The Psychology of Anthropomorphism

Today's Guest Post is authored by Mowaffak Allaham.  Mowaffak is a graduate student at GMU and a research assistant at the GMU Social Robotics Lab. Follow him on twitter at @mowaffakallaham.

Author: Mowaffak Allaham

Psychologists have identified the ability to perceive the minds of others as necessary for meaningful social interactions. Ongoing research is trying to determine factors that underpin mind perception, as this ability not only allows us to perceive the mind of a fellow human, but also to perceive it in nonhuman objects or agents. This tendency to imbue the real, or imagined, behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions [1] is called anthropomorphism.

A critical prerequisite to understanding the minds of other humans is to attribute the presence of mental states to their minds in the first place – intentions, desires, and beliefs. During the process of anthropomorphism, the attribution of mental states can even be applied to non-human objects or agents (e.g: 3D avatars or robots).  In a classic experiment exploring this phenomenon, Fritz Heider and Marianne Simmel [2] presented participants with a video of two animated triangles either chasing or hiding from one another.

This study demonstrated our innate tendency to attribute personality traits, and therefore a mind, even for simple, geometric shapes! Since then, anthropomorphism has intrigued many psychologists, and more recently neuroscientists, as a window into the cognitive mechanisms that drive our perceptions of the mental states in others.

Interestingly, one study found that an absence of social connections increased the tendency to anthropomorphize, presumably to satisfy our motivation for social connection.  In contrast, people with a strong sense of social connection were less likely to anthropomorphize non-human agents.

Research on anthropomorphism has expanded beyond the confines of psychology, reaching newly emerging fields like human-robot interaction. Computer scientists and roboticists are actively exploring the factors that influence our perception of robots.

Along these lines, scientists at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University have proposed six design suggestions for a humanoid robotic head [1] to support the perception of humanness in robots. Further, these researchers have isolated some facial features in particular, such as eyes, nose, and eyebrows, as major contributors to a robot’s humanness. However, even robots that do not include all of these features, like Kismet at MIT [3], are sufficient for our minds to anthropomorphize and treat them in a very human-like way.

There is no doubt that robots are becoming more present in our lives, but what are the psychological implications of this new technology? Earlier this year Boston Dynamics revealed a video demonstrating their new robot “Spot”. This autonomous robot has four hydraulic legs and a sensor head to help it move across rough terrain. Although Spot’s appearance was quite robotic, many people condemned the act of kicking it during the recorded video demonstration. Some took it further to initiate a campaign to stop robot abuse. Interestingly, such reactions can inform us how people perceived Spot to have a mind similar to that of humans, therefore a feeling of pain, despite its obvious animalistic embodiment.

But what role does one’s belief, or knowledge, of a specific agent play in anthropomorphizing it? Noel Sharkey, a professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, UK, has told CNN that for him, as a roboticist, kicking Spot was “quite an impressive test” since usually kicking a robot will knock it over. Was his prior knowledge of artificial intelligence sufficient to allow Sharkey to perceive Spot as a mindless agent?  His attitude was in contrast with those who perceived Spot, a robot without a head, as a mindful robot that feels pain despite lacking even the basic characteristics of an animal.  Nuances like these are essential to our understanding of how we anthropomorphize others and require greater understanding if we are to improve human-robot interactions. Knowing more about the cognitive, or neurological, process of anthropomorphism could assist computer scientists and roboticists to reverse engineer and implement the underlying principles in future caregiver robots, for example, improving interactions with patients. In other words, cracking the mechanism that underlies anthropomorphism could bring us closer to having robots that read, and help, the minds of others.

References:

[1] DiSalvo, Carl F., et al. "All robots are not created equal: the design and perception of humanoid robot heads." Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques. ACM, 2002.

[2] Animating Anthropomorphism: Giving Minds To Geometric Shapes Scientific American.

[3] Breazeal, Cynthia. "Toward sociable robots." Robotics and autonomous systems 42.3 (2003): 167-175.

Further Readings:

Epley, Nicholas, et al. "When we need a human: Motivational determinants of anthropomorphism." Social Cognition 26.2 (2008): 143-155.

