Often perceived as a taboo subject, but in fact omnipresent in our daily lives, emotions require good communication with our mind, body and feelings. Many studies show that it is better to welcome them than to try to hide them, even in the professional environment.

Today there are several methods to learn to live in peace with one's emotions, including the Wheel of Emotions, developed by the American psychologist Robert Plutchik in the 1980s. Let's take a look back at this analysis grid that has spread over several fields and which serves as a basis for training in the HR function, marketing strategies and even games for children.

Emotions : A User's Guide

Humans spend their lives in the company of themselves, their consciousness and their feelings. We feel contentment, boredom, jealousy, annoyance, anxiety, astonishment...

The list goes on. Well, according to the American psychologist Robert Plutchik, not so long. In his works, we find 8 opposing emotions that serve as the basis for all the others : joy and sadness, sympathy and disgust, fear and anger and surprise and excitement. From this typology, Plutchik has built a tool for mapping human feelings : the Wheel of Emotions.

It is a kind of compass that helps to identify the underlying feelings and needs they indicate. His "invention" is made up of an evolutionary grid that goes, for example, from annoyance to rage to anger. This process is also described by a color palette (from lighter yellow to darker, for example, in the case of ecstasy). It is also important to understand that the Wheel of Emotions takes into account the connection between emotions : the link between joy and trust is likely to "produce" love...

The Wheel of Emotions : What is it for ?

The Wheel of Emotions is now widely applied in HR training or in coaching sessions. For example, this tool was proposed by coach Nathalie Colin in a Meet & Learn workshop of the EVE Program to guide participants in identifying moments in the past when certain feelings were more pronounced than others and observing their own transition from one end of the grid to the other (from aversion to remorse or from astonishment to fear).

By analyzing how they felt and how this may have influenced  their decisions and behaviors, the participants in this workshop were able to equip themselves with tools that are easy to use and duplicate in each situation that seems to " overwhelm " them. In e-learning, the Wheel of Emotions also proves its effectiveness. To bridge the digital distance, it's important to stay motivated  – a goal that can be achieved by arousing the right emotions in learners.

We can produce interest in the other person by reinforcing the usefulness of the content that will be taught while telling a little anecdote (anticipation + joy = > affection). This is surely not simple mathematical logic but rather a theory that can help guide the formulation of online courses. Emotions are also very important for marketing : studies show that our first reaction to an image or advertisement has an impact on our opinion of a product or brand. 

A survey conducted by the Journal of Consumer Research highlighted, for example, that consumers who watched a movie that provided fear were more likely to remember a brand than those who felt happiness (because, according to the researchers, the feeling of fear unites a group and creates a human bond around this moment of sharing).

The Wheel of Emotions and Nonviolent Communication

Learning to recognize and welcome emotions can also contribute to the establishment of non-violent communication – a way of dialoguing that advocates empathy and attentive and respectful listening to others.

The Wheel of Emotions, in this case, would help to identify our needs to avoid projecting our anxieties, judgments or personal expectations onto our interlocutors. Before, for example, writing a "passive-aggressive" email to a colleague, we have the choice to stop for a moment to follow the evolution of the emotion we are feeling (an annoyance that rises to anger...) and understand that we can get our message across by other means than verbal violence.

While the ability to express themselves clearly, empathetically, and objectively takes a lot of effort, children can have even more difficulty translating what is going on in their heads and bodies. There are now several adaptations of the Wheel of Emotions intended for the youngest containing drawings and "emojis" that guide them in the exercise of non-violent communication. Like foreign languages, the language of feelings requires regular practice: all the more reason to start learning them in the first years of life !