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 emotional contagion, 113
blended emotions, 116
display rules, 119 Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), 121 emotional intelligence, 123 |
encounter avoidance, 125
encounter structuring, 126
reappraisal, 126
supportive communication, 136
You can watch brief, illustrative videos of these terms and test your understanding of the concepts by clicking on the VideoCentral features in the chapter. |
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Emotion is the most powerful of human experiences and typically involves thoughts, physiological arousal, and communication. Emotions are such significant life events that we feel compelled to engage in emotion-sharing with our relationship partners. Sometimes communicating about our emotions leads to emotional contagion.
- Emotions are relatively rare compared to feelings, which occur numerous times daily, and typically arise and decay with little conscious awareness. Moods endure much longer than either feelings or emotions and have pronounced effects on our perception and communication. The most effective strategy for improving bad moods appears to be rigorous physical exercise.
- Six primary emotions appear to exist, based on consistent patterns of nonverbal behavior: surprise, joy, disgust, anger, fear, and sadness. Sometimes we experience more than one of these primary emotions simultaneously; the result is blended emotions.
- Culture and gender play powerful roles in shaping our experience and expression of emotion. As just one example, we each learn cultural display rules growing up that influence what we believe to be socially acceptable and desirable emotional communication.
- Personality also influences our emotional experience. In extreme cases, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy may be used to help neurotics stop negative beliefs about themselves.
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Managing Your Emotional Experience and Expression
- Effective emotion management is a critical part of emotional intelligence. Two of the most common ways people manage their emotions after they have occurred are suppression and venting. Strategies people use for preventing emotions before they occur include encounter avoidance, encounter structuring, attention focus, and deactivation.
- Of all the strategies available to people for managing emotions, by far the most effective is reappraisal. Reappraisal can be used to effectively manage both positive and negative emotions, and it results in dramatically improved emotional communication.
- Asynchronicity and invisibility are two key reasons why we inappropriately express emotions online. The lack of feedback makes it difficult for us to experience and express empathy.
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Anger is extremely difficult to manage, given its intensity. People who routinely manage anger through suppression sometimes develop chronic hostility. Others mistakenly think that openly venting anger will purge them of it because of their belief in catharsis.
- When anger has already been triggered, an additional approach for managing it is the Jefferson strategy. Providing a time delay between the onset of anger and your communicative response can be especially effective during online communication.
- Although an entire industry exists offering advice for how to permanently maintain passion in romantic relationships, most people experience intense passion in the early stages of their involvements and then a steady decline the longer the relationship endures.
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Grief is intensely demanding. Managing one’s own grief is best accomplished through emotion-sharing, whereas providing supportive communication is the best approach for aiding others in overcoming their grief.
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- Want to improve a bad mood and enhance the effectiveness of your perception and communication as a result? Check out the strategies for improving bad moods on pages 113–115.
- If you experience constant self-defeating thoughts and beliefs, try the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy process on pages 121–122.
- Curious about your emotional intelligence? Take the Self-Quiz on page 124.
- Interested in preventing unwanted emotions before they occur? Find out how on pages 125–126.
- Why is reappraisal the most effective strategy for managing emotion? Learn the answer on pages 126–127. Then complete the Skills Practice on page 127. to bolster your reappraisal skills.
- Want to improve your responses during online encounters? Try the Skills Practice on page 129.
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- Do you use suppression to deal with unwanted anger? You may be putting yourself at risk for chronic hostility. Test your chronic hostility by taking the Self-Quiz on page 131.
- Interested in an alternative approach for managing anger? Try the Jefferson Strategy described on pages 131–132.
- Want to improve your skill at comforting others when they are suffering grief? Learn how on pages 135–137. Then check out the Skills Practice on page 137.
- Could you communicate in a supportive fashion toward someone who is grieving but is also making you angry? Find out by completing the Making Relationship Choices exercise on pages 138–139.
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