The functionality of emotional clarity: A process-oriented approach to understanding the relation between emotional clarity and well-being

Abstract

If our emotions are trying to tell us something, people higher in emotional clarity should be at a distinct advantage. In this chapter, we first present a conceptual definition of emotional clarity (and related constructs) and give an overview of how emotional clarity is measured. Next, we review existing empirical evidence on the adaptive value of emotional clarity for SWB. To provide a larger framework for integrating empirical findings from different areas of research, we outline three different processes through which individual differences in emotional clarity might be related to individual differences in SWB: Affect regulation, acquiring and maintaining meaning in life, and interpersonal relationship building. For each theoretical process, we review the available empirical evidence. We conclude that future research that directly tests process-oriented hypotheses on the functionality of emotional clarity will be particularly helpful for further developing the theoretical models.