QUESTION:

WITH REFERENCE TO PLUTCHIK'S WHEEL CLASSIFY AND DISCUSS THE THREE

LEVELS OF EMOTIONS AND THEIR ROLE OF PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT.

Introduction:
Plutchik's Wheel of emotions was first proposed in its current state in a 2001 paper. Today while
there are a great many philosophical theories of emotions, Plutchik's Wheel remains highly
regarded and is used in a variety of contexts.

Plutchik set out to simply and codify the definition of emotion, which he saw as a particularly
muddy and confusing part of psychological study.

Definitions:

Emotion
Emotion is defined as an episode of interrelated, synchronized changes in the state of all or most
of the five organismic subsystems in response to the evaluation of an external or internal
stimulus event as relevant to major concerns of the organism( Emotion Research,2015).

Wheel of Emotions
Is a concept used in psychology to explain the relationships between different human emotional
states.

Plutchik's Wheel of emotion

Plutchik wheel of Emotions -Is a psychological tool that divides human feelings into eight basic
emotions to make them easier to understand and to draw clear relationships.

What are the Eight core emotions

The eight core emotions according to Robert Plutchik are joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness,
disgust,anger and anticipation.

They can all be compined to create more complex emotions.

Elements of the Wheel

Plutchik's wheel of Emotions has its elements as discussed below;

>Colors
The eight emotions are arranged by colors that establish a set of similar emotions. Primary
Emotions are located in the second circle. Emotions with softer colors are a mix of the two
primary Emotions.
>Layers
Moving to the center of the circle intensifies the emotion, so the colors intensify as well. For
instance,at the center of the wheel, the primary emotions change from;anger to rage, anticipation
to vigilance,joy to ecstasy, trust to admiration, fear to terror, surprise to amazement, sadness to
grief, disgust to leathing.

Moving to the outer layers, the colors become less saturated and the intensity of the emotions
lower.

>Relations
The polar opposite emotions are across from each other. The spaces between the emotions
demonstrate combinations when primary emotions mix. So we see the emergence of emotions
like love, submission, optimism, aggressiveness, contempt, remorse disapproval,awe and
submission.

fig. 1 and 2 Dr. Robert Plutchik's Wheel Of Emotions

Uses of the wheel
> Exploring the emotions you are feeling at any given moment of the day.

> Daily self-reflection where you identify the emotions you experienced throughout the day.

> Exploring deeper and longer term emotions that may be affecting you.

> Helping your therapy or coaching clients describe their experience in greater detail.

Advantages of the Emotion Wheels

When used to check in with oneself, emotion wheels are great tools for becoming more self-
aware.

There are two basic ways in which this improves emotional competency.

>The first advantage is that it simplifies the process of comprehending and communicating how
one is feeling.

There are circumstances when the expression of a person's feelings is fairly straightforward.

Such as when a person does good deeds for others while the other person also feels responsible
to reciprocate as a sign of thankfulness .In this situation,an emotion wheel would not be all that
helpful.

It's likely that a person is already familiar with the meaning behind the emotion as well as how it
influences their behavior.

According to J.Legg (2020), the awareness of emotion as a means of initiating survival-oriented

behaviour is the second advantage of the emotion wheel. People can't do anything about
emotions when they think of it as uncontrollable issues.

For example, The original intent of a flight or fight response was to keep a person safe from
harm. When the person perceive danger the natural response is either to attack or escape.

The Significance of Robert Plutchik's Wheel Of Emotions

The following is a list of the six different ways in which a person can use the Robert Plutchik

emotion wheel to strengthen their relationship with others:

i. As a technique for labelling - Labelling is an effective means of freezing emotional cycles in a

person's mind. But, instead of suppressing the emotion, it can help a person make meaning of it.

Emotions and rational cognition are located in separate areas of the brain. Labelling removes a

person from the emotional circuit and places it within the prefrontal cortex. This region of the
brain.

ii. As a technique for self-awareness – As an individual, self-awareness begins when a person

pays attention to their own emotions, whether through writing, counselling, or other activities.

The emotion wheel can facilitate the expansion of a person's emotional expression.

For example,if a person is experiencing burnout, which makes it difficult to enjoy and be

engaged at work, it can be seen through the emotional wheel that "enjoyment" is a combination
of happiness and expectation (Cuncic,2022).

iii. As a technique for emotional regulation – Having emotional regulation means maintaining

calmness under pressure. Strong emotional control skills improve resilience, teamwork, agility,

and other peak performance indicators (Kadović et al., 2022).

iv. As a mode of communication - An emotion wheel might help a person open up a dialogue if

he has problems explaining how he feels towards others. For example, if a person feels

disapproval Plutchik's wheel will categorize the feelings as sadness and surprise. From there, a

person can begin to talk about what’s causing each emotion.

v. As a technique for comprehending others - Not everyone finds it convenient or comfortable to

communicate toward their emotions. When someone says something, we may sometimes

sense that there's more going on behind the surface. For instance, if a male student who is

constantly annoyed, his animosity may be hiding feelings of being excluded or abused at home

vi. As a technique for educating children – Referring to Williamson (2022), children are often

emotionally sensitive. But, while they are aware of how they are feeling, they frequently lack the

emotional vocabulary to articulate it. The basic emotion wheel is illustrated so that young
children

can use it as a more visual tool to help them understand their feelings. This is a starter emotion
wheel designed to introduce youngsters to the concept of attempting to understand their feelings.

