Appraisal Competence
It is now recognised by most emotion theorists that appraising a situation is central to the emotional response.
As such, we propose that an important part of emotional competence is appraising a situation or event and reacting with appropriate emotion or emotions.
Appraising the situation is done by considering a number of factors. Central factors to this appraisal is an assessment of the importance of the situation to us, whether it has happened to us before and our ability to cope with it.
But what is meant by appropriate?
Of course this is a difficult question to answer and one that varies a great deal but there are some general pointers, mostly from one’s own analysis or the reaction of others. For example, if the situation is important to us, such as failing an exam on which our career depends, it would be appropriate to have a strong emotional reaction but if the event was not so vital, such as failing a driving test when we hardly ever use a car, then a strong emotional reaction may not be considered inappropriate. Similarly if we have come across a situation before and been able to cope in the past, such as experiencing turbulence on an airplane, then it would be appropriate to be concerned but perhaps not panicked. However if this was the first flight we had taken then our emotional response might be more severe.
Appraisal Competence is about appraising the situation accurately
and reacting with appropriate emotion based on knowledge and
understanding of emotions.
Appraisal Incompetence can occur if we have certain biases, for example
a tendency to see ourselves as somehow being the cause of events
(internalising) or a tendency to think a bad outcome will occur in every situation
(pessimism).
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Consider the following example: The death of a loved one is obviously extremely relevant and important to us. It may be the first time this has been experienced or it may have happened before, but it still has new elements in terms of how it happened or what else is going on in one’s life. If a death has been experienced before, the person may be able to assess how likely they are to cope, which may be linked to social support, how they have dealt with other types of loss and the importance of this family member in their life. All of these aspects are appraised and form the basis for the emotional response. Sadness and grief are appropriate responses but if the loved one has been suffering from a long and painful illness this may also be mixed with relief that their suffering is now over. Competence in emotional understanding will mean that we comprehend this potentially complex mix of emotions and their sources. There may be certain biases that influence the appraisal, for example if someone has a pessimistic bias they may believe they will never get over the loss or if they have an internalising bias they may, in some way, blame themselves for the death. All these biases could result in reacting with an inappropriate emotion. |
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