Dr paul ekman emotions revealed recognizing faces and feelings to improve communication and em 0

him—a strong, dominant man. Teasing by a woman, a peer, or a subordinate is not as close as teasing by a man who has some authority over him, and it should be easier for Tim to weaken the trigger when he is teased by someone other than an authority figure.

A third issue is how early in a person's life the trigger was learned.

Presumably, the earlier the trigger was learned, the harder it will be to weaken it. In part, that is because the ability to control emotional reactions to any emotion trigger is not as well developed in early life.

Thus, there will be a stronger emotional reaction associated with triggers learned early in life compared to those learned in adulthood, all other things being equal. In part, it is also because of the possibility (suggested by some developmental psychologists and all psychoanalysts, and now supported by growing evidence from studies of the brain and emotion6) that early childhood is critical in forming personality and emotional life. What is learned then is stronger and more resistant to change. Triggers learned in such a critical period may produce a longer refractory period.

The initial emotional charge is the fourth key factor. The stronger the emotions that were experienced when the trigger was first learned, the harder it will be to weaken its impact. If that teasing episode was a mild or moderate one, rather than a strong one, if the feelings of humiliation, worthlessness, and resentment over loss of power were mild rather than strong, then it would be easier to cool the trigger.

The density of the experience is a fifth factor, contributing to the strength and indelibility of the trigger. Density refers to repeated episodes, highly charged emotionally, occurring during a short period of time, that have the effect of overwhelming the person. So, if there was a period when Tim was teased mercilessly, intensely, again and again, it would be a very difficult trigger to diminish.

When there is a very strong, highly dense initial emotional charge, I expect that the refractory period in later reactions to that trigger will be long, making it difficult for people to realize in the first second or two that they are responding inappropriately. If the initial emotional charge was very strong, that alone may be sufficient to extend the refractory period for that trigger, even if it was not dense or repeated again and again.

A sixth factor is affective style.7 We each differ in the speed of our