The six major emotions are represented by all three emotion wheels (happy, sad, anger, disgust,

surprise, and fear).

In a nutshell, emotions can be difficult to manage. It may occasionally confuse individuals to the

point that ignoring it appears to be the best approach to prevent becoming overloaded. But
ignoring

emotions can often worsen the problems. Although it may appear tough at first, exploring and

talking through feelings is usually the best option. The emotion wheel is a good tool for
practising

Levels of Emotions
Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions: Detailed Analysis of Three Levels and Their Impact on
Personality Development

a) Primary Emotions (core emotions)

Joy

- Serves as the foundation for positive emotional experiences

- In development: Beginning in infancy, consistent experiences of joy build trust in caregivers

and the environment

- Personality impact: Regular joy experiences contribute to optimism, extraversion, and

approach-oriented behaviors

- Developmental significance: Creates the neurological pathways for reward and pleasure-
seeking behaviors

Trust

- Enables social bonding and cooperation

- In development: Emerges from consistent caregiving in early attachment relationships

- Personality impact: Shapes agreeableness, openness to relationships, and willingness to

cooperate

- Developmental significance: Forms the basis for secure attachment, which influences all
future relationship's

- Essential survival mechanism for threat detection

 - In development: Appears around 6-8 months as stranger anxiety

- Personality impact: Calibrates caution and risk assessment; excessive fear can contribute to
neuroticism

- Developmental significance: Teaches discrimination between safety and danger

Fear

Surprise

 Creates cognitive flexibility and adaptation

 In development: Present from birth, helps infants learn about environmental changes

 Personality impact: Contributes to curiosity, openness to experience, and cognitive flexibility

 Developmental significance: Facilitates learning through violation of expectations

Sadness

 Signals loss and need for support

 In development: Emerges clearly around 3-4 months

 Personality impact: Influences emotional depth, empathy, and relationship maintenance

 Developmental significance: Teaches coping with loss and activates social support systems

Disgust

 Protects from contamination and violation

 In development: Begins with food rejection around 4-8 months, expands to other domains

 Personality impact: Shapes moral intuitions, boundaries, and sensitivity to violations

 Developmental significance: Establishes physical and psychological boundaries

Anger

 Mobilizes resources to overcome obstacles

 In development: Appears around 4-6 months when goals are blocked

 Personality impact: Influences assertiveness, determination, and response to injustice

 Developmental significance: Teaches goal persistence and boundary protection

Anticipation

 Prepares for future events and possibilities

 In development: Emerges as infants begin to predict sequences around 6-8 months

 Personality impact: Contributes to conscientiousness, planning abilities, and future

orientation

 Developmental significance: Establishes capacity for goal-directed behavior

b)Secondary Emotions (Blended emotions)

Love (Joy + Trust)

- In development: Emerges from repeated positive interactions with caregivers

- Personality impact: Shapes capacity for intimacy, empathy, and relationship maintenance

- Developmental significance: Forms the foundation for romantic attachments and deep
friendships

Submission (Trust + Fear)

- In development: Emerges as children learn social hierarchies and rules

- Personality impact: Influences respect for authority, compliance, and social navigation

- Developmental significance: Facilitates social learning and group membership

Awe (Fear + Surprise)

- In development: Appears when children encounter powerful or vast stimuli

- Personality impact: Contributes to spirituality, appreciation for beauty, and sense of meaning

- Developmental significance: Expands perspective beyond the self

Disappointment (Surprise + Sadness)

- In development: Emerges as children form expectations that can be violated

- Personality impact: Shapes resilience, coping strategies, and expectation management

- Developmental significance: Teaches adjustment to reality and recovery from setbacks

Remorse (Sadness + Disgust)

 - In development: Appears as children develop moral understanding around 3-4 years

- Personality impact: Influences conscience development, moral identity, and reparative

behaviors

- Developmental significance: Crucial for moral development and relationship repair

Contempt (Disgust + Anger)

- In development: Emerges in middle childhood as social hierarchies become important

- Personality impact: Shapes social judgment, group affiliation, and moral boundaries

- Developmental significance: Establishes social distance and group identity

Aggressiveness (Anger + Anticipation)

- In development: Appears as children learn to pursue goals despite obstacles

- Personality impact: Influences competitiveness, determination, and assertiveness

