In Disney’s animated films Inside-Out 1 and 2, the five core human emotions (anger, fear, sadness, disgust, and happiness) are depicted as characters actively operating from inside a young girl named Riley. As they (literally) push her buttons, she operates “outside” with corresponding actions. Following several schools of emotional theory,[1] these films illustrate how human beings commonly experience being triggered by emotional responses to everyday life circumstances. Each of these emotions are common, natural, and helpful. All other emotions could be categorized under each of these core ones.[2] They have been shown to also correspond to universally common human facial expressions.[3] The authors of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 use these same five emotions as the “core five” in their resources.[4]
Each of these emotional reactions are spontaneously and uncontrollably triggered by experienced circumstances. The Gottman Institute gives the following list of common triggers:
I felt …
excluded uncared for that was unfair
powerless lonely frustrated
unheard ignored disconnected
scolded I couldn't be honest trapped
judged like the bad guy lack of passion
blamed forgotten I couldn’t speak up
disrespected unsafe manipulated
lack of affection unloved controlled [5]
[1] The production team consulted with renowned emotion psychologists Paul Ekman and Dacher Keltner, as well as utilizing the popular emotion theories of Robert Plutchik, Walter Cannon and Philip Bard, and others.
[2] The Appendix A WORD ABOUT VARIATIONS IN EMOTIONS describes some subtly different shades of each core emotion that express a multitude of shades for each of each core emotion in their high, medium, and low states.
[3] This is the specific work of Paul Ekman Nonverbal Communication (1956).
[4] Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves, Emotional Intelligence 2.0: Harness the Power of the #1 Predictor of Success (TalentSmartEQ, San Diego, CA, 2009), p. 13. I am using “disgust” as the name of the fourth emotion, while EI 2.0 uses “shame”. See chapter four for my perspective that “disgust” is the natural reaction, while “shame” is what disgust becomes without faith, hope, and love.
[5] Gottman Institute. https://www.gottman.com/blog/manage-conflict-triggers/
