Introduction
- This post is the outline of a presentation for my colleagues at the Center for Human Potential (https://c4hp.com.)
- The presentation begins with a scientific overview of emotional episodes in general and then transitions to anger episodes in particular.
Emotional Episodes in General
What are emotional episodes?
Complex, coordinated responses of an individual’s physiological, cognitive, motivational, behavioral, and subjective systems to situations that have challenged individuals over evolutionary time. ((Paraphrased from Nesse R. M. & Ellsworth, P.C. (2009). Evolution, Emotions, and Emotional Disorders. American Psychologist, Vol 64, 129-139.))
Why emotional episodes?
- Emotions are all consuming bodily experiences. The single word emotion does not connote the full force of an episode.
- Emotional episodes are like symphonies involving all the players in the orchestra, but the mood changes according to the key. For example, C major is innocent and happy and D# minor is deep despair.
Where have emotional episodes come from?
Evolution by natural selection (EBNS).
What are the obstacles to managing emotional episodes?
- They are the body’s first response to a challenge.
- They are enormously complex.
- They are like icebergs: They are largely opaque to consciousness, and they can be operating in the unconscious long before awareness.
- As a consequence of EBNS, emotions have a head start over the cognitive controls of the prefrontal cortex (PFC).
- But the PFC is limited by ontological and cultural EBNS.
- Limits of ontological EBNS. Hint: We are not blank slates.
- Limits of cultural EBNS. Hint: Marvin Harris’s cultural materialism.
What are the common characteristics of emotional episodes?
- They cannot be quickly turned off by will power. If they could, they would be useless.
- They have either an approach valence or an avoidance valence. Sometimes both valences operate simultaneously.
- They exist in a temporal context that may be eons old.
- They are about our beliefs and about our interactions with the environment.
- They can be occasions of great learning.
Is life a maelstrom of sequential and co-occurring emotional episodes?
Is our emotional life a herd of wild horses over which we have some but limited control?
What is a list of basic emotional episodes?
- Fear
- Anger
- Sadness
- Joy
- Disgust
- Surprise
- Embarrassment
- Shame
- Guilt
- Pride of accomplishment
Anger in Particular
What is anger?
- An approach-valenced emotional episode that arose to manage impending death and challenges to our core beliefs.
- Grades of anger include: Irritation, frustration, and rage.
- Closely related to: Fear, disgust, shame, narcissistic pride.
Are anger and violence the same?
No, anger is an emotional episode and violence is an action.
Principles of Anger Management
Anger is always about ourselves
- A major component of anger as an approach emotion is that projects blame.
- The morality of an aggravating stimulus is independent of our anger.
Life is full of interruptions, complications, and mistakes, often of our own making.
- Sometimes we must be prepared to lower our expectations…
- …And mourn the loss of our higher expectations.
We can engineer our lives to reduce, but not eliminate, episodes of anger.
Buy the best automotive batteries available and change them every five years.
We can inoculate ourselves from anger.
By respecting our biology through respecting its circadian rhythms.
Actions to take during episodes of anger.
- Acknowledge that you are experiencing an episode that has been chosen for you by your ancestors including the nonhuman ones over evolutionary time.
- Stop and think and wait: Average time is 30 minutes for men and 5 minutes for women for the PFC to come on line.
Forget everything you have ever heard about venting anger.
Anger is a self-energizing emotion. It is not a gas in an enclosed space.
Conclusion
- Anger episodes in particular, and emotional episodes in general can define who we are.
- But through conscious effort we can cultivate wisdom and emotional intelligence to create a modicum of freewill. Please watch for future posts on these subjects.
Thank you,
Dr. Michael DeCaria
(The photograph: Franklin’s and California Gulls devouring an insect hatch near the shore of the Great Salt Lake – June 2021.)