How to Determine Your Emotional Type and Develop Resilience

Emotions and stress

Stress is a constant companion of modern man. Residents of megacities are especially vulnerable: hours in public transport or traffic jams, endless rush and bustle, multitasking that is required of us at work, and, as a result, constant nervous tension and negative emotions.

Stress makes us abrupt, irritable, aggressive, and leads to us catching infections and getting the flu more often. Chronic diseases and heart problems are getting worse. It turns out to be a vicious circle: negative emotions provoke stress, and stress affects the overall emotional background.

To prevent stress or cope with its consequences, you need to find a way that suits your emotional type and take action in time.

External factors

A great emotional impact on a person comes from outside. Depending on lifestyle, social circle, work and other aspects, a person experiences influences that can change his personal characteristics.

Of course, the main thing that we absorb into ourselves is laid down in childhood. So, upbringing determines who a child will grow up to be: a self-confident person or a hysterical and unbalanced person.

But even an adult individual experiences psychological stress that can turn his emotional processes around. These include:

1. Prolonged stress.
2. Emotional shock or mentally traumatic situation.
3. A state of helplessness and uselessness that occurs in the absence of self-realization.
4. Hormonal imbalance in the body.
5. Alcohol addiction.
6. Head injuries.

Quite often, these factors cause depression and apathy, as a result of which a person begins to be aggressive and embittered.

But it is worth noting that external factors can also restore tone to the emotional state. For example, a person’s experiences of entering a university ended when he saw his name on the list of applicants. In this case, a person’s ability to act proves to him that all his efforts were not in vain. This gives rise to euphoria and a feeling of joy.

This is a natural example when external factors bring events with a “+” sign into life.

But if a person is in this state for no apparent reason, this may mean a mental disorder.

Among the emotional characteristics of a person with a “+” sign, but pathological, one can name moria. This is a condition in which a person constantly fools around, feels no shame, acts chaotically, talks and laughs non-stop.

A person experiences a similar condition when intoxicated by alcohol or when there is damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, which are responsible for control and rationality.

Thus, a long-term change in a person’s emotional mood should alert his loved ones. This may be a serious cause for concern.

Emotional type in action

During the consultation, Olga complained about a conflict with a colleague. She herself has only recently joined the company, but has managed to prove herself well and become a senior specialist. Her colleague has been working for a long time, feels free and sabotages his responsibilities. For example, he may go away on business in the middle of the working day, leaving Olga to deal with urgent tasks.

After Olga filled out a questionnaire to determine her emotional type, it turned out that she had a high score (9) on the scale of grasping context and sensitivity to the situation. Olga is very worried about the current conflict. At the same time, the resilience indicator - 6 - indicates an insufficient ability to recover from failures. Every conflict is taken too close to the heart, and because of this, discomfort and uncertainty about the correctness of one’s behavior appear. In addition, Olga’s level of attentiveness is 6 points, which means that it is quite difficult for her to concentrate on the task at hand.

It is very important for Olga to learn to defend boundaries, increase self-confidence, voice wishes and disagreement immediately, and not retreat into internal experiences. Meditation sessions will help her train attentiveness and concentration.

Emotionality as a personality quality

It is easy to notice that people differ from each other both in the nature of the manifestation of emotions and in their quantity. There are those who are ready to squeal with delight or fall into hysterics for any reason. And others, in almost any situation, remain calm and even indifferent; perhaps they experience some experiences, but it can be difficult to notice them.

Manifestations of emotionality

Features of the emotional sphere of personality are manifested in a number of individual characteristics that leave an imprint on behavior as a whole.

• Level of excitability. This indicator is only partially related to the sphere of emotions and is more neurophysiological than mental in nature. But the nature of a person’s emotionality largely depends on it. More excitable people are, accordingly, more emotional. The level of excitability is associated with the speed and strength of nervous processes, primarily with the emergence of foci of excitation in the cerebral cortex.
• Emotional stability is determined by the duration of arousal, and therefore by the duration of experiencing certain emotions. Fleeting, superficial emotions, bright but unstable outbursts of feelings, frequent mood swings are signs of a fickle nature. But on the other hand, excessive fixation on certain experiences, “chewing” some emotional situation over and over again can lead to serious problems, including psychological ones.
• Strength and depth of experience. Strong emotions are characteristic of many bright, extraordinary personalities. Such emotional states play an important role in creativity; they support the energy, activity and performance of the individual on the path to success. On the other hand, such emotions themselves are energy-intensive; their experience often leads to emotional burnout - a feeling of devastation, apathy and mental fatigue.
• Expressiveness is the ability (and need) of a person to broadcast his emotions to others. Expressiveness is often mistaken for increased emotionality, but most often feelings are expressed more strongly than they are experienced, as people simply want to attract attention to themselves. Many people generally “play to the public” without experiencing even half of the emotions that a reserved, withdrawn, non-expressive person experiences.

The combination of these characteristics and their different levels makes each person a unique and unrepeatable personality from an emotional point of view. The nature and level of our emotions is associated with a number of reasons, among which two groups can be distinguished: individual characteristics of the nervous system and external factors.

