EMOTIONAL STYLE ACCORDING TO. PROF. RJ DAVIDSON AND QUALITY OF LIFE.

Check what your emotional style is to find out what areas you need to work on.

Prof. Richard J. Davidson defined and described in his book entitled "The emotional life of the brain" - 6 dimensions that define a person's individual emotional style, and describes their relationship with individual areas of the brain.

Emotional style includes 6 dimensions.

1. Resistance – information about how quickly we recover after failure
2. Attitude– how long we are able to maintain positive or negative emotions
3. Social intuition how well we can read the signals sent by the people around us
4. Self-consciousness– whether and how we perceive physiological sensations that reflect emotions
5. Sensitivity to context – how well we can regulate our reactions to the situation we are in
6. Attention– how hard we can concentrate on something

You can test each dimension by taking a simple test and selecting the answer TRUE or FALSE. After defining each parameter, we will receive a curve that will individually define your emotional style.

Why is it important to know your emotional style?

Whether we can pay attention or not; whether we can read external signals and how we react to them, and how long we dwell on failure, determines the quality of our life and influences the decisions we make. These, in turn, determine... the quality of our lives!

Therefore, it is worth getting to know your emotional style to know what to strengthen and what to work on.

Prof. Richard J. Davidson, together with various teams of scientists, has been studying the areas of the brain that are responsible for these features for years. And yes:

1. Resistance– that is, how quickly we regain balance depends on signals sent from the prefrontal cortex to the amygdala, and from there back to the prefrontal cortex. The decisive factor for this area is the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala.
2. Attitude– negative or positive – depends on the activity of the ventral part of the striatum. The left prefrontal cortex is the basis of positive emotions, greater activity of the right prefrontal cortex is negative emotions. Signals sent from the prefrontal cortex maintain a high level of activity in the ventral striatum, which encourages us to have a positive attitude. Low levels of activity in the ventral striatum due to less input from the prefrontal cortex lead to a negative attitude.
3. Social intuition – whether you can read signals from the outside - it proves the work of the fusiform gyrus and amygdala. Activity in the fusiform gyrus of the brain, which is responsible for recognizing faces, is much lower in some people. Less activation of the fusiform gyrus is associated with the inability to recognize emotions. A person whose level of arousal in the fusiform gyrus is high, but the level of activity in the amygdala is low or medium is socially intuitive and vice versa.
4. Self-consciousness– it is responsible for the island located between the temporal lobe and the frontal lobe, which controls the map of internal organs. The insula receives signals from internal organs and if its activity level is high, it means that we have high self-awareness, if it is low - low.
5. Sensitivity to context– In addition to its role related to long-term memory, the hippocampus is responsible for adapting behavior to a specific context. Low hippocampal activity characterizes unmatched people, and high hippocampal activity characterizes matched people.
6. Attention– the prefrontal cortex is responsible for it, which strengthens important signals and weakens unimportant ones. Strong cortical synchronization means high attention, low - low.

Now….execute test

RESISTANCE – how quickly can you recover from failure, how long do you dwell on it? Can someone spoil your mood for the whole day? Rate your emotional style by answering the questions TRUE or FALSE.

ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE – RESISTANCE

Quick recovery. Slow recovery

TEST

1. If another driver is squeezing around a long line of cars and you're stuck in a traffic jam, instead of being angry about it for a long time, you get over it quickly.
2. When you are overcome with great sadness because of very unpleasant words said to you, you cannot regain your balance for several hours.
3. If you make a mistake at work and get reprimanded for it, you don't care and treat it as a learning experience.
4. When you enter an expensive restaurant and discover that there is not enough food, it is undercooked and the waitress ignores you, it spoils your entire evening.
5. You're stuck in a traffic jam for 40 minutes. After unlocking it, you press the gas pedal and try to catch up because you are already late and furious.
6. If the dishwasher breaks down at home, it doesn't affect your mood because you know that all you need to do is call the service center.
7. When you meet a wonderful man/woman and ask if he would like to meet again, the refusal usually puts you in a bad mood that stays with you for many hours or even days.
8. You deserve a reward because you gave your all and you had the best time, while someone else wins the prize. You usually come to terms with it quickly and move on with your day.
9. You meet someone who charms you and you are unable to say a word when this person asks you a question directly. After the meeting, you analyze for a long time what you should have said.

If you answered TRUE to questions 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, award yourself 1 point.

If you answered FALSE to questions 2, 4, 7, 9, you receive 1 point.

A score above 7 means that you are slow to regain balance and are quite resistant.

Mark yourself on the axis.

ATTITUDE- Does your life energy and commitment remain high, and do you tend towards cynicism and pessimism, struggling to see the positive side of life?

ASSESSING YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE – ATTITUDE

Negative attitude Positive attitude

TEST

1. Meeting new people is a great pleasure for you, not an obligation.
2. When you meet a new person, you focus on what they lack, instead of their strengths.
3. You believe that the future will be better than the past
4. The possibility of moving to a new city scares you
5. When someone smiles at you in the morning, the positive mood disappears within a few minutes
6. If you go to a party and have a good time from the beginning, you will be in a positive mood throughout the evening
7. In your opinion, beautiful views and magical moments can quickly become commonplace
8. When you wake up and think about something fascinating that will happen soon, a positive mood accompanies you throughout the day.
9. When you go to a concert, the excitement you feel for the first few minutes quickly dissipates.
10. When you are very busy, you can perform multiple tasks one after the other without feeling tired.

If you answered TRUE to questions 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, award yourself 1 point.

If you answered FALSE to questions 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, award yourself 1 point.

A score above 7 points means a positive type, below 3 points means a negative type.

Mark yourself on the axis.