Epley, Nicholas, Adam Waytz, and John T. Cacioppo. "On seeing human: a three-factor theory of anthropomorphism." Psychological review 114.4 (2007): 864.

Is Meditation Self-Help Bullshit?

Are you wasting your time,
meditating monkey?

A recent article by Virginia Heffernan in the New York Time Magazine is excoriating the gradual westernization of mindfulness meditation, demonizing this trend as somehow running counter to the essence of this ancient practice.  I think at the heart of this article is a desire to protect people from self-help snake oil but there is a palpable vibe in the article of an anti-self-help bias that is unfortunate.

As I've discussed before, our attitudes about change influence our ability to change.  So, while I agree with Ms. Heffernan that self-help advice should be evaluated critically, binning the entire self-help movement as bullshit isn't helping anyone either.

In this context, I can't help but reevaluate the purpose of mindfulness meditation (and mindfulness, in general).  Is mindfulness mediation useful? 

As someone who has practiced mindfulness meditation as an attempt to manage stress, I have concluded that meditation is simply a concerted effort to implement a reappraisal of bad thoughts.  Specifically, it has been suggested that rumination, or the endless replay of negative thinking, may contribute to depression.  Cognitive reappraisal is a well-known approach for dealing with a number of negative or disruptive thoughts and meditation is just a practiced form of this.  In the mindfulness meditation style I have tried, namely Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, one reappraises negative thoughts as "thoughts", taking a meta-level view of them and partitioning them as something distinct from our experiencing mind.

Personally, this makes sense to me.  Just as I wouldn't accept the self-help advice of some rando, I am not going to trust that my automatic catastrophizing about the world is based on fact.  During mindfulness meditation, I am taking a skeptical stance toward my own worries and recognizing them for what they are: worries, not reality.  Ultimately, the proof is in the pudding when it comes to the value of mindfulness meditation.  If it helps someone cope with the challenges of life, then great.  We should all be active participants in our own mental health, experimenting with approaches until we get results.

In this way, stress management is like exercise.  Is one form of exercise better than another?  Is meditation better than a book club?  The answer is: it depends.  It depends on who is doing it, whether they enjoy it and whether they stick with it.  If the answer to these questions is "yes", then the long term outcome is likely to be positive.

A Guide to a Happy Life

Eat some fruit every day.

Note: This is the first-ever guest post on The Happy Homunculus.  It comes to us from an anonymous philosopher who figured it all out and never told anyone.... Until now!

No one can make you happy (or unhappy for that matter).  That choice is totally up to you.   All some of us can do is point the way, and hope that you take a look.  Learning about yourself and living life well is a process that we ALL go through.  It’s about making mistakes…lots of them…every day.  The only way to learn is through our mistakes.  Did I mention that WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES?

Here’s the important piece-try not to make the same mistakes over and over again.  It’s hard, I know.  The first step toward that end is to THINK very highly of yourself.  You’ve probably noticed that the word think is in big letters.  That’s because it’s important.  Thinking rather than just feeling.  It’s a huge concept.  Not one that most people can wrap their minds around.  But it’s worth THINKING about. (Sorry, I just love caps)  Try not to act on feelings…most feelings mean very little, no matter how passionately you feel them.  Rather, act only after thinking those feelings through, and deciding whether it would be in your best interest to do something about them.  Most feelings just need to be acknowledged and then let go of.   Too much?

Speaking of feelings, it’s worth noting that we all carry around some emotional baggage from our childhood.  Those are feelings we were never allowed to feel or express at the time or never quite understood or were traumatized by.  The bad news is that those feelings can become repressed, hidden just under the surface.  They come out as anger or some equally disconnected painful emotion at the wrong time and usually targeted at the wrong person. Often times they are self- destructive.  Many people live their lives completely disconnected from themselves or their true feelings.  VERY UNHEALTHY for all of us!  The good news is through therapy or self introspection we can remember those less than happy times, relive those feelings and connect them to the appropriate person, place or thing, living or dead.   Once you confront those emotions and deal with them by connecting them to their original origin, then you can let them go and begin to heal.   Just remember, ALL FEELINGS HAVE TO BE RECOGNIZED AND EITHER LET GO OR DEALT WITH.  NEVER IGNORED!     Now you are free to begin to lead a much healthier, happier life and deal with emotions as they happen, without going through the much more complicated process of storing them for later, inappropriate use against an innocent bank teller, co-worker or poor hapless spouse.  It’s NEVER too late to treat your child within really, really well, especially if you weren’t treated well when you actually were a child.  Take responsibility for the care and feeding of that child and move on whistling a happy tune.

