LayersĪt the center of the wheel are the core emotions. If you’re feeling excited, you see a bright lemon yellow.
If you’re content, the shade is a pale yellow. If you’re feeling happy, look at the yellow section of the wheel. The darker the shade, the more intense the emotion. Red usually symbolizes anger, while yellow shows happiness. On an emotional wheel, a different color represents each core emotion. Therapists use different types of emotion wheels, but they all share the same basic structure. How It’s Structured and What Each Section Represents It orients the more intense emotions toward the center of the wheel, while the lighter secondary emotions are toward the outer layer. The emotion wheel includes sections for the eight universal emotions: sadness, joy, anger, fear, trust, surprise, disgust, and anticipation. It takes the form of a flower, with each of the eight core emotions a different petal. The Putchik Wheel is the most common version of the emotional wheel, named after the psychologist who invented it in the 1980s. Our emotional responses, also known as our feelings, are individual and situational. However, although we all share the same basic emotions, we don’t react the same way. Emotions are universal and break down into eight primary emotions: sadness, joy, anger, fear, trust, surprise, disgust, and anticipation. Emotions are a part of life you can’t escape and shouldn’t ignore. Emotions: Universal and OtherwiseĮvery person experiences emotions and the feelings they cause. Keep reading to discover what you can gain from an emotions wheel and where you can find help using it to improve self-awareness and tap into your emotions. Do you wish you had a tool that helps you identify what you’re feeling? You can use a tool called the emotional wheel to create awareness of your feelings and teach you to control your behaviors.