032 - Translating Emotions

A useful Perspective-Taking exercise I've discovered is to translate statements into the emotions they represent. Those emotions shape the statement automatically but are rarely examined in isolation.

For example, a phrase I've heard on a fairly regular basis over the past few years is "extraordinary claims", and that phrase is most often accompanied by some variation of "my time is limited".

Translating these components of the statement into emotions:

• "Extraordinary claims": Roughly translates as "I'm surprised".

A more thorough and computable version via the Plutchik emotional model could be: "Moderate Surprise, Low Apprehension, Low-No Trust"

• "My time is limited": Roughly translates as "I'm only mildly interested, but more of my interest can be earned".

This component of the statement isn't really about "time", but is an indicator of interest, and the priorities derived from those levels of interest. "limited time" is typically being offered as a means of increasing that level of interest.

To hear someone say: "Those are some extraordinary claims, and I don't have time to dig into them." likely invokes contextual associations with a scientific process, such as Carl Sagan's famous quote regarding "extraordinary claims", as well as a business professional process of organizing time.

Examining the emotional translation of the phrase offers a very different perspective, even if that perspective is only an approximation. The phrase "I'm surprised and only mildly interested, but more of my interest may be earned." is both much more functional and more sanitary data, as it removes the contextual associations built on top of it.

If performed reasonably well, the data loss from approximation should always be less than the benefits gained from sanitizing the statement of contextual associations. This produces two distinctly different perspectives while shifting the axis of examination, the integration of which should offer a net gain.

This takes cognitive effort, but all cultivation of wisdom does.

"When you want wisdom and insight as badly as you want to breathe, it is then you shall have it." ― Socrates