A psychologist named Paul Ekman has studied emotional expression all over the world, from very developed countries to areas without Internet access or even TVs. His research has shown that all mammals (including us humans) are social creatures and that emotions are an essential part of our lives. In fact, our survival as a species depends on our social relationships and emotional communication.
Now that you’ve given it some thought, here are the primary emotions Dr. Ekman identified: happiness, fear, anger, sadness, surprise, contempt, and disgust. All of these emotions serve an evolutionary purpose, helping us survive as a species—detecting threats, dealing with challenges, and connecting with loved ones.
Here are the basics about the functions of our primary emotions:
Dr. Ekman’s work also revealed that each of the primary emotions has a very specific facial expression and body presentation. Take a moment now to make each of the following facial movements. Notice how you feel as you try each one.
What’s fascinating is that even though these are small, incomplete versions of the facial expressions that Dr. Ekman described, as you did this exercise, you probably felt a sense of these emotions in your body. For example, when making the facial expression for surprise, you may have felt a little surprised. When smiling, you may have felt a bit happier, and when frowning you may have felt slightly sad. Like the Befriending Feelings practice in chapter 24 and the Emotional Improv activity in chapter 38, this exercise allows us to experience a basic truth—our physical experience and our emotions are very closely connected.
Another interesting thing about emotions is that when we don’t suppress or magnify them, they tend to have their own natural rhythm. In your daily life, can you notice when an emotion begins, when it peaks, and when it ends? Based on your experience, how might you graph, or describe, an emotion over time? In most cases, the graph for an emotional experience is like a simple wave or bell curve.