Our 5 Emotional Buttons
David Rock’s SCARF Model
The well-known expression “to push (all) the right buttons”, meaning to cause a reaction or emotion in someone, especially when this makes them do what we want, is not just a figure of speech. These buttons do exist, in fact, and they represent sensibilities, emotional springs that all mammals have, i.e. all creatures that have a limbic system. Factors like age, culture, hierarchical level, sex, etc, do not matter when talking about these buttons, the limbic system makes us all reactive to them.
An important thing to keep in mind about these buttons is that they can have a positive or a negative influence. Therefore, if we press them positively, we can improve our relationship with those around us and make our life easier, because we are also capable of pushing our own buttons. If the environment, people, or the situations we find ourselves in negatively pressing the buttons, stress appears through adrenaline or even cortisol release and the fight-flight-freeze reaction usually occurs.
Dr. David Rock coined the term ‘Neuroleadership’ and is the Director of the NeuroLeadership Institute. In 2009 he published a book called Your Brain at Work, taking readers inside the heads of a modern two-career couple as they mentally analyze their workday to reveal how we can better organize, prioritize, remember, and process our daily lives…