Emotionality and temperament

One of the main reasons for differences in the emotional sphere of people is the characteristics of nervous processes, that is, temperament.

Without delving into the analysis of this concept, I will only say that the type of temperament is understood as the innate characteristics of the mental processes of excitation and inhibition in the cerebral cortex. The combination of characteristics such as strength, speed and the ratio of excitation and inhibition gives a huge variety of individual psychological types of people. They are conventionally divided into 4 main ones: choleric, phlegmatic, melancholic, sanguine. They do not occur in their pure form, but in most people the traits of one type predominate, and the rest are present in smaller quantities.

Each type is characterized by its own picture of emotionality, determined by the uniqueness of mental processes:

• Choleric. Due to the high speed and instability of mental processes, emotions in this type manifest themselves brightly, violently, but not for long. Cholerics are characterized by rapid changes in mood, but positive emotions predominate. After a little hysteria, the choleric quickly switches his attention to something pleasant. These people are amorous, but fickle, ready to support any project with enthusiasm and delight, but their enthusiasm does not last long.
• Phlegmatic person. The emotional opposite of choleric. This type of temperament is characterized by a high level of inhibition, so emotions in phlegmatic people arise with difficulty and do not manifest themselves clearly. The calmness of these people borders on coldness and callousness. However, the vaguely expressed feelings of phlegmatic people are very stable and often last a lifetime.
• Melancholic. This type is called weak due to the low level of activity of nervous processes. The change in mood of a melancholic person is almost imperceptible, but since negative emotions are objectively more stable than positive ones, people of this type are constantly in a state of despondency. They are easily upset and cannot create a positive mood on their own. On the other hand, this is a very sensitive type. Melancholic people are sensitive to changes in the mood of others, they have a high ability to empathize.
• Sanguine. This is a strong and stable type, he is capable of vivid emotions, which also last a long time. A sanguine person is better able to regulate his emotionality than any other type of temperament. But the persistence and even stubbornness of sanguine people, as well as their desire for dominance, sometimes makes these people aggressive and cruel.

Since we have traits of all four types to one degree or another, we can behave differently in different life situations. And emotionality itself, as a personal quality, is also formed and changed under the influence of external factors.

Application of the Abraham Hicks scale to assess the condition

To create an accurate psychological description of a person’s emotional states and identify disturbances in the emotional sphere, you can use the Abraham Hicks scale. It can be used to describe a wide range of feelings - from negative to positive. Feelings on the scale are divided by color.

It is important to remember the feature of the scale. It is impossible to move along the scale from one side to the other without passing through intermediate stages. For example, it is impossible to go from suffering immediately to joy. Colors go from red to purple. The neutral zone, which is located in the center, is indicated in green.

Red zone

Manifestations:

• hopelessness;
• impotence;
• depression;
• despair;
• uncertainty;
• bitterness;
• envy;
• misfortune;
• humiliation;
• fear;
• shame;
• abandonment.

To move through the negative zone, you need to experience negativity, try to express it in order to move towards positive emotions.

Orange

The orange zone is less negative, but the sensations remain bad:

• fright;
• detachment;
• indignation;
• undervalued;
• anger;
• revenge;
• guilt;
• mistrust;
• resentment;
• hatred;
• discouragement.

It is important to be patient when navigating the different zones of the scale. To get rid of negative feelings, you can use natural psychological defense mechanisms, for example, shifting the blame to others. This helps to free yourself from negativity.

Yellow

This is an area of ​​disappointment. Feelings:

• anxiety;
• sadness;
• disappointment;
• irritation;
• doubt;
• self-pity;
• loneliness;
• depression;
• anxiety;
• regret.

When passing through this and the next zone, psychologists recommend retuning to positive thoughts.

Green

Neutral zone. The main manifestation is boredom. Feelings become mixed as there is a transition between positive and negative emotions. The subject is unable to accurately describe his condition. He's not good, but he's not bad either. To him:

• boring;
• empty;
• Fine;
• indifferent.

At this stage, it is important to relax and try to renounce any feelings. You will feel temporarily tired. The person does not know what to do next. The main thing is not to give in to negativity. You need to try to rest.

Blue

At this stage, the subject begins to have hope. Characterized by:

• trust;
• value;
• nobility;
• fun;
• acceptance;
• interest.

Blue

With each stage the feelings will get better. At this stage, self-confidence appears. Its goal is to move from hope to faith. It is important to have the right mindset so that only good things happen. The blue zone is characterized by:

• confidence;
• approval;
• respect;
• anticipation of interesting events.

At this level a person feels security and satisfaction. He develops enthusiasm and strength to achieve his goals.

Purple

The last zone is purple. This stage is characterized by a feeling of invincibility. To feel global positive changes, you need to stay in this zone for at least three days in a row. If this condition persists for a month or more, your life position and train of thoughts will change. Most likely, material changes will occur - changing jobs, moving to a new place of residence, moving up the career ladder.