- Developmental significance: Establishes capacity for sustained effort and competition

Optimism (Anticipation + Joy)

- In development: Emerges from consistent positive outcomes to expectations

- Personality impact: Shapes positive outlook, resilience, and approach motivation

- Developmental significance: Creates positive expectancy for future events

c)Tertiary Emotions (Dimensional)

Ecstasy (Intense Joy)

- In development: Fully experienced in adolescence as emotional capacity matures

- Personality impact: Shapes capacity for peak experiences, creativity, and emotional range

- Developmental significance: Establishes highest registers of positive emotion

Admiration (Intense Trust)

 In development: Emerges as children identify role models and ideals

 Personality impact: Influences value formation, aspiration, and moral development
 Developmental significance: Creates templates for personal growth and development

Terror (Intense Fear)

 In development: Capacity increases with cognitive development and threat assessment

 Personality impact: Shapes trauma responses, anxiety thresholds, and safety behaviors
 Developmental significance: Calibrates emergency response systems

Amazement (Intense Surprise)

 In development: Expands with cognitive capacity to understand novelty

 Personality impact: Influences wonder, curiosity, and openness to transformative experiences
 Developmental significance: Opens pathways for paradigm shifts and radical learning

Grief (Intense Sadness)

 In development: Full capacity emerges in adolescence as attachment deepens

 Personality impact: Shapes emotional depth, meaning-making, and relationship valuation
 Developmental significance: Establishes capacity for deep emotional processing

Loathing (Intense Disgust)

 In development: Intensifies with moral development and group identity

 Personality impact: Influences strong moral boundaries, rejection responses, and prejudice
 Developmental significance: Establishes strongest protective boundaries

Rage (Intense Anger)

 In development: Regulation capacity develops throughout childhood and adolescence

 Personality impact: Shapes conflict responses, justice orientation, and emotional regulation
 Developmental significance: Tests and strengthens emotional regulation systems

Vigilance (Intense Anticipation)

 In development: Increases with responsibility and consequence understanding

 Personality impact: Influences conscientiousness, preparedness, and risk assessment
 Developmental significance: Establishes capacity for sustained attention and preparation

Integration and Personality Development

Emotional Coherence

 The ability to integrate emotions across all three levels creates emotional coherence
 Personality impact: Influences authenticity, emotional intelligence, and psychological
integration
 Developmental significance: Creates a unified sense of self across emotional experiences

Emotional Flexibility

 Moving appropriately between intensity levels based on context

 Personality impact: Shapes adaptability, emotional appropriateness, and social effectiveness
 Developmental significance: Establishes capacity for emotional modulation

Emotional Complexity

 The ability to experience mixed or blended emotions simultaneously

 Personality impact: Influences emotional depth, nuance in relationships, and psychological
maturity
 Developmental significance: Creates capacity for holding emotional contradictions

Emotional Regulation Across Levels

 Learning to manage emotions at different intensity levels

 Personality impact: Shapes impulse control, stress management, and emotional stability
 Developmental significance: Establishes executive function over emotional responses

Emotional Memory and Identity

 How emotional experiences across levels are integrated into autobiographical memory
 Personality impact: Shapes narrative identity, emotional learning, and self-concept
 Developmental significance: Creates coherent life story and sense of self

Cross-Cultural Emotional Development

 Cultural variation in which emotions are encouraged or discouraged

 Personality impact: Influences cultural adaptation, emotional expression norms, and social
integration
 Developmental significance: Establishes cultural emotional competence

Components of Emotions.

1. Emotion Component
This is where an individual simply experiences the feelings. It's about monitoring the internal
universe and recognizing what is being experienced at that time.

2. Action Tendency Component

Once the emotion is identified, the body moves into action. Emotions bestow certain actions
instead of others, which means that while some are beyond our control (and thankfully so), like
pulling your hand away from a hot iron others are within our control, facing the fear to continue
with a speech or a presentation.

3. Appraisal component
By cognitively analyzing the emotion the individual is able to pick up on the internal world with
others.

4. Motor component
This is the communicative functions of how we express what we are experiencing (facial
expressions,hand gestures, body movements. e.t.c)

So it is extremely important on the inter- individual level,as well as that of the individual.

5. Physiological component
This component supports all others and is the chemical reaction that our body experiences. For
instance, the rush of blood flow to the hands occurs when one experiences the emotion of anger.

Conclusion
Plutchik's wheel provides a comprehensive framework for understanding how emotions function
at different levels and how they contribute to personality development. The interplay of core,
secondary, and tertiary emotions influences how individuals perceive the world, react to
experiences, and engage with others. The management and understanding of these emotional
levels are essential for emotional well-being, resilience, and the development of a balanced
personality.

References:
1.Plutchik, R. (2001). The Nature of Emotions: Defintions and Classifications. The Emotion
Wheel.

2.Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Bantam
Books.