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23 Jan 2014

Three Key Emotional Triggers (Pt 5): Emotional Recognition

This entry is part 5 of 6 in the series Three Key Emotional Triggers

Manifestation of Needs

Emotional recognition often shows itself as the need for being special, being unique. The purchase of luxury goods is a manifestation of this need.

Emotional recognition is the third key emotional trigger, and uniqueness is the nickname I ascribe to it. From the aspects of behavior, thought and emotion, mastery, expertise and talent respectively describe how people display them. Quality is another good overarching descriptor of this trigger. Very often bragging indicates emotional recognition could be a strong emotional trigger.

With uniqueness our behavior orients around mastering animals, people, machines, techniques, processes and other aspects of our physical world. Athletics involve mastering a sport.  Influencing or controlling the behaviors of others, aspects of leadership fall here too. Physical skills such as craftsmanship and art distinguish us especially if they net certifications or awards.

In thoughts, uniqueness takes on the form of expertise. People seek our advice, approval and respect in our field. We are an authority, specialist or technician playing the role of advisor or consultant. We are preferred above others. Many times this is the result of knowledge, education and experience. The focus in on the mental aspect of our being.

Emotionally, uniqueness expresses itself as talent, something more innate than our developed mental aspects. When combined with mastery and expertise, it pushes us to the top of the best. When it comes alone, it’s usually distinctive aspects of personality which are not easily taught such as friendliness, empathy, courage, style, attitude, work ethic, beauty and more.  It’s about feeling special, unique or triumphant.

We can view uniqueness as the outcome of growth, being recognized for the outcome, the achievement. While all have need for this, some will interpret and emphasize their experiences more from this perspective than others by highlighting their skills, expertise and talents. Observations over the long run will form our conclusions.

What recognition, certifications and awards did someone recently share with you?

Series Navigation<< Three Key Emotional Triggers (Pt 4): Novelty of ExperienceEmotional Triggers In Advertising, Wall Street Journal Case Study >>

3 Responses

  1. Emotional recognition is an important asset of becoming ourselves and being valued for our uniqueness. I think teaching and developing emotional triggers would benefit to society as a whole by eventually making place and use to all talents. Your analysis is very inspiring, thanks.

    1. Mike Lehr

      You are certainly right about that. I thank you too for the compliment. I appreciate it. I do have a post on the docket to write regarding the importance of intrinsic rewards in the creative process. I don’t know if you saw this series of mine: Creative Innovation http://blog.omegazadvisors.com/series/creative-innovation/ . You might find it of interest if you haven’t. Finally, I sent you an email regarding one of your posts. If you can look for it in case it got devoured by spam filters, I would appreciate it. It has my name in the subject line.

      In the meantime, thank you for visiting and commenting. I appreciate your insights. ~Mike

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