Your life has purpose and meaning.  If you were not born, those whose lives you’ve interacted with would not be the same.  We are all inter-connected.  We all share the same purpose.  It’s OK that you have no idea what that purpose is-that’s part of the process.  I can tell two very general reasons we are here (on earth) Ready?

LOVE  and  KNOWLEDGE.  There you have it.  Let’s keep it simple.

Love yourself first and when you’re in a really good place, then help others along.

The more you learn about yourself and others and life and, well, everything, the more advanced you become. The more you grow.  The further along in the PROCESS you go.  Easy!

Be positive rather than negative.  You cannot be both.  They are opposites and cannot exist in the same place at the same time.  Choose to be positive.  Trust me on this.

The more positive energy you put out there, the more will come back to you.  It’s a good thing.  The same is true with negativity.

Believe in yourself.  You are all you have.  Recognize all your successes and build on them.  They weren’t accidents.  Give yourself all the credit you deserve.  If you don’t, you’ll be constantly filled with fear and self-doubt and always starting from scratch.

Don’t confuse STUFF with success.  Clothes don’t make the man…or woman.  Success comes from the inside out, not the other way around.  If you feel empty inside, you will NEVER have enough clothes, drugs, cool friends, cars, shoes, beer, wine, money(you get the idea) to make you feel the way you want to feel.  NEVER EVER!! 

Fill that void with self-love.  Positive actions… A strong work ethic… Trust the PROCESS.

Keep doing the right things the best way you can, not perfectly, but the best you can and you will be successful.  I promise.

Here’s another important piece – if you do all this good, positive stuff and put yourself first and think before you act on feelings alone…if you do all this, you may still FEEL like crap.  It’s ok.  You can’t make a change after so many years and expect it to feel right.  If you stop smoking after 20 years, you will feel miserable for a while.  But keep with it and you will start to feel better.  It’s a process.  It takes time.   Oh yeah, don’t smoke.

Develop a support system.  Talk to people you can trust.  Don’t keep secrets.  They’re destructive.  Know who you can trust and let them help you through tough times.  Remember, we are all connected, and we’ve all gone through the same or much worse situations than you.  (Sorry, you don’t win the prize for terrible life stories)

DO SOMETHING GOOD FOR YOURSELF EVERY DAY. (Again, note the big letters)

It can be as simple as getting some ice cream or walking in the park.  It’s not what you do but why you’re doing it.  You’re doing it because you’re worth it. (put those last words in big letters in your mind)  You can create a positive mood with not much effort, as I have stated in my opening sentence!

(Admit it…I’m good!)

If you don’t know what to do, just do something positive.  As long as you move in a positive direction, you will find your way.  Believe in yourself.  Did I already say that?  It’s worth repeating.

Eat some fruit every day.

We all have stuff to deal with.  Know what is yours to handle and what is everyone else’s.  You are not responsible for anyone but you.  Not your mother or father or friends. Just deal with YOUR STUFF.  Let them deal with theirs.

Big finish…Treat yourself  well.  Believe in your abilities.  Be Positive.  Live life from the inside out.  Life is about one decision after the other.  Again and again… over and over.  If you don’t like a decision you’ve made – make another one!  Try to make better and better decisions for yourself.  You have a lifetime to practice.  Remember you are special.  Never forget that.

The Mental Reboot Script

Time to reboot.

There's no way around it - the grind has been grinding you down.  You're tired, you're stressed, your motivation is low.  Sometimes life can be really tough and, lately, life has been really tough.

