Labeling emotions accurately increases self-awareness and helps us to communicate emotions effectively, reducing misunderstanding in social interactions.
Mark Brackett, Ph.D.
YALE INSTITUTE FOR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
At the Yale Institute for Emotional Intelligence, Marc Brackett, Ph.D. leads a team of scientists and practitioners who conduct research on emotions and emotion skills and develop approaches to teach people of all ages the skills that can help them thrive. The Center’s goal is to use the power of emotions to create a healthier and more equitable, innovative, and compassionate society. According to Brackett, “Emotion skills are the key to unlocking the potential inside each one of us. And in the process of developing these skills, we each, heart by heart, mind by mind, create a culture and society unlike anything we’ve experienced thus far – and very much like the one we might dare to imagine,” (Bracket, 2019).
YCEI conducts research and designs educational approaches that support people of all ages in developing emotional intelligence and the skills to thrive and contribute to society. At the core of their work is the belief that emotions drive the important aspects of our lives including learning, decision making, creativity, relationships, and health. The center partners with schools, districts, and other organizations, both large and small, to foster social and emotional skills among all stakeholders in their communities.
YCEI is comprised of a team of over 50 researchers, educators, psychologists, trainers, coaches, curriculum writers, and support staff. As a self-supporting unit within the Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center, its research and programming is funded primarily through foundation and federal grants, corporate support, training revenue, and philanthropists.
Applying research to real-world practice is a central tenet of the Center’s mission. RULER is the Center’s approach to social and emotional learning that has reached over 1500 schools and districts around the world and continues to grow.
RULER
Approach to Social and Emotional Learning
The RULER skills are the things that we do with our feelings. The question is: Are we accurate at recognizing those emotions? The R, the U, and the L of RULER are all about the experience of emotions: Am I aware of how I’m feeling? And am I aware of how other people are feeling? The E and the R have to do with the strategizing: What are we going to do with these feelings?
Recognizing: We pick up on our own emotions by paying attention to our thinking, our physiology, and how our body feels and by paying attention to other people’s facial expressions, body language, vocal tone, and behavior.
Understanding: I may see that your face looks worried, but I have no idea why you’re worried, or I may misperceive how you’re feeling (which happens very often). So the U is saying, “Let’s get deeper. Let’s get at the cause. What might be the reason for that feeling?” What we know in research is that different emotions have different causes. For example, anger is the result of an injustice, whereas disappointment has to do with unmet expectations.
Labeling: This is where we can ask ourselves questions like: I feel angry, but am I enraged? Am I livid? Or am I feeling annoyed, peeved, or frustrated? This allows us to get at the granularity of the emotion.
Expressing: How we express our feelings varies as a function of context. If you’re in a workplace that says, “Emotions don’t matter here,” you’re going to learn very quickly to suppress. In the workplace, we often experience rules around things like race and gender. Women in the workplace monitor how they’re expressing themselves because they don’t want to be seen as either unlikeable or weak. And a man might say, “I’m pissed,” instead of “I’m really disappointed,” even when they may be feeling a different emotion. It’s a masculine way of expression that’s unrelated to their true feelings.
Regulation: What are the strategies I can use to keep or shift how I’m feeling? For example, if I’m having a bad day, what are the strategies I can implement to shift how I’m feeling if my emotions are not aligned with what I am trying to accomplish? The important piece of emotional regulation is knowing how to be a scientist with the strategies you are using. After using an emotional regulation strategy, ask yourself: Did this strategy help me achieve a goal? Is it helping me have a good relationship? Is it helping me have greater health and well-being? Those are the criteria for a good strategy.
MOOD METER APP
Together with his colleague David Caruso, Mark Brackett developed the Mood Meter tool to help people build emotional intelligence. The application is programmed with 100 feeling words to help build one’s emotion vocabulary. It also provides the opportunity to describe the reasons one feels a certain way to help build greater insight around the causes of feelings, and it lets users select strategies to help regulate feelings to achieve greater well-being. Users can also view a personalized report to understand emotional patterns over time.
EMOTION REVOLUTION SUMMIT
In 2015, the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and Born This Way Foundation--created by Lady Gaga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta--hosted the Emotion Revolution Summit. This initiative focused on building awareness around the critical role emotions play in young people’s learning, decision-making, academic achievement, and overall wellness. The Summit featured panel discussions, workshops, and remarks by advocates, educators, nearly 200 visiting youth from around the country, as well as Lady Gaga herself.
The event provided a platform for youth participants to share their ideas for creating improved learning environments through workshops and panel discussions. Throughout the day, Lady Gaga encouraged the youth attendants to take their own mental and emotional health seriously and to proactively seek the tools they need to foster wellbeing. She called on participants to join the conversation around why emotions matter through the #IAmNotJust hashtag on Social Media.
PARENTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE
Parents for Social Justice is an organization dedicated to helping parents, particularly those with young children, participate in progressive activism. They believe that the voice of parents is often lacking in social justice movements because the challenges of raising children often prevent them from being present. They want to give resources to parents to ensure their voices are heard.
They work with ally organizations to provide information on actions as well as creating their own actions that are child friendly. They help parents participate with ally organizations while at the same time respecting their parenting needs. The organization respects the time demands on parents of young children and meet them where they are, while at the same time giving them the resources to have fuller participation.
While they are primarily based in Louisville, Kentucky, they have parent members all over the United States. They maintain discussion groups which regularly tackle complex issues and provide support for both online and offline actions of members. They promote in person actions and the actions of other ally organizations as well as to encourage members to discuss social justice issues with their friends, family and most importantly their children.
Parents for Social Justice is a grassroots organization and is open to all members regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, appearance or ability. While events are typically geared towards parents of young children, they are open to anyone who wants to participate. The leadership is open and they encourage members to create and lead their own events as well as to use our organization to promote ally events.
SOCIAL JUSTICE PARENTING
Supporting families with intentional parenting today for a more humane world tomorrow
PARENTING THAT INTEGRATES SELF, FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
A professor in the Education department at Florida Atlantic University and professional cultural and race identity coach, Dr. Traci Baxley offers new ideas in parenting for the current social climate that moves families away from fear-based parenting styles. Her programs aim to guide parents to raise independent, compassionate, and socially conscious children. By working with white mothers who want to become allies in the black community, Baxley strives to help families raise antiracist children who will become change agent in the world.
Baxley describes her approach as “heart-centered,” guided by her 30 years in education, personal parenting experience and empathetic listening skills. She offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching, speaking and education consulting services, and parenting courses and workshops. She also works as a diversity, inclusion and equity consultant for schools, organizations, and corporations.
R.O.C.K.S. SOCIAL JUSTICE PARENTING FRAMEWORK
Guidelines to help parents raise independent, compassionate, and socially conscious children
REFLECTION
Look at your lived experiences and recognize how each experience shapes the way you see the world and your parenting style.
OPEN DIALOGUE
Have the courage to have hard conversations with yourself and your children, even when you are fearful or don't know the answers.
COMPASSION
Focus on how we magnify positive self-talk, use heart-centered strategies in parenting our children where they are, and how we see and treat others.
KINDNESS
Show yourself kindness, modeling kindness for your children and exploring the intrinsic joy of offering acts of kindness to others.
SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Explore various forms of activism to make positive changes in your life, your children's lives and in society.