What is emotional granularity? Why do psychologists say it’s so important? How can you improve your emotional granularity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Neuroscientist and psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett says that emotional granularity is your ability to understand and differentiate specific emotions. People with high emotional granularity are able to better regulate and cope with stress and other negative emotions, according to Barrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read on for a more detailed definition of emotional granularity, plus how to improve it, according to Barrett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Being versed in a large number of specific emotion concepts and able to differentiate precisely between them is called emotional granularity<\/em>. If you have high emotional granularity, it means that rather than just identifying that you feel \u201cbad,\u201d you\u2019re able to construct and identify a variety of more specific emotion concepts such as angry, grumpy, aggravated, annoyed, gloomy, and sad, and apply those concepts to what you could be feeling in the moment. Studies show that people with high emotional granularity can predict and categorize sensations more efficiently<\/strong>, so they are better able to balance their body budgets and tailor their actions to fit their environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In some studies, people who could distinguish more finely between unpleasant emotions were 30% more flexible when regulating their emotions, less likely to drink excessively when stressed, and less likely to retaliate aggressively against someone who\u2019d hurt them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Barrett identifies a variety of ways to increase your emotional granularity:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, if you are a parent, you can help your child increase their emotional granularity by talking to them about emotions early on, using a wide variety of words.<\/p>\n\n\n\nHow to Improve Your Emotional Vocabulary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n