But bad times ebb and flow, come and go.  Sometimes things are tough, other times things are great.  Perhaps the tough times seem to happen more than the good times, but it's hard to know for sure.  When you're stressed it's difficult to keep perspective.

Situations can change though, and situations change faster if you make an effort to move forward, to make progress.  Who cares if you only make a little change today for the better?  At least it's a step in the right direction.  One small change to make life better is all you need to feel some hope.  Who knows?  Maybe this is the beginning of a period of incredible success.  Until you get started, you'll never know.

So get focused.  Don't let all the nagging stressors creep into your mind all at once.  You can only do one thing at a time.  Just pick something to do that would make a difference in your life and start working on it.  Pick something small, manageable and doable and just get it done.  No more worrying about picking the perfect thing to do, just trust your instincts and make progress.  Block out all other intruding worries and attack that one thing that will make you feel the most accomplished.

Oh, and please? Give yourself a break when you're done?  In order to make real, lasting progress you're going to want to stick to your goals.  Most things that need to be done take some time to happen, so let's not burn out.  After a full day of focused effort, you deserve to relax, rest and recover.  Your brain is an organ and a day of hard work is like a mental workout: you need some recovery time to be ready for the next day.

And while we're on the topic, don't lose sight of all the good stuff you have going on.  There are things that bring you joy even if they are little, simple things like McDonald's breakfast sandwiches.  Look around and remind yourself about a few things that make life fun and enjoyable.

Feeling better?  Good.  But, don't beat yourself up about getting down in the dumps from time to time.  It happens to everyone.  The important thing is to keep an eye on those nasty thoughts and be sure to reboot when things get out of hand.

Smiling Alone

The poor man's painkiller?

The other day, I was rummaging around on Deric Bownd's MindBlog looking for some fun stuff on pain tolerance and I stumbled on this article that explored the relationship between laughing and pain.

To ruin the punchline, the authors found that laughter significantly elevated pain tolerance in a number of contexts.  What's more, the researchers do a decent job controlling for mood to tease out if the act of laughing, rather than good-feelings that come with laughing, explained the effect. It does.  In other words, the very act of laughing resulted in an increased pain tolerance, not "being happier".

This reminded me of the classic cause and effect conundrum: the act of smiling may boost mood.

Then I had the following thought: when I'm alone, I'm rarely smiling or laughing.  I did a little experiment and observed my own smiling/laughing behavior when I was alone and was even more bummed when I realized that I'm rarely smiling, grinning, chuckling, or tittering when I'm by my lonesome.

Instead, I'm normally "concerned" about something and wearing said concern on my face: a poker face, a scowl, a furrowed brow.

This is bad news, because as the above research suggests, I may be contributing to my own bad moods.  It is intuitive to think that our mood will dictate our external displays of our mood: we smile because we are happy.  That may be true, but some research suggests that the relationship may extend in the other direction.  The act of smiling may make us happier.

So I tried it: whenever I feel a little too serious (and I'm alone), I start grinning like an idiot.  And, it works.  I've found that if I start being goofy, I cannot stay in a bad mood.  This is great news, because often a bad mood is the number one killer of my work ethic.  If you read the above laughing-pain paper, the authors mention that laughter occurs most readily in a group, so the best way to get a mood boost is likely to be around a group of happy people.  However, sometimes we must be alone, so anything I can do to bump up my mood, I'll take it.  Even if it means smiling at nothing at all.  I'm strange.

Physical Feedback

If you've been channeling an ostrich as your spirit animal, it's time for an upgrade.  How are we going to be more awesome if we just stick our head in the sand and pretend we're perfect?  I've got a newsflash for you Walter Cronkite, you won't.   That's why we've dedicated this whole week at The Happy Homunculus to getting ourselves some feedback.  However, while previous Daily Mind Games focused on verbal communication, today we're going all non-verbal on this feedback thing.  Say wha?

Week of Calm

According to Google Image Search,
this is a "Calm Monkey"

Emotions are cool, right?  I mean, they make us feel all weird, sometimes good, sometimes bad.   Occasionally, they come out of nowhere.  They make our bodies do strange stuff: flush, feel tight, feel warm, put butterflies places.  Those are all incredible experiences.  However, that doesn't mean we need to let everyone else in the world know how we're feeling right?

