Reflections on the NCKU General Education Leadership Forum - Master Your Mood

Speaker: Professor Jao Meng-hsia

At the beginning, the professor provided a simple introduction to why she came to teach a course related to emotions and the importance of emotions in daily life. Starting from subjective feelings, she explained that different people can have different feelings and thoughts about the same event. A person's facial expressions are linked to internal emotional changes. Emotions serve as the cornerstone of interpersonal relationships and social life. Therefore, the professor hopes that young people will cultivate both the ability to express the correct emotions and the ability to read the facial expressions of others.

Next, the professor opened the topic with an overview of emotion theory, using contemporary academic analysis to explain the function of emotions and how people recognize and regulate them. The professor specifically mentioned the "facial feedback hypothesis" currently being discussed, which posits that facial expressions reinforce emotions; a congruent facial expression increases the intensity of the original emotion. For example, smiling enhances pleasant feelings or reduces unpleasant ones, while frowning intensifies unpleasant feelings or diminishes pleasant ones. The professor stated that the external and internal must be consistent; inconsistency will weaken the existing emotion. Applied to a practical example, this essentially encourages everyone to smile more and keep the corners of their mouths turned upward in everyday life.

When regulating emotions, people adjust their current emotions based on "emotion knowledge": the causes of the emotion, physical sensations, expressive behaviors, and the means they already know can be used to modify the emotion. According to the theory proposed by Gross (1998a, 1999), people actually subconsciously avoid situations that generate unpleasant or bad emotions, which is called "situation selection." Or going a step further, they actively exert their influence to change the current situation to prevent further harm, known as "situation modification." Alternatively, they regulate their own minds, shifting their attention away from bad thoughts, memories, or situations, which is called "attentional deployment." Finally, through "cognitive change and appraisal," people can reorganize the thoughts that are generating the emotion in the moment, allowing their feelings to be alleviated. These descriptions actually align very well with real-life depictions of people's psychological churning and actual behaviors when facing emotions.

Subsequently, the professor mentioned her experience attending a course related to the psychology of emotion. The conclusion of that course's discussions suggested that the essence of human emotions boils down to seven core emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire. Unfortunately, statistically, negative emotions seem to outnumber positive ones. This also explains why, over the course of a human life, worries and suffering often outweigh happiness. This is also why many religions and spiritual growth groups often encourage people to maintain mindfulness, be brave enough to recognize their own emotions, and practice self-disclosure of their feelings.

In the latter part of the course, the professor provided a few quizzes to help everyone examine whether their psychological health is sound. These included ten warning signs of psychological health, such as: Do you constantly feel stressed? Do you work harder to achieve excitement to avoid boredom? Are you frequently exhausted and unable to relax? Are you constantly worried about maintaining your image? Is your temper getting worse, and are you increasingly disappointed in the people around you? From these questions, we can actually deduce that the traits of a psychologically healthy/well-adjusted person roughly include:

1. A positive self-concept, being able to understand and accept oneself.
2. A correct perception of reality, feeling that one's work is valuable.
3. Engaging in meaningful work.
4. Having good interpersonal relationships.
5. Balancing the proportions of the past, present, and future.
6. Being able to control one's emotions and feelings.
7. Being able to cultivate good daily habits to maintain physical health.

Combining the professor's thoughts and conclusions, to be the master of your own emotions, you must not only have creative thinking and avoid being stubborn or rigid, but also know how to examine the stress and emotions in your life. You must know how to explore your emotions, accomplish self-disclosure, and avoid running away. This is because pent-up resentment and anger, even if they can be held in on the surface and remain undetected by others, will not only affect your interpersonal relationships over a long period of accumulation but also impact your physical health.