Creating The Find Out Files My Emotions: Interview with the Author
Magination Press's new series of activity books, The Find Out Files, help kids explore emotions and relationships. Magination Press interviewed author and parenting expert, Isabelle Filliozat, about creating My Emotions, one of the books in The Find Out Files. Magination Press: What inspired you to create The Find Out Files series? Isabelle Filliozat: Until now I had only written essays and self-help books for adults on emotions and relationships. I always argue in my books and seminars that all this information and these tools that help living in better harmony with oneself and others should be learned at school. Emotional and relational intelligence can be trained from the beginning. So finally, writing for children was a natural continuum of my work. I realized it was time to address the children directly, to empower them with information. Then the question of how arose. You learn better when you are active, that’s why I choose this format. First, the child is immersed in a pleasant activity. The activity is chosen to help him discover information or develop a skill. MP: Who identified the seven basic emotions you explore in My Emotions? Is that something in psychology in general or categories you created for the book? IF: My approach is mainly based on the work of Joseph Ledoux and, of course, Paul Ekman. The field of emotion is relatively new. The scientists don’t agree yet on a list of emotions; it depends on many factors and the way you define emotion (because even for the definition, there is no consensus). In 1972, Paul Ekman published a list of 6 basic emotions : fear, anger, disgust, joy, sadness, surprise. A few years later, his list was enlarged to 16, including shame. I followed him on that. Many experts on emotions saw the relevance of including shame in basic emotions, even if it was a social emotion. More recently, to create an atlas of emotions, (a map the Dalaï Lama asked him to build), Ekman led a large survey of 149 different scientists to gather a consensus. He concluded on five categories of emotions: anger, fear, disgust, sadness and enjoyment. They are the emotions in the Disney movie Inside Out. (He was a counselor for the film). So you see, nothing is completely fixed yet. During my professional life time, like Paul Ekman, my ideas have evolved. The seven emotions we explore in My Emotions are the seven I consider now as relevant. I add love, because love is a sentiment but also an emotion. I don’t use surprise; I may one day, but surprise is a startle reflex, the beginning of fear, the protection system. A categorization is only a categorization, it isn't the “reality." The more the scientists work on the field, the more information we get, the more we can refine our model. A model, a categorization, helps to label and to discriminate between different states. It is the first step to mastering. MP: Why is talking about and exploring emotions important?
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