know that the two are not very much different in their mechanism.

What I find challenging is finding the right Arabic word for each feeling that can easily distinguish the difference in dimension and in density. It is established that some cultures do not really have words for some of the feelings in this model.

My Question: Do you agree with the model? How can it benefit you? Have you ever suffered the confusion between to adjacent dimensions?

44 comments:

Arfana said...

i haven't seen this model ever! But then I'm a psychology dummy :-)


I like it because it's helpful with the "lables" as you've mentioned.

I'm not sure though if I agree. I do agree with the opposing petals. But the overlap of say boredom and pensiveness; how does that become remorse? Or did I not get it?

lovely flower, I'll add it to my collection on the fridge :-)

UmmEl3yal said...

Hi Ladies,

I'm glad this is new to you so I don't bore you :)

Arfana hon,

This is how I see it:

Remorse is regretting doing something: that means you won’t do it again and you feel guilty about it. If you won’t do it again, it means you lost your passion towards doing it (boredom) and you’re still preoccupied with it (pensiveness).

This is what is fun about the model. It makes you think of the root, shape and smell of your feelings ;)


G. El7kima dear,

THe model is poweful with the kids too. It teaches them to give the right label to their feelings which makes it easier to communicate with them. Hope it helps :)

Temetwir said...

though in 2D (in the laid out picture), i still find it too abstract for my taste

would be interesting to have an artist paint it in 'faces' though

UmmEl3yal said...

A. Temi dear :) I know what you mean. It is a bit abstract. The problem with "faces" is that facial expressions are very cultural. We do not express emotion the same way despite the fact that these emotions are universal :)

Geish@ said...

Alllaaah.. I love it and I miss you and miss my cyber pals. I'm still sunk in my paperS and I emphasize the "s" here.

Anyway, I just stopped by to sneak a peak @@

Love you :*
Geish@

Anonymous said...

come on we want a new post

UmmEl3yal said...

7akima love :)

I'm gald you you like it! How did it help you? Any insight?

Geish@ dear :)

Miss you too! Hope all goes well ;)

Anon,

I know walla but I'm not in a good mood for writing :(

Anonymous said...

Just passes to say hello, missed you mom :*

UmmEl3yal said...

AyyA love,

I miss you too :*

I wish I have the time to stay in touch, but I'm not the supermom I used to be :( I need to have some time off to take care of my school work.

I will see you soon :)

Love you

Anonymous said...

Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

Anonymous said...

When there's a will, I want to be in it.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

All generalizations are false, including this one.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.

Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

Anonymous said...

Save the whales, collect the whole set

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

actually, that's brilliant. Thank you. I'm going to pass that on to a couple of people.

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

640K ought to be enough for anybody. - Bill Gates 81

Anonymous said...

Energizer Bunny Arrested! Charged with battery.

Anonymous said...

Suicidal twin kills sister by mistake!

Anonymous said...

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Anonymous said...

Oops. My brain just hit a bad sector.

Anonymous said...

Calvin, we will not have an anatomically correct snowman!

Anonymous said...

Beam me aboard, Scotty..... Sure. Will a 2x10 do?

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies.

Anonymous said...

Build a watch in 179 easy steps - by C. Forsberg.

Anonymous said...

I don't suffer from insanity. I enjoy every minute of it.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing!

Anonymous said...

Friends help you move. Real friends help you move bodies

Anonymous said...

What is a free gift ? Aren't all gifts free?

Anonymous said...

If ignorance is bliss, you must be orgasmic.