How to Help Students Put Feelings Into Words

The Path To True Emotional Intelligence

THE RESEARCH

One critical step on the path to emotional intelligence (EI) and emotion regulation is an ability to label and recognize our emotions.

Research demonstrates that the act of saying to yourself, “I feel angry” actually makes the anger less intense. When we label our emotions, we compartmentalize them in our minds in a way that effectively weakens the connection between the emotion and who we are. In doing so, our emotions no longer yank us around or control us; instead, there is space between the stimulus (the guy who cuts you off on the freeway, the moment of awkwardness at a social gathering) and the response (anger, anxiety). Being able to label and recognize our emotions, then, is a crucial skill for a healthy, happy adult life.

Researchers have discovered the neural pathways for how this process works. Putting feeling into words — or ‘affect labeling’ as it is called by psychologists — works because it, “disrupts the affective responses in the limbic system, that would otherwise occur in the presence of negative emotional images (or stimuli).” By increasing activity in the pre-frontal cortex and decreasing activity in the amygdala, affect labeling, “diminishes emotional reactivity.” Less emotional reactivity translates to better impulse control, better executive functioning and better outcomes across the board.

We also know that an inability to identify how one is feeling is correlated with poor mental health. Without an ability to look inward and identify how we are feeling, we lack an understanding of ourselves.