Hence, The Happy Homunculus has sponsored a Week of Calm.  A whole week dedicated to regulating our adult temper-tantrums.  It was a trip!  If you missed out, here it is again:

Week of Calm

Day 1: Feeling - Strange vibrations.
Day 2: Commute of Calm - Drive happy.
Day 3: Cool Off - Get out of there.
Day 4: Poker Face - No tells.
Day 5: Turn the Other Cheek - Empathy, big time.
Day 6: Off the Brakes - Let it out.

Next week, The Happy Homunculus is going to be all about my second favorite thing in the world: sleeping.  I'm going to cobble together a bunch of Daily Mind Games that are going to be soporific to the extreme.  Metacognitive control isn't just about analyzing our own thinking, it's about giving our brain what it needs and craves.  Like some rest.  And I need some rest.

Until then, why not check out the following fun links for some extra credit.  I'd like to make it a weekly habit to share the recent articles that make Homunky the happiest...

Homunky's Hot Hits:

First off, it's always good to get a refresher on what metacognition is all about.  And if that wasn't enough, check out this article for more.

Next up, here is a recent article from the prolific Jonah Leher about making decisions.  It reminded me that it's not always smart to over-think things!  Hungry for more decision-making research?  Here's another article discussing the relative value of emotions and intentional thinking when making decisions. Cool!

Finally, here's a recent piece about memory that reminds me a lot of our discussions during the Week of Memory.  Some good tips there for making concepts stick.

Off the Brakes

Let it out.

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Week of Calm is coming to an end.  Hopefully y'all had fun playing with your emotional awareness and control.  I know I did, but my homunculus?  Not so much.  Like the rambunctious monkey he is, he's all tuckered out from being forced to sit quietly and patiently while I take care of business.  However, a tame homunculus is not always a good thing.  Sometimes you have the let the monkey out of the cage.

Emotional control comes in two flavors.  On the one hand, we don't want uncontrolled outbursts to undermine important relationships.  On the other, exposing emotions to others is an important form of communication.  In many cases, showing some emotion is the only way to communicate the importance of something.

In any case, the name of the game is to modulate the intensity of our emotions.  Really intense emotional outbursts are rarely an effective way to communicate.  Instead, talking calmly about emotions with some small outward signs is the best way to go.  That's today's DMG:

Off the Brakes

Task: Communicate your emotions to someone else.

Info: It's ok to get emotional.  It's ok to let others see our emotions.  We don't need to feel like we can't have emotions; that's impossible.  But, we will be better off if we don't go ballistic.  Today, when you have some emotion and when you think communicating that emotion is important, let off the brakes and talk about your emotions.  The goal is to do it in a calm, measured way so you don't freak out the other party.

Goal: Remain calm while talking about your emotions.

Turn the Other Cheek

Can't you read the sign?!

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling totally zen monk today: I am regulating my emotions like a champion.  A metacognitive champion.  If you've been following along this week, hopefully you feel the same.  Let's review: we've tracked our emotions, made it to work without flipping out, escaped a bad situation, and kept our cards close to the vest.  That's right, we know how to control our emotions.  But, guess what?  Other people suck at it.

Time to empathize.  Just because we are awesome and amazing self-regulators doesn't mean the rest of the world is, right?  Metacognition doesn't exactly seem to be the most popular twitter hash-tag (I've checked).  So, we shouldn't expect the rest of the world to be zen monks like us.

That means that you may come in contact with someone flippin' his lid.  He may scream, cry, brood, or rock back and forth.  Whatever it is, just realize that emotional regulation is difficult.  Because life is difficult. And, if a person doesn't think he has to, needs to, or can control his emotions, he won't.

Turn the Other Cheek

Task: Maintain calm while someone else loses emotional control.

