The Big Two (part II)

Sorry for introducing so many characters to the mix, but I want you to understand that what Paul Eckman was actively seeking to disprove was the theory propagated by anthropologist Margaret Mead. She posited that facial expressions and the emotions that cause them are taught & learned in individual cultures. Eckman wanted to determine a rock-solid list of universal emotions... and he found six of them. The glad, mad, sad and scared I mentioned in the first chapter of this article; plus surprise and disgust.

Since that time other researchers, whose work I embrace, whittled the list down to the aforementioned four. Because surprise can be borne of any one of the Big Four and disgust comes from anger and/or fear. It's also important to mention here that Paul believes that his six emotions (the basis of the Pixar animated film, Inside Out) are fundamental emotions that all cultures share. Whereas the Big Four are present as the only four emotions.

Please understand that these four are broad categories. So as examples, glad encompasses pleased & joyful & amused. Mad includes annoyed & irate & peeved. Sad incorporates disappointed & despairing & dejected. And scared of necessity accommodates anxious & worried & horrified. These are all there are. These four emotions are what it means to be alive, to be fully human. And as humans, most of us experience these four multiple times in various intensities each and every day.

Other organisms experience these emotions, too. My beagle Chloe up there in the photo knows just what it is to be happy and scared and angry and sad. What sets humans apart is our singular ability to choose our emotional reaction to any stimuli. But that is the subject for another post.

The last thing I want to mention here is, lately I've been giving considerable thought that there are only two broad categories of emotions. Those are Happiness and Fear. The Big Two.

Think about it. If someone or some circumstance makes you angry, you are disappointed that the person or circumstance did not react as you hoped. You fear that you may never get the result you want, the result that would lead you to happiness. If someone or some circumstance makes you sad, again you fear that your happiness is ever out-of-reach.

To clarify here, I am convinced there are no more than four broad emotions. Yet there may be two. In my therapy I ask my clients which emotion they are experiencing and how can they redirect themselves towards acceptance and happiness. If we only have to react against three other emotions, the skills we need to return to what I call baseline - that is, happiness - are meager and therefore manageable. But it may be there is only one other emotion to manage and repurpose.

And that would make living our lives, and thriving in this world, all the easier.

- Mark