FILAMER CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

GRADUATE SCHOOL
AUTONOMOUS STATUS – CHED
Roxas Avenue, Roxas City 5800
Tel. No. (036) 6212-317 Fax No. (036) 6213-075

ATLAS OF EMOTIONS
(PAUL EKMAN)

PAUL EKMAN was born in Washington, DC, in 1934 and lived in many states throughout his
childhood. He studied at New York University and University of Chicago. He graduated from
Adelphi University in 1958 with a PhD in clinical psychology.

He was a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California

in San Francisco. He received multiple awards, including Research Scientist Award from the
National Institute of Mental Health on six separate occasions, and he was named one of
TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People. Ekman is best known for his work with facial
expressions, in fact he became famous within the United States due to his interpretation of the
scandal between Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, determining that the president was lying
based on his body language.
Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
He was a pioneer in the study of emotions with their relationship to different facial expressions.
He also created an atlas of emotions that gained him the reputation as the best human lie detector
in the world.

ATLAS OF EMOTION

The Atlas of emotion is an interactive tool that builds your vocabulary of emotions and illuminates
your emotional world. It aims to gain greater control over what triggers your emotions and how
you respond. And the first step towards emotional awareness is learning to identify and describe
how you are feeling. The Atlas of Emotions is based on a consensus among scientists as determined
by a survey (in the choice of the five emotion continents and the relationship of emotions to moods,
personality and psychopathology), the work of a few scientists who have focused on the naming
of states within emotions, dictionary definitions, theory and best guesses about the actions for each
state and whether they are constructive, destructive or ambiguous.

Our emotions unfold on a timeline. The timeline begins with a trigger that initiates an emotional
experience and ultimately results in a response.

A FRIEND GETS
you feel ANGER argue
ANGRY WITH YOU

A FRIEND GETS imagine them

you feel FEAR
ANGRY WITH YOU leaving

A FRIEND GETS
you feel DISGUST belittle them
ANGRY WITH YOU

A FRIEND GETS
you feel SADNESS be shamed
ANGRY WITH YOU

A FRIEND GETS you feel

gloat
ANGRY WITH YOU ENJOYMENT

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
***Notice how the same trigger can lead to a different response, depending on the emotion we
feel.

The trigger occurs in a context such as current circumstances and feelings, event, and our
worldview, which is influenced by our prior experiences, personal history and inherited universal
scripts about important events.

YOU ARE LOW ON SLEEP

+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU
you feel ANGER argue
+
YOU'RE REMINDED OF A BULLY

READING SCARY NEWS

+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU imagine them
you feel FEAR
+ leaving
REMINDS YOU OF ABANDONMENT

LISTENING TO SAD MUSIC

+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU you feel
be ashamed
+ SADNESS
IT REMINDS YOU OF REJECTION

YOU' RE GRIEVING
+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU you feel
belittle them
+ DISGUST
REMINDS YOU OF INSENSITIVITY

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
 YOU SCORED A TOUCHDOWN
+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU you feel
gloat
+ ENJOYMENT
SEEMS LIKE A SORE LOSER

The emotional experience that is triggered includes subjective feelings and physical sensations.

YOUR BODY BECOMES TENSE

YOU ARE LOW ON SLEEP

+
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU
you feel ANGER argue
+
YOU'RE REMINDED OF A BULLY

YOU FEEL ATTACKED

We have choice in how we respond although sometimes it's hard to feel in control of our responses.
Some responses are more constructive than others.

YOUR BODY BECOMES TENSE

YOU ARE LOW ON SLEEP

+ *TAKE A TIME OUT
A FRIEND GETS ANGRY WITH YOU ***ARGUE
you feel ANGER
+ ***AVOID THEM
YOU'RE REMINDED OF A BULLY

YOU FEEL ATTACKED

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
***When an emotion is triggered we are in the grip of that emotion, which limits our ability to
think clearly and choose how we respond. And as time passes, we gain some clarity and the ability
to make a thoughtful choice. With awareness we can pause before we respond and choose a
response that best serves our goals.

Most emotions researchers agree on these five Universal Emotions: emotions that all humans, no
matter where or how we were raised, have in common. But different emotions regardless of their
strength and frequency varies from moment to moment.

ANGER FEAR
We get angry when something
blocks us or when we think we're Our fear of danger lets us
being treated unfairly. anticipate threats to our safety.

Anger contains both annoyance

and fury. The intensity of these
states varies: We can feel mild or
strong annoyance, but we can
only feel intense fury. All states of
anger are triggered by a feeling of
being blocked in our progress.
Fear contains both anxiety and terror. The
intensity of these states varies: We can feel
mild or strong anxiety, but we can only feel
intense terror. All states of fear are
triggered by feeling a threat of harm.

DISGUST
Feeling disgusted by what is toxic
helps us to avoid being poisoned,
physically or socially.
SADNESS
Sadness is a response to loss,
and feeling sad allows us to
take a timeout and show others
that we need support.

Disgust contains both dislike and

loathing. The intensity of these
states varies: We can feel mild or
strong dislike, but we can only
feel intense loathing. All states of
disgust are triggered by the
feeling that something is toxic.
Sadness contains both disappointment and
despair. The intensity of these states varies:
We can feel mild or strong disappointment,
but we can only feel intense despair. All
states of sadness are triggered by a feeling
of loss.

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
 ENJOYMENT
Enjoyment describes the many
good feelings that arise from
experiences both novel and
familiar.

Enjoyment contains both peace

and ecstasy. The intensity of these
states varies: We can feel mild or
strong peacefulness, but we can
only feel intense ecstasy. All states
of enjoyment are triggered by
feeling connection and/or sensory
pleasure.

We respond to emotional states with our actions. Our responses to the same emotion may differ
depending on the circumstances.

ACTIONS OF ANGER

• For example, we might suppress our feelings

of frustration at work, but scream and yell
to express our frustration with a family
member. Suppressing our frustration can be
constructive in cases where it helps us avoid
arguments, but destructive if we are being
hurt by not speaking up for ourselves.

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
 ACTIONS OF FEAR

• For example, we might avoid feeling

anxiety at work, but ruminate on our
anxiety at home. Avoiding anxiety can
be constructive if it helps us give a
presentation to a room full of
colleagues, but destructive if it
prevents us from confronting our
difficult relationship with our boss.

ACTIONS OF DISGUST

• For example, we might avoid feeling

aversion towards others at work, but find
ourselves feeling aversion towards
individuals we read about in the news.
Avoiding aversion can be constructive in
overcoming bias, but can be destructive if it
leads us to get involved with a harmful
person.

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student
 ACTIONS OF SADNESS

• For example, we might withdraw

from feeling helpless in public, but
seek comfort at home. Withdrawing
from feeling helpless can be
constructive to overcoming intense
grief, but destructive if we don't
seek support when we need it.

ACTIONS OF ENJOYMENT

• For example, we might exclaim to express

our feeling of amusement among friends,
but experience our amusement quietly
while alone. Expressing amusement by
exclaiming can be constructive as means
of sharing enjoyment, but destructive if
it's in response to making fun of
someone.

“In order to find the new world we needed a map, and in order for us to find a calm mind we need
a map of our emotions”. The goal of this Atlas is to help us be aware of our emotions. Awareness
of our emotions means understanding how they are triggered, what they feel like and how we
respond. Awareness itself is a strategy, it helps us understand our emotion experiences. We do not
want to get rid of our emotions, we want strategies that help us respond in helpful, constructive
ways.

Prepared by: Roda Balgos- Haas and Precious Hope Obarra, MAT- Student