Info: Why should the emotions of someone else modify our emotions?  They are thoughts in someone else's mind - they aren't "real".  Even if that person starts showing their emotions big-time, there is no reason we need to escalate our own.  Instead, let's adopt an empathetic stance: "this person is having a hard time, and I am going to let them take it out on me, because that's what they need right now."  Controlling a natural tendency to "retaliate" may take some effort, but it's worth it.  There's nothing dumber than yelling at someone to stop yelling.  Except maybe yelling at someone to relax... or sleep.

Goal:  Find fulfillment being a rock for someone else.

If you've been paying close attention, this DMG is very close to the Week of Empathy's "Dependent".  Today's game looks at the same challenge of helping someone cope from the perspective of self-regulation of emotion.  However, using a desire to empathize can be a handy mental trick for making self-control easier.

How is the Week of Calm going for you?  If you've been enjoying these challenges, please consider sharing The Happy Homunculus with your friends... Thanks!

Poker Face

Don't let 'em know what you're thinkin'.

My homunculus is powerful: he lives in my mind, is composed of only thoughts, but yet he wields massive control over my behavior.  Sometimes, he makes me not work.  Sometimes, he makes me not exercise.  Sometimes, he makes me yell at people.  These are significant behaviors.  So, if my homunculus can exert power over very important, far-reaching behaviors, certainly he can control something simple, like my facial expression.

I've been arguing this week that emotions cannot be controlled.  Over time, with practice, we can change how our minds react to events, but in the heat of the moment we really don't have too much control over how we feel.  After an emotion creeps in, though, we can decide how we will react to the emotion.

For me, the very first thing that happens when an emotion creeps in is my facial expression changes.  I'm very expressive in that way.  However, many times I realize that allowing the initial, reactionary facial expression to creep in can be deterimental: I don't want people to know what I'm thinking all the time.  Especially if someone says something I don't agree with, by showing a negative facial expression, it may put the person on the defensive and make it difficult for me to be able to influence the interaction in a positive way.

So, for today's Daily Mind Game, let's practice controlling our facial expressions.  Specifically, let's focus on curbing the impulsive frown that accompanies most negative emotions.  By preventing the sour-puss face, we will make other people feel better, even during difficult interactions.  In addition, I've found that doing this makes me feel better!  By not looking angry, I actually become less angry.  You may have heard of the inverse effect happening for smiling: simply smiling can improve mood.

Poker Face

Task: Prevent negative facial expressions.

Info: The goal is to not "show your hand" emotionally.  Even if someone gives you crappy news, don't immediately show your emotions with a negative facial expression.  Keep your cool, and maintain a slightly bemused look (or some other expression that you prefer).  You don't want to look like you are forcing a smile, because that could be just as bad.  Instead, focus on a natural, neutral, but slightly positive facial expression.  Maintain it for the duration of a negative interaction.  The purpose of this is to practice control of our outward display of emotion.  With practice, you'll become better at deciding when and how to communicate your feelings on an issue.

Goal: Allow positive emotions to shine through; use a poker face to hide negative reactions.

Post your thoughts, feelings, and experiences with the DMG in the comments!

Cool Off

Chill out.

Anger happens.  Bad things happen, irritating things happen, mean people happen, stupid people happen.  And, when those things happen, getting angry is a normal, natural response.  In order to not allow a negative emotion to cause havoc we must decide how to react when the emotion creeps in.  We may not be able to control when we experience an emotion, but we can control what we do next.

This approach to anger management is not to prevent anger.  Instead, we can get angry whenever we want.  But there are healthy ways to handle the emotion of anger and there are unhealthy ways.  An unhealthy way would be to show that anger to people that would think negatively of your anger.  Exposing anger to a boss, a significant other, a colleague, normally doesn't accomplish anything.  In the cases when showing anger is impossible, one strategy is to hold the anger in until we can get to a safe spot to be angry alone.

That's what cooling off is all about.  When something bad happens that makes you angry or frustrated, leave the situation as soon as possible to be alone and let the anger work itself out of your system.  Once you've cooled off, you'll be ready to interact with the offending person in a more effective and productive way.

Cool Off

Task: Escape a situation that provokes anger without displaying anger.

