Emotional Competence

by Claire Bell, Reach Therapist Intern

         Emotional competence is the ability to recognize and manage your emotions appropriately. The word competence is used versus intelligence because it is something that anyone can learn. Emotional competence is important for many situations including work, social, and academic life. There are four principles to emotional competence: awareness, emotional perspective taking, cultural sensitivity, and strategic expression.

            Emotional awareness is the basic ability to identify what you are feeling and why. This may take practice for some people if they are not used to doing it.  Many of us learn this skill in kindergarten as we learn to name our emotions such as happy, mad, and sad.  Another reason why we may have to practice this skill is because emotions can become uncomfortable.  When an emotion is uncomfortable it can become harder to identify it and where it is coming from.

            The next principle for emotional competence is emotional perspective taking. Emotional perspective taking is the root of empathy.  Empathy allows a person to take the perspective of the other person and it also promotes caring.  Caring for others can help with emotional perspective taking because it helps people recognize other people’s emotions in different situations.

            Principle three for emotional competence includes cultural sensitivity.  Because emotions and the expression of emotions can vary from culture to culture, it is important to be aware of people’s cultural identity.  It is important not to assume you know or understand the culture of a person unless they are your close friend or a family member.  Approach emotional situations with cultural sensitivity by becoming educated in the cultures that you most often encounter, as well as cultures you are unfamiliar with.

            Principle four of emotional competence is the strategic expression of emotions. I believe that we can all agree that expressing emotions in certain situations can be appropriate or inappropriate. It is important to know when and where to express certain emotions.  The ability to regulate your negative and positive emotions can be helpful in many different situations.

            Emotional regulation is important for academic, social, and professional success. It is not just important for children but also for adults. Hopefully, you can use these four principles to help develop or improve upon your emotional competence.