HS Emotion Wheels & Needs Wheels
Below, you will find three different kinds of HS Emotion Wheels and two HS Needs Wheels. You can also purchase HS Emotions Wheels and Needs Wheels in various formats in the HS Shop. For an interactive emotion and need identification experience, try the HS Virtual Emotion Wheel and the HS Virtual Needs Wheel.
About the HS Emotion Wheels
I did not invent the concept of an emotion wheel – they have been around for decades. I created the HS Emotion Wheels based on scientific research on emotions from the time of Aristotle (c. 350 B.C.) to current day in order to capture both the latest thinking on the subject as well as trends over time. I used a qualitative research method to build the HS Emotion Wheel III (see a YouTube video where I describe the process).
Later, based on feedback from collaborators and customers, I created the HS Emotion Wheel I for beginners and the HS Emotion Wheel II, an intermediate option. If you’d like, you can try the HS Virtual Emotion Wheel (VEW), a tool I created to guide users through the process of choosing an emotion to fit their experience. The VEW is based on the HS Emotion Wheel III and includes definitions of all the emotions, which may support building emotion vocabulary (research shows that the bigger our emotion vocabulary is, the more effectively and efficiently we can process our emotions).
Suggestions for Use
1) For HS Emotion Wheels I and II, start in the middle and determine if you are on the “uncomfortable emotion” or the “comfortable emotion” side. For the HS Emotion Wheel III, choose the wheel – comfortable or uncomfortable – that reflects how you feel. You may have both comfortable and uncomfortable emotions – that’s fine too (I usually have a mix).
2) In HS Emotion Wheels I and II, choose one of the emotions in the middle ring on the half of the circle that matches how you feel (comfortable or uncomfortable). In the HS Emotion Wheel III, choose one of the emotions in the center of the wheel you chose (comfortable or uncomfortable) that fits how you are feeling.
3) In HS Emotion Wheels I and II, you can look in the outermost ring for a more specific emotion related to the one you chose. In the HS Emotion Wheel III, the middle ring contains more specific emotions related to the one you chose, and the outermost ring contains even more specific emotions.
4) I’ve noticed that some people prefer to start in the outermost ring of a wheel and “browse” the emotions until they find one that resonates – you can do that too.
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About the HS Needs Wheels
My experience, as well as scientific research, indicates that behind every comfortable emotion there is a met need, and behind every uncomfortable emotion there is an unmet need. I created the HS Needs Wheel II (see a YouTube video where I describe the process) to help others (and myself) identify met and unmet needs. Later, in response to customer and collaborator feedback, I created the HS Needs Wheel I for beginners.
Aside from physiological needs, which are not included in HS Needs Wheels, my experience and research indicates that humans require a flexible balance of feelings of individuality and relationship, as well as a balance of safety and growth. After a lot of growth, I tend to have some safety needs emerge. After I spend a lot of time expressing my individuality, I will probably have some relationship needs emerge. I believe that one of the most difficult parts about being a human is that I can never have all of my individuality, relationship, safety, and growth needs met fully and all the time.
Suggestions for Use
The HS Needs Wheels work similarly to the HS Emotion Wheels. You start at the center to determine which set of needs feel most pressing to you (it could be more than one) – individuality, safety, relationship, or growth – and then explore the more specific needs in that quarter. You can also try the Virtual Needs Wheel (VEW) (based on HS Needs Wheel II), which, like the Virtual Emotion Wheel, guides you through the process of choosing the best word for your particular need and includes definitions for each need.
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