Emotional awareness: definition and example
Emotional awareness is the ability to notice and describe emotions in yourself and in others, ranging from vague body sensations to rich, specific accounts of mixed feelings. Researchers treat it as something that develops in levels, not as an on or off switch.
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How researchers measure it
Lane and colleagues introduced the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale, which scores how people describe their own and others' feelings in short interpersonal scenes; in its first study with 40 undergraduates, raters agreed closely on the scores (Lane and colleagues, 1990). The sample was small, but the method is useful: it rates how you describe emotions, rather than asking whether you think you are aware.
What different levels sound like
Picture a scene: a coworker takes credit for your idea in a meeting. A low-awareness description might be "I would feel bad" or "I would want to leave." A higher-level description might be "I would feel angry and a bit humiliated, and I would guess she feels nervous about her review and slightly guilty." The second names several feelings, in both people, with some sense of why.
Awareness in yourself versus in others
Some people describe their own feelings richly but rarely wonder about others' feelings; others are quick to read a room but struggle to name what they feel. The scale described above scores both directions, which is a useful reminder that awareness can be uneven. Notice which side comes more easily to you.
Practicing it
Try a two-part check-in at the end of a hard conversation: "What was I feeling, and what might they have been feeling?" Write a word or two for each, then add one reason. Hold the guess about the other person loosely and check it when you can.
Related ideas: interoception is sensing your body's internal signals, emotional granularity is precision, and alexithymia describes difficulty identifying feelings.
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Research notes
- R. D. Lane, D. M. Quinlan, G. E. Schwartz, P. A. Walker, S. B. Zeitlin (1990). The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale: a cognitive-developmental measure of emotion. Journal of Personality Assessment. Introduces the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale, which scores written descriptions of one's own and others' emotional responses to interpersonal scenes; in 40 undergraduates it showed strong interrater reliability and correlated with measures of ego development and object representation. Limits: small student sample (n = 40). pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2231235/
Related
- No. 01EQ glossaryThe words behind emotional intelligence, defined.
- No. 02Emotional granularityEmotional granularity, also called emotion differentiation, is how precisely you tell one feeling from another, for example frustration versus disappointment instead of a catch-all like "stressed" for everything.
- No. 03InteroceptionInteroception is the sense of the body's internal condition: heartbeat, breathing, hunger, temperature, muscle tension, and a churning stomach.
- No. 04AlexithymiaAlexithymia is a research term for a personality dimension that involves difficulty identifying your own feelings, difficulty describing them to others, and a thinking style focused on external, practical details.
- No. 05Emotional Self-Awareness: Notice, Name and Understand What You FeelEmotional self-awareness is noticing what you feel, naming it accurately, knowing what it is about, and seeing how it shows up in your behavior over time. Introspection alone has limits, so the guides here combine looking inward with watching your behavior and asking people who know you. Each guide ends with a short, time-limited exercise.
- No. 06Emotional Intelligence Test: Free EQ AssessmentExplore your emotional choices with a free 36-item assessment for adults. Get a profile summary and strongest area, then choose whether to unlock the full report.
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