Emotional differentiation: definition, operationalization, and research perspectives

Abstract

Emotional differentiation (ED) is the degree to which a person distinguishes his or her emotions. ED is not limited to the semantic structure of a person’s emotional language. ED is positively associated with emotional regulation and various components of psychological well-being. People with high ED use a wider range of emotion regulation strategies, are less likely to drink alcohol in difficult life situations, and less often exhibit aggressive behavior when angry. Lower ED is found in people with depression, social anxiety, and children with an autism spectrum disorder. There are many techniques for measuring ED. This article aims to describe and analyze the main methods for assessing ED, such as the experience sampling method, photo emotion differentiation task, the method for assessing the differentiation of emotions caused by significant people, scenario rating task. The article proposes several directions for further research in the field of ED, for example, the study of ED indexes measured by different methods; study of stable and peak levels of ED; study of the optimal level of ED; study of the relationship between positive ED and the regulation of intense positive emotions; study of the relationship between ED and emotion recognition.