How do Emotional Allomancers know how to Soothe/Riot specific emotions

[Shadeshadow227]

How do Emotional Allomancers distinguish between emotions they control? There has to be some way to tell which ones you are Pushing/Pulling, otherwise they could be Rioting Anger when they intend to Riot Calmness. Also, how does Emotional Allomancy WORK? By work, I mean things like...okay, as an example of what I mean by work, take Iron and Steel. Burning these metals show you lines connecting to metal, which you can Push or Pull metals along. That is how they work. The specific vectors of the power are well-defined, and you know how it is accomplished. I've read all the way up to BoM (haven't read Mistborn SH yet.) and it never once states how Brass or Zinc actually does what it does. Am I just missing something? Can someone explain?

[Spoolofwhool]

My guess is that controlling which emotion to push or pull is done by cognitive translation of the soother's or rioter's intent. So the allomancer has the intent to push or pull and thinks of the emotion, and the investiture translate that intent into a specific effect on the intended emotion. So Breeze thinks about pushing on anger and the allomancy understands his intent cognitively and applies the investiture to cause the necessary mental changes on his target. This mainly stemming from the fact that from what we've seen of rioters and soothers, such as Vin, all they do is think about how they want to change them emotionally and the changes happen. 

The skill that Breeze has with soothing is due to lots of trial and error, pushing with specific strength and noting the effect, continually refining reading people and knowing how to more subtly affect. 

The actual vectors of the soothing and rioting are a lot more unclear. I'm guessing it probably has to do with just applying the specific electrical charges to the correct regions of the brain. These electrical impulses would trigger the release of relevant chemicals which normally occurs when the specific emotions are normally felt.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Spoolofwhool

[The One Who Connects]

Long answer, basically what Spool said about Intent.

Short answer, a Psychology Degree. (which is basically an institutionalized name for trial and error )

[Shadeshadow227]

1 hour ago, Spoolofwhool said:

My guess is that controlling which emotion to push or pull is done by cognitive translation of the soother's or rioter's intent. So the allomancer has the intent to push or pull and thinks of the emotion, and the investiture translate that intent into a specific effect on the intended emotion. So Breeze thinks about pushing on anger and the allomancy understands his intent cognitively and applies the investiture to cause the necessary mental changes on his target. This mainly stemming from the fact that from what we've seen of rioters and soothers, such as Vin, all they do is think about how they want to change them emotionally and the changes happen. 

The skill that Breeze has with soothing is due to lots of trial and error, pushing with specific strength and noting the effect, continually refining reading people and knowing how to more subtly affect. 

The actual vectors of the soothing and rioting are a lot more unclear. I'm guessing it probably has to do with just applying the specific electrical charges to the correct regions of the brain. This electrical impulses would trigger the release of relevant chemicals which normally occurs when the specific emotions are normally felt.

...that makes a lot of sense. Have an upvote, on the house.

[Spoolofwhool]

I find it quite amusing that an answer I came up with in 5 minutes is so well agreed with. In spirit of continuing the discussion though, I came up with another question regarding emotional allomancy.

We've seen cases where emotional allomancy is targeted, where the soother or rioter is using their power on one or more people. Example include times such as when Breeze first meets Vin, or when Allrianne seduced Breeze. At the same time, we've seen cases where emotional allomancy is used in an area of effect, such as when TLR dampened the crowd during the executions, or when Breeze and his team were getting skaa to join the rebellion, as I'm assuming that they weren't targeting each one specifically.

My question though, is where is the limit between complete non-targeted area of effect emotional allomancy and specific targeted individual emotional allomancy? For instance. Would it be possible to create an area of effect soothing which only targets individuals matching a set of criteria? 

[Turbonator]

 

9 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

 For instance. Would it be possible to create an area of effect soothing which only targets individuals matching a set of criteria? 

Perhaps a savant could do so. A non-savant, probably not. Either way, I'm sure it would take practice, and having only one Allomantic power would allow a Misting to focus on that.

[The One Who Connects]

8 minutes ago, Spoolofwhool said:

My question though, is where is the limit between complete non-targeted area of effect emotional allomancy and specific targeted individual emotional allomancy? For instance. Would it be possible to create an area of effect soothing which only targets individuals matching a set of criteria? 

Regarding the first question: The line drawn between Single Target and AoE soothing/rioting is probably a matter of focus. You could have an aura around you like TLR does, but if you want something specific from someone you would likely need to pay attention to that. With enough willpower, you could probably keep the aura up while targeting someone specifically, but that would be difficult.

In regards to the For Instance: If it is possible, I would probably put that in Savant territory. Either that, or a great deal more focus/effort than Breeze was willing to do (pouring a drink man.. ) I see the wording of the for instance as a different thing than the first part, because this part implies an advanced aura, rather than aura and specific targeting

TLR has a lot of practice and power, Breeze has great precision and skill. I don't know if you really want to consider combining them.

[DeTess]

1 hour ago, Spoolofwhool said:

My question though, is where is the limit between complete non-targeted area of effect emotional allomancy and specific targeted individual emotional allomancy? For instance. Would it be possible to create an area of effect soothing which only targets individuals matching a set of criteria? 

I'd say that it is certainly possible, but more difficult than just targeting one guy. To bring in your explanation/theory of intent: rioting one guy requires the intent "Soothe guy X". Rioting an area requires the intent "Soothe everyone in area Y", both of which would be relatively easy to visualize and maintain. However, rioting multiple targets would requires an intent along the lines of "Soothe Guy A", "Soothe guy B", "soothe guy C", etc., which would be harder to maintain as you are essentially splitting your focus and doing a multiple of the mental work soothing an area or one target requires..

I hope this made some sense to some people.

[Turbonator]

It does. However, what if you want to Soothe/Riot more people than you don't want to? Could you somehow exclude specific people from an AoE? I suppose we can compare that to what Wax does, so that means the answer would be yes.