Testing Your Emotions

TESTING
YOUR
EMOTIONS
AND HOW YOU CAN APPLY SOME
PERSONAL LEADERSHIP TO KEEP THEM
UNDER CONTROL…
© Stephen Janaway 2014

WHO AM I?
STEPHEN JANAWAY
•  14 years experience in mobile software testing.
•  Software testing and test management.
•  Main focus on the mobile device and
applications area.
•  Have worked for companies such as Ericsson,
Motorola and Nokia.
www.stephenjanaway.co.uk @stephenjanaway

THANKS TO….
•  Robert Plutchik.
•  Hugo Lövheim.
•  Jerry Weinberg.
•  Michael Bolton.
•  And many more….
•  And some cats.

WHY?
BECAUSE I BELIEVE THAT
UNDERSTANDING OUR EMOTIONS MAKES
US BETTER TESTERS

EMOTIONS ARE
BASIC HUMAN
RESPONSES

WE ALL
EXPERIENCE
EMOTIONS

EMOTIONS CAN
HAVE A
POWERFUL
IMPACT ON
MEMORY

WITHOUT
EMOTION, WE
DON’T
REASON WELL.
ANTONIO DAMASIO, “THE FEELING OF
WHAT HAPPENS”.

FRUSTRATION – A
PERSONAL STORY

WHAT ARE
EMOTIONS?
The word "emotion" dates back to 1579,
when it was adapted from the French
word émouvoir, which means "to stir up".
However, the earliest precursors of the
word likely dates back to the very origins of
language.
Wikipedia

WHAT ARE
EMOTIONS?
•  Discrete and consistent responses to internal or
external events which have a particular
significance for the organism.
•  Brief in duration and consist of a coordinated
set of responses, which may include
verbal, physiological, behavioral,
and neural mechanisms.
•  Biologically given and a result
of evolution because they provided good
solutions to ancient and recurring problems that
faced our ancestors.

WHAT AREN’T THEY?
•  Feelings - a subjective representation of
emotions, private to the individual experiencing
them.
•  Moods - diffuse affective states that generally
last for much longer durations than emotions
and are also usually less intense than emotions.
•  Affects - a term that describe the topics of
emotion, feelings, and moods together.

HOW CAN WE
UNDERSTAND?
•  Think about the last time you received an
emotional response - How did it make
you feel?
•  Think about the last time you felt
“emotional” - Why was it? How did it
make you feel? Did you try and hide it?

SO WHAT ABOUT
THESE?
Source: Kerr Photography - http://www.flickr.com/photos/23992930@N04/4633061196/

OR THIS?
Source: Michelle Tribe - http://www.flickr.com/photos/37539977@N00/3203922211/

ORIGINS
Illustration from Charles Darwin's “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”.

WE NEED TO
BETTER
UNDERSTAND
OUR EMOTIONS

EMOTIONAL MODELS
CAN HELP US
•  There is no agreed-upon method to organize
emotions.
•  There is no agreed-upon method to name
emotions.
•  There are levels of intensity to emotions.
•  Emotions seem to somehow blend together to
form new emotions that are distinct from their
progenitors.

ROBERT
PLUTCHIK
WHEEL OF EMOTION

10 POSTULATES
FROM PLUTCHIK
•  The concept of emotion is applicable to all evolutionary levels and applies to all
animals including humans.
•  Emotions have an evolutionary history and have evolved various forms of
expression in different species.
•  Emotions served an adaptive role in helping organisms deal with key survival
issues posed by the environment.
•  Despite different forms of expression of emotions in different species, there are
certain common elements, or prototype patterns, that can be identified.
•  There is a small number of basic, primary, or prototype emotions.
•  All other emotions are mixed or derivative states; that is, they occur as
combinations, mixtures, or compounds of the primary emotions.
•  Primary emotions are hypothetical constructs or idealized states whose properties
and characteristics can only be inferred from various kinds of evidence.
•  Primary emotions can be conceptualized in terms of pairs of polar opposites.
•  All emotions vary in their degree of similarity to one another.
•  Each emotion can exist in varying degrees of intensity or levels of arousal.

ROBERT PLUTCHIK
‘Basic’ emotions arranged as opposing pairs
Basic Emotion Emotional Opposite
Joy Sadness
Trust Disgust
Fear Anger
Surprise Anticipation

FEELINGS = RESULT
OF EMOTIONS
Human Feelings Emotions Opposite
Optimism Anticipation + Joy Disapproval
Love Joy + Trust Remorse
Submission Trust + Fear Contempt
Awe Fear + Surprise Aggression
Disapproval Surprise + Sadness Optimism
Remorse Sadness + Disgust Love
Contempt Disguest + Anger Submission
Aggressiveness Anger + Anticipation Awe

WHY I LIKE THIS
Plutchik’s approach gives us:
•  A well organised, standardised and consistent
set of distinct emotions.
•  Visibly represented levels of intensity in
emotions.
•  Blending of primary emotions to form new ones.
•  The concept of emotional “opposites” as
mutually exclusive pairs.

SOME EXAMPLES
Sylvia has just returned home from the grocery store to
find her door smashed in and splintered. Her arms are
full of groceries.
What emotions would she experience?
•  Surprise and Anger over the state of her door.
•  Anticipation that an intruder might still lurk inside.
•  Fear and very likely Terror (Intense Fear) that she
will meet the intruder.

