Power of emotion

The social and biological foundations of power are the basis of leader’s managerial success. 

The biological types of power are: 

• power of defencelessness
• power of physical might (and stamina)
• power of emotion
• power of image
• power of sound 

Let us discuss each one of the aforementioned sorts of power in detail. 

Power of emotion 

Power of emotion is a capability to produce intense highly personal intentionally directed psychical energy; suppress rational thinking and reasonable consideration of incoming information; subjugate; instigate action; acquire resources such as feelings and emotions, personal time, labour, and material values by employing direct address of the unconscious and irrational part of human personality through visual and audial means: accentuation of vocal characteristics, elements of appearance, pose, mimical expressions, etc. 

For human children older than two, the most powerful means of influence on others and the surrounding world is emotion. Being able to provide joy, evoke empathy, attach or, vice versa, expressing aggression, appearing hysterical or capricious subdues the other to the  supposedly weaker party: for instance, an infantile creature has power over mature individuals, which is the same that an oligarch’s wife has over him or a speaker over a crowd. 

What is emotion? 

Wikipedia tells us that this terms expresses prolonged in time inner regulation processes that represent the meaning that actual or potential outer triggers and circumstances bear for the organism’s vital functions. In humans emotions invoke satisfaction, discontent, fear, timidity, and similar subjective signals that perform orientative function.There is yet no scientific access to assessment of subjective experiences in animals for the very reason of its subjective character. 

Emotions have developed evolutionally from the basic innate psychical processes.  Primary vital hereditary emotions in humans are fear, rage, pain, etc.

Nature endowed us with a unique ability to perceive enormous amounts of information from the milieu: light, sounds, tactile and other sensations. Biologists distinguish between 28 senses that human beings make use of in terms of collecting data about the world. 

The major part of this data, however, is unintelligible and, thus, impossible to be reasonably analysed. 

Thanks to evolution, we are capable of noticing very unsubstantial alterations in stance or countenance of the significant other of ours. It is evident in mundane discussions of feelings similar to ‘I’ve got goosebumps for the way he looked at me!’

Nevertheless, one can rarely put their finger on what exactly was it in the sight or posture of the other that led to the emotional thunderstorm within us and the majority finds breaking the other’s appearance into particular elements open to analysis insupportably laborious or simply have no inkling of how to do so - they cannot figure out shift in what detail prompted change of the picture as a whole. 

One particular value of emotions is the fact of their aid in forming opinions about the incoming information and designing a suitable reaction. We work better, achieve our goals faster and easier when we experience intense emotional response to commands, pleas, wishes of the other. Emotions and motivation are sorely intertwined. 

Just as in humans, display of emotional activity is characteristic of most animals - recall 

a female lion imposing punishment on the supposedly guilty king of the animal world or an image of bonobo monkeys creating and solving problems and conflicts on the Discovery Channel. 

The ‘Lie to me’ series is dedicated to explication of one’s emotional background through micro-expressions in mimics and posture.  

We read other people automatically, without consciously analysing what we perceive. Although direct access to emotions of others is provided with their facial expressions, human beings are equipped with a great computing system for which both posture and reverberations of the voice are abundant sources of information. For example, the degree of severity of one’s slough is likely to be enough to understand whether it is caused by doldrums or physical tiredness. Neanderthal leader needed no more than gesticulation to manifest his attitude to others in the tribe - he could punish, rebuke, or encourage mimically. .Ancient proto-human admirer could judge whether he is reciprocally liked and whether his admired one is satisfied with his gifts just by her stance and appearance. Up to contemporaneity games that consist of non-verbal explication of words or phrases are popular among all age groups

Numerous scientists claim body never lies: emotions are so tightly interdependent with the parasymptomatic nervous system that saying lies will evoke aberrations in normal operation of the organism made evident by the latter. A notorious example is penchant of liers to continually touch their faces and noses in particular. 

Modern devices are capable or registering rates of heartbeat, sweating, impulses in facial muscles, posture, and other human means of expressing emotions making it possible to determine personal intentions with high confidence level. This concept lies at the base of lie detector and novice programs for face recognition. An important requirement for robotized systems of the future is to be able to read human purposes before they even start speaking! 

Power of emotions empowers a proficient manager to influence their employees by addressing their ‘pleasure centers’ and, thus, causing addictive dependency. Emotional impact alternately activates basic instincts of survival, reproduction, care after progeny - various forms of emotional communication with the manager either lift or reduce motivation to work. 

This type of power is accessible to every single human being but requires a certain degree of professionalism to employ it consciously: articism, ability to produce intense emotions at will, and psychological lability are necessary. Talented actors sometimes get so used to their characters that return to their usual life is impossible without professional help of a therapist. 

This type of influence is restricted by personal emotional gamut, amount of body parts and muscles involved in emotional communication, type of projected emotion and abates rapidly as distance becomes larger. The greatest efficacy is achieved with face-to-face interaction rather than video or audio communication. The object of directed influence must acknowledge status and importance of the source of emotions - otherwise, an emotion powerful enough does not form just as little is anyone concerned with feelings of a fly or a cockroach hit by a swatter. 

Nor is emotional connection formed in case of incapacious gamut of perception as one simply finds themselves unable to decipher the incoming emotional message (that is, as a matter of fact, one of the most widespread causes of conflicts between men and women - the former not understanding the emotional impulse emanated by the latter). 

Both visual and audial aspects of perception are involved in this type of communication. Subject to emotional influence, one experiences intense fear, excitement, lust, nervousness, drive to alter his or her priorities and purposes. 

From the managerial perspective, the most valuable outcome of emotional influence is inner alacrity of the employee to design his or her personal goals and emotional priorities in conformity with those of the manager. It can be said that power of emotion evokes reaction of not only subjugation but self-sacrifice in its object. 

Power of emotion is a great deal more focused than power of defencelessness. Subjection is achieved significantly faster, the goal is set more acutely, the results are obtained with less expense of time. 

Power of emotion is generally linked with other types of influence and facilitates implementation of the latter. It forms and solidifies one’s attitude towards an object or a person that is consequently realised in power of image or power of ideology. 

Power of emotion is suitable for both small and large groups of people and is primarily used as a suppressor of rationality and reason. The thesis declared to the object of influence is plain and straightforward: no time to think - time to act.