I advocate "emotional competence" (EC), optimal use of emotions to reach one's goals and assure well-being, suggesting that high EC individuals are optimally functioning in emotion production and emotion perception. Production competence involves 1) appropriate reactions to events based on adequate appraisal of events and personal abilities, 2) adaptive regulation, and 3) efficient communication. Three major studies show that low control or self-efficacy beliefs can produce appraisal bias, habitually misjudging one's ability to control or cope with negative consequences of events, resulting in emotion dispositions (e.g., worry, dejection) which can increase risk for emotional disorder, such as depression and generalized anxiety.

Successful emotion regulation is critical for psychological health. To facilitate successful emotion regulation, it is important to understand the mechanism that underlies it. In this talk, I will focus on motivational aspects of emotion regulation. I will present a cybernetic model, and review evidence that speaks to it. I will introduce the concepts of emotion goals, emotion regulation goals, and effort in emotion regulation, and examine how they might facilitate (or impair) intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation. Based on the above, we will consider what comprises intelligent emotion regulation.

In this workshop, we’ll review some of the most frequently used instruments to assess EI and discuss the pros and cons of different choices. The main activity will require participants to try themselves in creating items for measuring different abilities that are part of EI. The workshop aims to raise awareness of the methodological difficulties in measuring EI and the implications of methodological choices

The idea of emotional intelligence (EI) arose from the observation that some people reasoned more accurately about emotions than other people—and that such differences in understanding could be consequential. EI involves understanding people’s psychological qualities and can be considered part of a larger group of people-centered intelligences that includes personal intelligence (an intelligence about personality) and perhaps social intelligence. Today there exists a group of EI ability measures that are used in research in the area. Issues around the best way to measure EI will be discussed, as well as the predictions that EI makes of real-world outcomes.

Our emotions constantly change. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) is a research method that allows to capture these changes in emotional experiences as they unfold in our daily lives. In ESM, individuals report on their emotional experiences repeatedly throughout daily life (i.e., multiple times a day for several consecutive days or weeks) using smartphone apps. In this workshop, we will explore the different types of questions that can be answered through ESM research, the advantages and disadvantages of ESM, and methodological considerations in the design of ESM studies. We will end with a discussion on how to best measure emotional experiences, processes, and skills in daily life. After following this workshop, you will have a basic knowledge of how to design your own ESM study, tailored to your specific research question.

In this talk, I will demonstrate that a robust theory of EI is invaluable. First, I will show that ability EI and trait EI are not opposing but rather complementary perspectives. In the second part, we will delve into the core dimensions of EI, highlighting also the importance of distinguishing between the intra-personal and inter-personal facets, as these do not necessarily predict the same outcomes. Additionally, we will present evidence showing that the absence of the intra-personal facet can lead to maladaptive effects when the inter-personal facet operates alone. Finally, we will illustrate how research on EI recently served to test the validity of a theory in another field.

Research of past years has shown that socio-emotional functions are of utmost importance for mental health. In this talk I will show works which were conducted in and with individuals with autism. I will put a special focus on social cognition and emotion processing, its neuronal basis and trainability. Given that autism involves core, and sometimes selective, impairments in social cognition, it represents a valuable model for understanding of socio-emotional processing also in typical development. The works that will be shown encompass studies in social robotics, social and affective neuroscience as well as patient and public involvement.

Emotional Intelligence /Competence (EI) is a resource that impacts intra- and interpersonal outcomes. Past research has shown success in increasing EI. However, studies with randomization of participants, control-groups and follow up are rare. This is why we conducted such a study. We developed a training on emotion perception and emotion regulation in self- and others and looked into short and long term effect and also in personality variables of participants that may moderate the effects. Further we tested in person trainings and online formats. We also empirically derived recommendations on how to plan a training to ensure transferability into everyday settings.

Emotional intelligence is a potential, but when do people make use of their potential? In this workshop, we explore the contexts and conditions that might facilitate and motivate the use of emotional intelligence, particularly in organizational setting, as well as the behaviors through which the use of emotional intelligence manifests at work. During the session, participants will learn about and then help further develop a preliminary understanding of what an emotionally intelligent organization could look like – a workplace where the principles and abilities inherent in emotional intelligence are recognized, encouraged, and rewarded.

In this talk, I will review what research has uncovered about the role of emotional intelligence in organizations, with an emphasis on criteria that matter to managers and employees such as job performance and job satisfaction. I will cover the conclusions of literature reviews and meta-analyses, highlight the strengths of the research, and list the key limitations and critiques of the research. I will then identify important questions that remain unanswered in this field.

Human development is not completed when people enter adulthood but is a lifelong process. This certainly applies to the evolution of emotional competencies such as perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions, as well as empathizing with others. These competencies typically (though not exclusively) show positive, age-related changes throughout adulthood, enhancing well-being and effectiveness, for instance at work. In this talk, I will review theoretical perspectives on the nature and boundary conditions of age differences in emotional competencies, review the state of knowledge, and present studies examining their impact on important life outcomes, particularly in professional settings.

Evidence supports EI as having two components: Emotion Knowledge (EIK) and Emotion Information Processing (EIP). EIK involves acquired knowledge about emotions, while EIP focuses on processing emotion information. Individuals who are high in EI, in particular the EIP component, should be positioned on the highest extreme of the EI trait continuum and be characterized by a stronger sensitivity to emotion and emotion information as measured by more extreme scores on emotional tasks. In the first part of the presentation empirical evidence of this way of functioning of EI, which is called the ‘hypersensitivity hypothesis’, will be provided. The second part will benefit from the support of Dr. Christelle Gillioz and will introduce participants to the challenges and opportunities of introducing new EI measures that would tackle stable individual differences in how individuals process emotion information.