In his book, “The Emotional Life of Your Brain,” Dr. Richard Davidson identifies six emotional styles that activate different parts of the brain in very distinctive patterns. His cutting-edge research focuses on the neuroscience behind emotions.
The six styles are: Resilience, Outlook, Social Intuition, Self-Awareness, Sensitivity to Context, and Attention. The purpose of this article is to provide you with definitions of each style, a continuum for subjectively evaluating where you fit within each style, and some questions/statements which will help you to better determine your placement on the continuum.
1) Resilience deals with the ability to recover from setbacks, or to brush aside past events (i.e., lost points in pickleball and tennis, or missed shots in golf), and focus on the present. Simply put, resilience is the ability of the person to return to baseline behavior or emotional equilibrium following a setback.
Using a continuum from “slow to recover” <<——— >> “fast to recover,” we can subjectively assign ourselves a position by how we respond to the following (the construction of the statement makes it easier to determine position on the continuum):
1) If I’m playing pickleball or tennis doubles and my partner criticizes my performance either verbally or with body language, how quickly do I shake it off and focus on the next point?
2) If I’m playing golf in a competitive event, and I hit two bad shots in a row, how long do I think about those shots before I clear my head and focus on the present?
3) I’m heading out the door to play golf, tennis, or pickleball, and have a minor disagreement with my spouse. How long does the disagreement pervade my thoughts and impact my mood?
While it’s obvious that being “fast to recover,” represents high resilience, that’s not always a good thing. An extremely resilient person may lack the motivation to overcome challenges, accepting every set-back with the attitude, “don’t worry, be happy.”
2) Outlook refers to our sense of optimism. It’s the ability to maintain positive emotions despite trying circumstances. Moreover, it means extending the shelf-life of those emotions beyond the occurrence of the event that caused them. There are some who continue to feel good following an accomplishment while others performing the same event keep those emotions alive for only as long as it takes a snowflake to melt. Being able to feel and express pleasurable emotions is very important to our mental health and therefore, our outlook can range from “negative<<——— >> “positive.” To establish your position, respond to the following questions:
1) If I’m playing mixed doubles for the first time, am I looking forward to the experience, or worried that I may not like my partner and thus, will have no fun?
2) If I shoot a good round of golf, does the positive feeling stay with me for a while, or does it fade once I’m off the course?
3) If I have a bad round of golf or play tennis or pickleball poorly one day, do I worry that my game is “going south,” or do I tell myself that it’s only a bad day, and tomorrow will be better?
3) Social Intuition deals with the ability to pick up on subtle nonverbal clues, read other people’s body language, vocal intonation, and facial expressions. It involves tuning in to the emotional state of others, also referred to as empathy and compassion.
Social Intuition may be described as ranging from “puzzled” <<——— >> “socially intuitive,” and can be assessed by responding to the following statements:
1) I can often tell that something is bothering someone just by looking at him or her, even if the person is a stranger.
2) When I’m riding in the cart with someone I just met, I often notice social clues about their emotions (i.e., discomfort or anger) before they acknowledge those feelings in themselves.
3) I’m often taken by surprise when someone I’m talking with gets angry or upset at something I said, for no apparent reason.
4) Self-Awareness is the ability to be acutely aware of our thoughts and feelings and the messages our body sends us. It’s one of two core components of emotional intelligence (social intuition or social awareness).
Self-awareness can range from “self-opaque” <<——— >> self-aware,” and can be assessed by your responses to the following statements:
1) During a recreational doubles match, one of the opposing players asks you at break, why you were so critical of your partner, and you reply, “But, I’m not.”
2) Following a game, you’re sitting around the table talking politics and the person besides you whispers, “Why do you get so angry when someone disagrees with you?” and you reply, “That’s ridiculous, I don’t get angry.”
5) Sensitivity to Context means being tuned into the social environment, and knowing what constitutes socially appropriate behavior (the implicit rules that govern social situations). It ranges from being “tuned out” <<——— >> tuned in.” Your responses to the following statements can guide your placement:
1) While playing golf with a group of people I don’t know, I tell a few “off color” or ethnic jokes, and later find out (via my cart mate), that to my surprise, others were offended.
2) While I’m sitting in the Tiki Bar, I’m aware of modulating how loudly I speak.
6) The Attention Dimension involves your ability to screen out emotional distractions and stay focused. While tuning out distractions may appear to be more of a cognitive function, if the distractions have an emotional overlay, like an argument with a spouse, child, parent or anxiety over an upcoming event, it turns out that the ability to screen out emotional distractions is correlated with our ability to screen out sensory distractions. A focused person can zoom in on a single conversation while an unfocused one is constantly shifting his/her attention and eyes to the most attention-grabbing stimulus.
Attention can be expressed as ranging from “unfocused” <<——— >> “focused.” Here are some statements that may help you find your place:
1) I’m playing golf and find myself distracted by the sounds of the other cart driving, people on other holes celebrating, airplanes going overhead, etc. I must have silence to play well.
2) It’s league day, and while the Pros are providing directions, I can’t focus because there are too many distractions around me.
3) On the same day, someone is talking to me, however, I can’t concentrate on what he/she is saying because there are too many other people talking around me.
If you have a healthy brain, you demonstrate the six emotional styles, although individual differences determine strengths and weaknesses regarding each style. Golf, pickleball and tennis provide social environments for us to assess, demonstrate and improve these styles. Once we become aware (no longer a “blind spot”), we can choose (or not) to enhance each style.