SOME EXAMPLES
You rely on your iPhone as an alarm clock to wake you
up in the morning. There is a daylight saving time bug
and suddenly one morning your alarm does not go off.
•  Surprise that your alarm has not gone off.
•  Apprehension and Fear that you will be late for
work.
•  Annoyance, and Anger, that the bug existed.

SOME EXAMPLES
Your favourite band are coming to town. Unfortunately
for you they are also the favourite band of a lot of other
people. The tickets go on-sale online and when you try
and purchase them the site is overloaded and crashes.
•  Anger and Rage (Intense Anger) that you cannot
buy the tickets.
•  Fear that you will not be able to see the band.
•  Sadness if you don’t get tickets.

SOME EXAMPLES
You find what you think is one of the best bugs you
have ever found. You proudly log it in almost infinite
detail in JIRA and proudly bring it to your PO. “That’s a
minor issue, we will assign that to the backlog” is the
response.
•  Surprise that the PO thinks the bug is minor.
•  Anger and maybe Rage (Intense Anger) that it did
not get accepted.

SOME EXAMPLES
You receive software for testing from a developer, and
basic functionality doesn’t work. Again. You march over
to them and cry “Your software is rubbish. Again. Why
can’t you just test it first!”
•  You may feel Anger towards the developer.
•  The developer may feel:
•  Surprise – why is this tester talking to me?
•  Fear – maybe your anger is too strong?
•  Anger – if you are questioning their work.

SOME EXAMPLES
Your team successfully launches version 1 of your new
product into the market and first day usage statistics
indicate you’ve got a hit on your hands. You all
celebrate.
•  Joy and Ecstasy because the job has been well
done.
•  Trust and Admiration (Intense Trust) towards
each other.
•  Surprise and Amazement (Intense Surprise)? J

HUGO
LÖVHEIM
CUBE OF EMOTION

LÖVHEIM CUBE OF
EMOTION
The relationship between the monoamine
neurotransmitters and the emotions.
How your brain works chemically and the
emotions you experience as a result.

LÖVHEIM CUBE OF
EMOTION

LÖVHEIM CUBE OF
EMOTION
Basic Emotion Seratonin Dopamine Noradreneline
Shame/
Humiliation
Low Low Low
Distress/
Anguish
Low Low High
Fear/ Terror Low High Low
Anger/ Rage Low High High
Contempt/
Disgust
High Low Low
Surprise High Low High
Enjoyment/ Joy High High Low
Interest/
Excitement
High High High

IS IT BETTER?
•  It’s different.
•  It could help to explain the link between
the chemical make-up of the brain and
emotion.
Note - The validity of the model remains empirically unverified.

SOME EXAMPLES – BACK
TO SYLVIA AGAIN
Outrage (Surprise + Anger) over the state of her
door, Anticipation that an intruder might still lurk inside, Fear and
very likely Terror (Intense Fear) that she will meet the intruder.
Seratonin Dopamine Noradreneline Basic Emotion
Low High High Anger/ Rage
Low High Low Fear/ Terror
High Low High Surprise

SOME EXAMPLES – YOUR
TEAM HIT THAT
DEADLINE
Joy and Ecstasy because the job has been well done. Trust
and Admiration (Intense Trust) towards each other. Surprise
and Amazement (Intense Surprise).
Seratonin Dopamine Noradreneline Basic Emotion
High High High
Trust/
Admiration
High Low High
Surprise/
Amazement
High High Low Joy/ Ecstasy

WHAT ABOUT
THE EMOTIONS
YOU FEEL
WHEN
TESTING?

IS THERE A
PROBLEM
HERE?
MICHAEL BOLTON – “EMOTIONS IN
SOFTWARE TESTING”

SOMETIMES IT
JUST DOESN’T
SMELL RIGHT…

FEELINGS ->
EMOTIONS ->
TESTING

“FEELINGS EXIST. FEELINGS ARE
FACTS… IF YOU CAN’T STAND
DEALING WITH FEELINGS AS
FACTS, THEN YOUR OWN
FEELINGS ARE GETTING IN THE
WAY OF YOUR SUCCESS. AND IF
THAT’S NOT TOUCHY-FEELY, WHAT
IS?”
JERRY WEINBERG

BUT BE
AWARE OF
EMOTIONAL
BIASES

SO…..
•  Understanding emotions can help us:
•  Understand how we act.
•  Understand how we should act.
•  Emotional models can help:
•  Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion.
•  Löheim’s Cube of Emotion.
•  Feeling’s are a powerful testing heuristic:
•  If you feel something when testing then act on it.

EMOTIONS AND
FEELINGS ARE
SIGNALS.
LOOK INTO WHAT
THEY’RE SIGNALING.
MICHAEL BOLTON

QUESTIONS
“YOU MUST BE THE MASTER OF YOUR EMOTIONS IF YOU
WISH TO LIVE IN PEACE, FOR HE WHO CAN CONTROL
HIMSELF, BECOMES FREE.”
STEPHEN JANAWAY
@stephenjanaway
www.stephenjanaway.co.uk

Testing Your Emotions

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