Improve your personal effectiveness by understanding your own emotions.
Understanding and leveraging one’s emotions is key to improving one’s emotional wellness which, in turn, improves one’s personal effectiveness in all contexts, regardless of profession. In this workshop Humintell will introduce tools and techniques in order to better understand and regulate your emotions.
Topics include instruction on the nature and function of emotion and the process of emotional arousal; we’ll also discuss which aspects of emotional processes can be changed and which cannot – empowering participants to focus on those aspects that can be changed. A significant portion of the workshop is spent covering and employing specific techniques to improve awareness of one’s emotional triggers, conduct self-scans, and practice skills for quickly regulating emotions.
Through this workshop, participants will learn how to improve their knowledge of emotions, increase their awareness of their own emotional states, improve their ability to make critical decisions through enhanced ability to regulate emotions, conduct self-scans, and identify internal cues associated with emotions. Individuals will also be better prepared to identify situations and events that are likely to elicit emotions.
Learning Objectives
Participants in this course will:
- Improve their knowledge of emotions and increase their awareness of their own emotional states
- Improve their ability to make critical decisions through enhanced ability to regulate emotions
- Learn how to conduct self-scans and identify internal cues associated with emotions
- Be better prepared to identify situations and events that are likely to elicit emotions
Scientific Background
This course is rooted in a deep and rich history of emotion science concerning the nature and function of emotion (Ekman, 2003; James, 1890), the neurophysiological architecture of emotion (Levenson, 1994, 2003a, 2003b; Matsumoto & Wilson, 2022), the antecedents and triggers of emotion (Matsumoto et al., 1988; Scherer, 1997; Scherer et al., 2001; Scherer & Wallbott, 1994), and the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociocultural functions of emotion (Hwang & Matsumoto, 2018; Keltner & Haidt, 1999; Levenson, 1999).
Typical Length
One (1) day. Can also be customized for different lengths per customer requirements.
Topics Covered
Introduction and Course Goals
One of the many factors that affects our emotional health and well-being is how well we can regulate our emotions in the moment. The course will begin with an overview of the many factors that affect our emotional health and well-being and then focus on emotions in the moment.
The Nature of Emotion
The workshop will begin by laying the basis of what we know about emotion from emotion science. Topics to be covered include a working definition of emotion, the types of emotions that exist, features that distinguish basic emotions from other emotions, and how emotions are triggered. In particular, this section will focus on the types of events that trigger emotions in all of us, and the response system that is turned on when emotions are elicited. We’ll also cover in depth the triggers and functions of specific, different basic emotions, focusing on the psychological themes and functions associated with each emotion.
Emotion Reactivity Profiles
Of central importance to an ability to regulate our emotions is a deeper understanding of emotion reactivity profiles. We will discuss what we call emotion profile volcanos, and the individual differences in those volcano profiles. Time will be spent analyzing one’s own volcano profiles compared to others’.
Improving Emotional Competence – the POETRI Model
In this section we introduce our proprietary POETRI model in regulating emotions and building emotional competence. The model refers to P – Perceiving emotions in oneself and others; O – Organizing and understanding their meaning; E – Evaluating emotions; T – Trying new schemas; R – Receiving feedback; I – Internalizing the process. The model leads to an understanding of the overall goal of emotion skills training, and points of intervention in the emotion profile volcanos that we focus on for intervention.
Four Methods to Improve Emotional Competence
In this final section we introduce participants to four categories of improving emotional competence: I – Adjust the Situation; II – Quicken the Awareness of Emotion; III – Decrease recovery time; and IV – Internalize the process. Within each of these categories, we will provide an overview of various concrete techniques and then spend extended time on one or two for participants to try during the workshop. Emphasis will be placed on breath control and breathing techniques, critical incident analyses, and thought records.
References
Ekman, P. (2003). Emotions revealed (2nd ed.). Times Books.
Hwang, H. C., & Matsumoto, D. (2018). Functions of emotions. In R. Biswas-Diener & E. Diener (Eds.), Noba textbook series: Psychology. DEF Publishers. https://doi.org/https://nobaproject.com/modules/functions-of-emotions.
James, W. (1890). The principles of psychology. Holt.
Keltner, D., & Haidt, J. (1999). Social functions of emotion at four levels of analysis. Cognition and Emotion, 13(5), 505-521. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999399379168
Levenson, R. W. (1994). Human emotions: A functional view. In P. Ekman & R. J. Davidson (Eds.), The nature of emotion: Fundamental questions (pp. 17-42). Oxford University Press.
Levenson, R. W. (1999). The intrapersonal functions of emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 13(5), 481-504. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999399379159
Levenson, R. W. (2003a). Autonomic specificity and emotion. In R. J. Davidson, K. Scherer, & H. H. Goldsmith (Eds.), Handbook of affective sciences (pp. 212-224). Oxford University Press.
Levenson, R. W. (2003b). Blood, sweat, and fears: The autonomic architecture of emotion. In P. Ekman, J. Campos, R. J. Davidson, & F. B. M. De Waal (Eds.), Emotions inside out: 130 years after Darwin’s “The expression of the emotions in man and animals” (Vol. 1000, pp. 348-366). New York Academy of Sciences.
Matsumoto, D., & Wilson, M. (2022). Incorporating consciousness into an understanding of emotion and nonverbal behavior. Manuscript currently submitted for publication.
Scherer, K. R. (1997). Profiles of emotion-antecedent appraisal: Testing theoretical predictions across cultures. Cognition & Emotion, 11(2), 113-150. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999397379962
Scherer, K. R., Schorr, A., & Johnstone, T. (Eds.). (2001). Appraisal processes in emotion: Theory, methods, research. Oxford University Press.
Scherer, K. R., & Wallbott, H. (1994). Evidence for universality and cultural variation of differential emotion response -patterning. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 66(2), 310-328. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.66.2.310
For more information
Our workshops are only for groups and organizations. If you’re part of a larger group interested in training please email us at info@humintell.com.