Info: Just get out of there ASAP: head to your meditation spot, head to a bathroom stall, head outside for a walk.  Don't reveal to others just how angry you are until you've had some time to cool off and consider the situation with a level head.  Then, feel free to communicate any remaining issues with the people who caused the problem in a more constructive way.  This isn't about holding emotion in, it's about allowing emotion to fade before addressing the problem.

Goal: Temper your temper with some time alone.

What do you think?  Is this a good way to manage anger?  Are you in the "don't hold it in" camp?

Feeling

I don't know why, but I'm pissed.

Homunculus-owners: welcome to the Week of Calm.  This week, it's all about emotion regulation.  Or, putting the kabosh on emotional outbursts that mess up stuff for us.  Basically, we're going to avoid having adult temper-tantrums this week.  Don't be a baby.

In many ways, actually controlling emotions is hard.  They bubble up almost automatically.  Often, they occur without us even knowing it!  I don't think I'm alone when I say that sometimes I don't even know why I feel a certain way.  Ewww.

So, feeling emotions at any given time may or may not be totally in our control.  Emotions are a summation of a lifetime of dealing with stuff in certain ways, our explanatory style, etc.  It is difficult, if not impossible to control emotions in the heat of the moment.  However, we can more easily control how we behave when we experience an emotion.  In other words, we don't have to let the whole world know when we're pissed off.

But first, we have to be aware of emotions.  In that spirit, today we are going to practice some self-awareness of our own emotions.  The DMG "Feeling" has come up before in the Week of Self-Awareness, and we should revisit it again now.

Feeling

Task: Be mindful of physical sensations that accompany emotions.

Info: As before, I am defining "feeling" for this challenge as any physical sensation that accompanies an emotion.  This can include things like anger, anxiety, pumped-uppedness, sadness, happiness, boredom, etc.  How do these mental states feel?  Don't describe them to yourself in words, fully experience the physical sensations that define the feelings.  For difficult feelings, remember that it's "just" a feeling.  Your life isn't really any different because you are experiencing that sensation.  So, get curious about the feeling and try to enjoy each and every sensation (even tough ones).  Finally, no need to obsess over this, just go about your day and take note of new sensations as they grab your attention.

Goal: Enjoy observing your feelings, including difficult sensations.

This is the second time "Feeling" has come up on The Happy Homunculus.  How did it go this time?  Do you feel more calm now when you observe difficult emotions?  Post your thoughts in the comments!

Week of Memory

Let us join virtual hands and remember The Week of Memory.  We have explored the most powerful and proven memory tricks; now, nothing can stop us from remembering anything that comes our way.  Names? Nothing.  Complex systems?  Done.  Lists of random stuff?  Of course.  Whole textbooks? BRING IT ON.

Wait, actually I can't remember what we went over this week...  You too?  That's cool.  Here it is again:

Week of Memory

Day 1: Childhood Home - A palace of memories.
Day 2: Lewd, Crude, and Rude - Because boring isn't memorable.
Day 3: Name Game - Time to rhyme.
Day 4: Mental Model - Details are good.
Day 5: Pretty Pictures - Worth a whole lot of words.
Day 6: Smell, Taste, Feel, and Sound - Close your eyes.

Ah, that jogs the ol' memory!  What a great week.  I'm very excited to continue to apply these memory tricks in the weeks to come.  Hopefully I'll remember to do so...

As for next week, I'm thinking it might be fun to play around with our emotions a bit.  Specifically, I want to see what sort of control we can exert on how we feel and, more importantly, how we react to how we feel.

Oh, noble Monkey of Calm: what is your secret?

I think all of us can relate to the experience of letting our emotions get the best of us.  We blow-up in anger at a loved one and say things we regret.  We get upset at a colleague and let it impede our ability to work in a team.  We feel sad about some event and let that sadness seep into other areas, preventing engagement.  In all of these examples, we would be much better off if we could only reign in our emotions a bit.

So, in honor of emotional regulation, next week will be the "Week of Calm".  We'll try some fun Daily Mind Games that will test our ability to maintain a cool head no matter what happens.  Personally, this is one of the main cognitive skills I wish I was better at, so I'm really looking forward to the week.