Date: October 24, 2017

Understanding Emotions

Hi, this is Stalilingus. Let’s briefly discuss emotions—what they are and how they work. As you probably already know, emotions aren’t just something you experience. You can also read, trigger, and control them. If you learn to do this consciously, you’ll unlock a lot in the field of influencing people.

Let’s clarify right away: Emotions and states are two completely different concepts. A state is a long-lasting process, while an emotion is a short reaction to a stimulus (a trigger).

To understand emotions, the term “trigger” is more appropriate. A trigger is like a switch that, when pressed, activates an emotion. For example: if someone punches you in the face, you’ll feel anger, surprise, or fear.

When talking about emotions and their classification, I mainly refer to the basic ones—there are only seven. All other emotions are combinations of these.

1) Joy

The emotion of joy is triggered when an important criterion is unexpectedly satisfied. Don’t confuse it with pleasure or satisfaction. If someone unexpectedly gives you a phone you really wanted, that’s joy. If you buy it yourself on sale, that’s satisfaction.

Facial expression of joy: Lower eyelids are relaxed and slightly raised, with “crow’s feet” wrinkles at the corners of the eyes. The corners of the mouth lift toward the cheekbones, cheeks are raised, forehead and eyebrows are relaxed. A joyful person is relaxed and open to conversation, with friendly intentions and a desire to share their joy.

How to turn off this emotion in someone: Make it clear you don’t care about their event or unexpected success. If you don’t know how to show it, just say so. (This is a countermeasure, so think about how to do it more gently if needed.)

Derivatives of Joy: Gratitude, affection, bliss, drive, fun, delight, admiration, elation, inspiration, love, excitement, euphoria.

2) Disgust

The emotion of disgust is triggered by four things: bad smells, excrement, other people’s bodily fluids, and sick people. You don’t always have to see these things—some people can’t even talk about them without feeling disgusted. Usually, disgust leads to a break in communication.

Facial expression of disgust: The nose wrinkles, eyelids tense, wrinkles appear under the lower eyelids, and the upper lip tenses. The person stops breathing and freezes.

How to trigger disgust: Start sneezing or blowing your nose in front of the client, emit foul odors. You can also trigger disgust toward others by telling unpleasant stories about them. For example, say the person you want to create disgust toward is into urine therapy—you get the idea.

Derivatives of Disgust: Loathing, antipathy, squeamishness, tolerance, dislike, rejection.

3) Anger

Anger is triggered when there’s a threat to an important criterion. As a result, you get yelling and aggression—waving hands, using emotional or physical force.

Facial expression of anger: Eyebrows are drawn together with a wrinkle between them, lips are tightly pressed, eyes stare intensely, nostrils flare. When someone is angry, they’re preparing to fight the threat, which requires energy. The quickest way to get energy is from oxygen and muscle activity, so the person breathes heavily to saturate the body with oxygen for the fight.

How to trigger anger: Create a threat to an important criterion, for example: “He can do this at any moment,” “They’re doing this right now, you have to stop them.” List details, ramp up the intensity, and clearly identify the enemy by naming specific people. The person should feel threatened—tell them they have to do something even if they don’t want to, and so on.

Derivatives of Anger: Dislike, indignation, jealousy, hysteria, irritability, hatred, rudeness, aggression, rage, fury, irritation, gloating.

4) Sadness

The trigger for sadness is the permanent loss of something important. More scientifically, it’s the permanent loss of a significant criterion right now.

Facial expression of sadness: Corners of the mouth and eyebrows are lowered, eyelids are relaxed, breathing is focused on exhaling.

How to trigger sadness: Immerse the person in good memories of the past and a lousy present. Say, “Remember how it used to be? Now everything’s different, everything’s worse.” Point out that all the good things are in the past, all the joys are gone.
P.S. Sad people make good slaves)))

Derivatives of Sadness: Melancholy, despondency, meaninglessness, hopelessness, boredom, nostalgia, regret, gloom, depression, emptiness, grief, helplessness, disappointment, despair.

5) Fear

People feel fear when there’s a threat to something they can’t influence—in other words, a threat to an important criterion that can’t be controlled. As a result, people show three reactions: flight, freezing (playing dead), or fight (switching to anger and attacking).

Facial expression of fear: Eyes are tense and wide open, lower eyelids are stretched, upper eyelids are raised. Wrinkles appear in the center of the forehead, eyebrows are slightly drawn together and raised, mouth is open. The person freezes and shrinks.

How to trigger fear: There are many ways—create an imaginary threat, or a real one (like holding a knife to someone’s throat). Tell the person there’s a threat in reality, maybe not now, but in the future. Then spin this scenario as needed.

Derivatives of Fear: Anxiety, worry, cowardice, panic, caution, despair, horror, fright, nightmare, confusion, unease.

6) Surprise

Surprise arises when facts appear that don’t match your worldview, or when someone’s actions don’t fit the setting (for example, someone in front of you at the theater headbanging like at a rock concert). It also happens when you learn something new and interesting. As a result, curiosity arises—the person wants to know more about what surprised them.

Facial expression of surprise: Eyes are wide open, eyebrows are raised and arched, mouth is open and relaxed, lower eyelids are relaxed. Surprise is a very brief emotion and is almost impossible to fake.

How to trigger surprise: Honestly, this one’s tricky—it’s a very fast emotion and can depend on personality type (see above). For example, schizoid types never really leave a state of surprise.

Derivatives of Surprise: Bewilderment, shock, curiosity, interest.

7) Contempt

Contempt arises when you compare yourself to someone and see yourself as better. “My car is better,” “I’m bigger.” In short, it’s a social emotion—you can only feel contempt toward another person. (Example: Someone wets themselves in public—first it causes disgust, then contempt. Please, villains, don’t confuse these emotions.)

Facial expression of contempt: Contempt is shown by asymmetric facial expressions—a smirk or sneer on one side of the face, one eyebrow raised, the corner of the mouth pulled to the side. When someone feels contempt, their speech includes comparative words—faster, better, stronger, bigger, etc. There’s always something to compare to.

How to trigger contempt: As mentioned, contempt is a social emotion. To trigger it, you need to know what the person compares themselves to others about, and then belittle others to create contempt toward them, or toward yourself (the person you’re talking to).

That’s It!

You might argue that there are more emotions, and so on. But as I said above, all other emotions are combinations of those listed here.

For example: Surprise + Joy = Delight

Try it yourself:
Anger + Contempt = ?????
Sadness + Anger = ?????

That’s all, thank you!

Stalilingus