Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

PAGE PREVIEW

Sadness is Primal.

This basic emotion is considered one of the six primary emotional categories— along with happiness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise—identified by the Paul Ekman, professor emeritus of the University of California, San Francisco, and other researchers.

Past Master Mediator columns have explored anger, shame, and disgust—see accompanying box on page 47 for links—and require turning our attention to sadness in its diverse forms and effects on conflict and decision making. The columns in the coming months will divide this exploration into three parts: sadness/sorrow, grief/loss, and regret/disappointment.

THE ‘DIS’

Language is rich in words to describe sadness, unhappiness and other negative emotions across a continuum of varying intensity.

Many of these words begin with “dis,” including disappointed, discouraged, distressed, displeased, dissatisfied, distraught, and dismayed. They convey a degree of meaning that usually differs from more chronic conditions such as depression, betrayal, loneliness, insecurity, isolation, rejection, shock, suffering, hurt, and sorrow.