SOCIAL INTUITION– can you read external signals, can you read non-verbal signals?

ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE - SOCIAL INTUITION

Socially confused intuitive

TEST

1. You often notice people's nonverbal signals about emotions even before they recognize the emotion themselves.
2. You often pay attention to the facial expression and body language of the interlocutor
3. It doesn't matter whether you talk to people on the phone or in person, because you rarely get any additional information by having direct contact with the interlocutor.
4. You often feel like you know more about people's true feelings than they do.
5. You are often surprised that while talking to you, some people get irritated for no apparent reason
6. In a restaurant, you prefer to sit next to your interlocutor because you often only see part of his face
7. You often react to someone's embarrassment or anxiety based on intuition, rather than on the basis of a clear conversation.
8. When you're out in public, you like to watch people.
9. You feel embarrassed when a person you barely know looks you straight in the eye during a conversation.
10. You can usually tell at first glance that someone has a problem.

If you answered TRUE to questions 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 10, award yourself 1 point.

If you answered FALSE to the questions: 3 5 6 9, award yourself 1 point.

The higher the score (above 8 points), the greater the social intuition - on the socially intuitive axis.

A score below 3 points indicates its absence - on the axis it is confusion.

Mark your score on the axis.

SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS– it is the ability to pick up signals coming from your body and soul. Do you understand why you react this way or differently?

ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE - SELF-AWARENESS

Unaware of Self Aware of Self

TEST

1. When someone asks why you're sad, you don't feel that way at all
2. When people close to you ask why you are so unpleasant to them, you are surprised by this statement
3. You often feel anxious for no apparent reason
4. You feel sadness and pain when you see someone suffering
5. You are usually confident about your feelings and able to express them in words
6. Sometimes you feel various ailments and you know where they come from
7. You like to spend time in silence, listening to yourself
8. You believe that you are an integral part of your body and you feel comfortable in it
9. Your attention is mainly directed to the outside world, and you rarely notice what is happening inside your body
10. While exercising, you are perfectly aware of the changes taking place in your body

If you answered TRUE to questions 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, award yourself 1 point.

If you answered FALSE to the questions: 1 2 3 6 9, award yourself 1 point.

The higher the score (above 8 points), the more self-aware you are.

A score below 3 points indicates a lack of self-awareness.

Mark your score on the axis.

SENSITIVITY TO CONTEXT– can you always behave appropriately to the situation, do you have innate tact?

ASSESSMENT OF YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE - SENSITIVITY TO CONTEXT

Mismatched fit

TEST

1. Someone very close to you told you that you are empathetic
2. You heard a few times that you were behaving inappropriately in company, which surprised you very much
3. Your friend was offended because you laughed when he felt really sorry
4. You notice that sometimes people move away from you to keep their distance
5. You react tactfully and sometimes refrain from confirming that something is good if in fact you don't think so
6. In a public place, at the cinema, at the doctor's, you pay special attention to how loud you speak
7. You were often admonished in public places not to talk too loudly about something because it was inappropriate
8. You recognize places even if you've only been there once
9. You notice if someone is behaving inappropriately for the place and circumstances
10. People close to you say you have good manners

If you answered TRUE to questions 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, award yourself 1 point.

If you answered FALSE to questions 2 3 4 7, award yourself 1 point.

The higher the score (above 8 points), the more suited you are to the context

A score below 3 points indicates a lack of fit. Enter your result on the axis.

ATTENTION– are you observant, can you work in noise?

ASSESSING YOUR OWN EMOTIONAL STYLE - ATTENTION

focused unfocused

TEST

1. You can concentrate in noisy environments
2. When you are in a situation where there is a lot going on and you are exposed to many stimuli, you are able to focus and do not stray your thoughts towards particular events.
3. If you decide to focus on a specific task, you usually succeed
4. When you are at home and trying to do something, external signals: children, TV do not distract you.
5. When it's quiet, thoughts immediately appear in your head, you can't pinpoint where they come from
6. If you get distracted, you quickly return to the task at hand
7. In moments of relative silence, for example when you are riding a train or bus, or standing in a queue at the checkout, you pay attention to everything that is happening around you.
8. If you have to do an independent task that requires your full attention, you try to find the quietest possible place
9. Your concentration is usually distracted by external stimuli and it is very difficult for you to turn your attention away from them later
10. You don't find it difficult to talk to another person in a crowd, for example at a party or in an office building, and you can concentrate completely in such conditions.

If you answered TRUE to questions 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 10, give yourself 1 point

If you considered situations 4, 5, 8 and 9 to be FALSE, also give yourself 1 point.

If you get at least 8 points, you are a focused type, if below 3 you have problems with concentration. Mark yourself on the axis.

Now check what your emotional style is. Remember that your style may change depending on the work you do on yourself.

Individual dimensions of emotional style are associated with the following features:

• Shyness and sociability are related to the dimension social intuition (3)
• Emotionality is linked to resilience and attitude (4)
• Susceptibility to anxiety corresponds to a dimension immunity (1)
• Adaptability is responsible for sensitivity to context (5)
• Impulsivity is associated with concentration (6)
• Positive and negative attitudes are products of the resilience and attitude dimensions (2)

Once you did the test….

How are you with emotionality, attitude, impulsivity, anxiety, and finally adaptation?

Did the result surprise you or was it exactly as you expected?

Do you see a work area somewhere?

Fortunately, your emotional style can be changed by working in the form of exercises that strengthen specific areas of the brain responsible for specific dimensions, such as the prefrontal cortex, striatum, and amygdala.

These exercises strengthen cognitive functions, perceptiveness and concentration.

If you want to work on yourself to improve the quality of your life in the above areas, I invite you to coaching sessions.

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