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What is an Emotion Wheel?
I was first introduced to the emotion wheel in the early stages of my writing career. I had an eating disorder and I was eating my feelings. I started writing to figure out how to express my emotions. My rational brain loved seeing all the emotions organized in such a comprehensive way.
An emotion wheel is a tool to help individuals learn to recognize and communicate their feelings. There are two: one by Dr. Gloria Willcox, which we will refer to as the Willcox Wheel, and the other by Dr. Robert Plutchik, which we will refer to as the Plutchik Wheel. We will examine both.
Dr. Gloria Willcox Emotion Wheel
The Willcox Wheel has six primary emotions; they are surprise, fear, anger, disgust, sad, and happy. The wheel starts on the inside with the basic emotions then breaks down the emotions as you move outwards. It can be used in two ways.
Willcox Wheel can be used to identify what you are currently feeling, by using what’s called “drill down.” Drill down refers to starting at the center of the wheel and breaking down your feelings into a specific emotion. It’s to understand better what you are feeling.
For example, if you are trying to identify how you are feeling about your promotion at work, you might identify the feeling as surprise, but it’s more than surprise. If you follow…
