This is the 114th #WILTW

Watch young children playing together and you will observe emotions at their most primitive. Intense joy and laughter suddenly replaced by anger when a toy is not given back and utter despair when playtime is over.

I’ve been watching my daughters playing in the unexpected heatwave we had this week in the UK. It was amazing to see emotional gear changes. Moving from low to high at a speed a Tour-de-France yellow  jersey holder would be proud of.

This grid therefore caught my eye this week

It’s an intriguing (a mix of disgust and joy) idea and while psychologists might despair (a double dose of sadness) at the over-simplification, for those that have seen Inside Out this really is a very clever representation. Even if you haven’t seen the film (and I suggest you do – I was in tears of both laughter and sadness at various points) there is an obvious face validity to the combination of emotions. The next time you are revulsed by something, stop and think, are you disgusted or afraid?

The grid goes someway to explaining why children sometimes burst into tears when they are surprised and why anger can be such a dreadful core emotion. However it is a shame it misses out on other important core components to our psyche. Where do excitement and curiosity sit? I presume we need a love character to be able to produce passion, shyness and jealousy?

Something to think about the next time you well up with ecstasy, rage or something in between…

What have you learnt this week? #WILTW

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