Social Emotional Competence

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Social and Emotional Competence
According to Saarni (1999), children should develop social and emotional competence in early childhood. Social and emotional competence means that an individual should be able to recognize one’s own emotions as well as emotions of others. Moreover, the social and emotional competent person should be able to show empathy to other’s emotions and cope with their own distressing emotions. Figueroa-Sánchez (2008) also stated that it is very common for children to feel sadness and tension when they leave a familiar setting. Figueroa-Sánchez (2008) also mentioned that it is very important for children to be able to express these feelings appropriately.
Emotional literacy. Emotional literacy is a part of social and emotional competency. Literacy is the ability to decode printed or subtle clues of interpersonal communication. It is also the ability to understand the meaning of clues and apply it in to life (Bocchino, 1999). Emotional literacy is an educational area based on the theory of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence and emotional literacy are an ability to understand emotions, use emotions to support ideas and adjust the emotions (Mayer & Salovey, …show more content…

Emotion regulation is an important component of social and emotional competency. Denham, Bassett, Minic, Kalb, Way, Wyatt and Segal (2012) mentioned that young children need to learn emotion regulation skills to be able to control their emotions in appropriate ways, to modify their feelings and to express their emotions appropriately. Therefore, children, who can regulate their emotions, are more successful at school and have better social life. Graziano, Reavis, Keane and Calkins, (2007) found that children, who had difficulty regulating their emotions, will also have difficulty in focusing and learning materials at school. On the other hand children, who show more positive emotions and ability to regulate negative emotions, can stay engaged in the

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