Episode 52 - Emotion at Work in Emotional Sensitivity (aka hot triggers)

08/31/21 • 35 min

Aug 31st, 2021 In this episode, Phil talks about Emotional Sensitivity or more commonly known as Hot Triggers. No guest is featured here but rather it includes targeted questions and reflection times throughout the episode for you as a listener to consider. The areas of focus are; what shapes hot triggers or emotional sensitivity, how to identify them and signposts strategies to deal with them once identified. There are regular places to pause and reflect with guided questions from Phil. Looking first at defining emotional sensitivity Phil gives three factors to consider; things that grab easily and/or that grab you hard and/or that you hold on to. These are there to help you identify what your hot triggers may be. Secondly, Phil introduces four factors that can increase emotional sensitivity; the intensity when the trigger was formed, the number of times it has occurred, how early in life it happened and similarity to the evolutionary theme. Next, Phil shares some research into why we regulate emotions so we can use that to inform our thinking on how we may be more or less sensitive to triggers. Finally, Phil brings the podcast to a close and gives some final space for reflection. Your resources: Phil mentions the related podcast episodes https://emotionatwork.podbean.com/e/episode-37-special-edition-a-focus-on-emotion/ https://emotionatwork.podbean.com/e/episode-27-emotion-at-work-in-emotion-regulation/ https://emotionatwork.podbean.com/e/episode-25-emotion-at-work-in-emotional-exploitation/ https://emotionatwork.podbean.com/e/episode-24-emotion-at-work-in-emotional-intelligence/ He also talk about appraisal theory and here is a link to a fab article that gives a headline overview of the different (psychology-based) theories of emotion. https://www.verywellmind.com/theories-of-emotion-2795717 A fantastic paper summarising emotional labour, dipping into emotional sensitivity & signposts to other research too https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sander-Koole-4/publication/240236228_The_psychology_of_emotion_regulation_An_integrative_review/links/6047980c299bf1e0786933a6/The-psychology-of-emotion-regulation-An-integrative-review.pdf This open access chapter gives a good summary of the three orients of emotion regulation https://people.socsci.tau.ac.il/mu/galsheppes/files/2014/10/2011-3.pdf This is Paul Ekman’s book that Phil refers to https://www.paulekman.com/resources/books/amp/

Previous Episode

Episode 51 - Emotion at Work in Body Difference

How we think or feel about ourselves and how we want others to feel about us can be manifested in the way that we look. Some aspects about how we look, for example how we style our clothes, hair or accessories are within our control. Other aspects, for example, our height or the shape of our skeleton, the size of our feet or hands are aspects about which we cannot control (without clinical intervention).

Body difference and physical appearance are two areas that my guest, Denise Sanderson has trained in and is an advocate for as you will hear in this episode. Denise is someone that I hugely value in the HR world and she often gets me thinking and so it was a great opportunity to get her on to the podcast.

Some of the things that Denise shares that really got me thinking include:

Is body difference and how someone looks a detriment to their chances of securing jobs or promotion?
What are the links between body difference and racism?
How has COVID helped and hindered those who have physical differences to the 'norm'?

We go onto discussing how our physical appearance(s) shape how we (and others) feel about ourselves and how we feel about others.

What I really enjoyed about this podcast is the natural discussion we had and it made me think about things that I had not considered before. I found Denise to be really engaging and here is a large amount of research and evidence that informs her thinking (and is shared below).

Your links and references to the key areas and ideas we discussed are below:

Changing the Perfect Picture: an inquiry into body image, Women & Equalities Commision - https://committees.parliament.uk/work/226/changing-the-perfect-picture-an-inquiry-into-body-image/publications/

https://www.uwe.ac.uk/research/centres-and-groups/appearance (Didn’t quote this org, but should have)

Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, Sabrina Strings (See Body Positive references below)

Body Happy Kids, Molly Forbes of Body Happy Org https://www.bodyhappyorg.com/

Some supporting charities:

BEAT: beateatingdisorders.org.uk Twitter: @beatED

Mind: mind.org.uk Twitter: @MindCharity

Changing Faces: https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/ Twitter: @FaceEquality

Denise's blogs:

http://damsonbelle.blogspot.com/2020/05/more-than-month-of-memes.html

http://damsonbelle.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-seven-stages-of-body-confidence.html

HR articles:

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/fattism-at-work-is-still-a-prevalent-problem/ containing...

https://www.personneltoday.com/hr/obesity-research-fattism-is-the-last-bastion-of-employee-discrimination/

https://www.peoplemanagement.co.uk/experts/legal/lookism-forgotten-workplace-inequality#gref

Mental Health Awareness Week, 2019:

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/body-image-report

The salary impact:

https://www.socsci.uci.edu/newsevents/news/2018/2018-06-07-penner-patch.php

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/women-who-wear-makeup-get-paid-more

https://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2015/apr/29/do-tall-people-really-deserve-to-earn-more

https://www.forbes.com/sites/traversmark/2020/04/16/your-height-has-a-big-impact-on-your-salary-new-research-seeks-to-understand-why/?sh=8a7846d1071f

Check out on social media:

A few additional references (I think) I made

Lindo Bacon

Natasha Devon

#HAES

Next Episode

Episode 53 - Emotion at Work in Interview Techniques

During this episode Phil is joined by Cody Porter, who’s research involves information elicitation and how this aids deception detection. Phil and Cody discuss the role that deception plays in the workplace, from exaggeration and minimisation in job interviews (or on a CV), to corporate fraud and day-to-day lies and omissions.

There’s no Pinocchio’s nose when it comes to detecting deceit. They examine strategies to make life easier for truth tellers, harder for liars and help differentiate between the two.

Cody has recently successfully defended her ‘viva’, which, “is an oral test during which a PhD candidate defends their PhD thesis in front of a panel of examiners” and is now embarking on a new role as a Senior Lecturer at the University of the West of England.

The interview kicks off with Cody giving working definitions of “Deception” and “Truth”, how her research can/is helpful in the workplace and discussing what AIM techniques are. Towards the end of the podcast listen to Cody give advice to help you be effective in interviews or conversations where deception may play a part.

To find out more about Cody you can find her on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/cody-porter-469825109 or Twitter on @Cody_N_Porter.

Links and references to the key areas and ideas discussed are below:

DePaulo, B. M., Lindsay, J. J., Malone, B. E., Muhlenbruck, L., Charlton, K., & Cooper, H. (2003). Cues to deception. Psychological bulletin, 129(1), 74.

Harvey, A. C., Vrij, A., Hope, L., Leal, S., & Mann, S. (2017). A stability bias effect among deceivers. Law and human behavior, 41(6), 519.

Porter, C. N., Morrison, E., Fitzgerald, R. J., Taylor, R., & Harvey, A. C. (2020). Lie-detection by Strategy Manipulation: Developing an Asymmetric Information Management (AIM) Technique. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 9(2), 232-241.

Vrij, A. (2008). Detecting lies and deceit: Pitfalls and opportunities. John Wiley & Sons.

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