What is emotional granularity? (And why it matters more than you think)

We instinctively know that talking about how we feel helps us process and manage those feelings.

But talking about our feelings is not always as straightforward as it sounds. After all, when did you last spend any time learning about emotion words? Maybe at age 4 or 5.

There are more than 3000 emotion words in the English language - but research shows the average person can name about 3: happy, sad and angry. It's like trying to paint a landscape using only three shades, or cook a dish with only three ingredients. You can't fully express the reality of what you're feeling unless you have the vocabulary to do so.

And if you can't express it, it's harder to process it.

And individual's level of ability to distinguish and describe their emotions is called their emotional granularity: and research consistently finds that the higher one's emotional granularity, the higher their emotional resilience.

The science behind emotion labelling

Emotion labelling works because it activates the parts of your brain that are more analytical and thoughtful, helping you to process what you're feeling: rather than just drown in the sensations.

In a state of heightened stress our amygdala lights up and our fight or flight (or freeze or flop) instincts kick in.

Language, meanwhile is handled in the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain that’s used for deliberate thought, reasoning and planning.

So by accessing language, you're literally activating a different part of the brain: the part used for deliberate thought, reasoning, and planning.

You can even see this in a brain scanner. fMRI studies show increased prefrontal activity decreased amygdala reactivity during emotion labelling.

Slowing down your fight or flight response and empowering your brain to process challenges in a more thoughtful way is a big part of building your emotional resilience.

It’s such a powerful technique that even hostage negotiators are trained to use it: helping distressed people name what they’re feeling to bring them down from a state of emotional overload.

How to train it

We built Emotion Catch to help you boost your emotional granularity. It's a fast-paced game that boosts your emotional vocabulary under time pressure.

It's free, evidence-based, and designed to help you get sharper at naming what you feel: clearly, quickly, and confidently.