Implications of Carolyn Saarni’s work for preschoolers’ emotional competence

Abstract

Carolyn Saarni made invaluable contributions to the study of emotion. Most centrally, she conceived of ‘emotional competence’. She described emotional competence skills, and their development, through lenses of both functionalist and social constructivist views of emotions. Given these perspectives, she added not only to the description of emotional competence skills, but also to the conceptualization of, and findings regarding, emotional competence’s socialization. Further, she also emphasized cultural considerations about emotional competence and its socialization. In this article, then, the nature, development, and socialization of preschoolers’ emotional competence (i.e., emotional expressiveness, emotion regulation, and emotion knowledge) are described. As well, evidence of how these skills facilitate children’s social competence and school success is reviewed. Finally, examples of cultural issues emanating from Saarni’s ideas are described. Conclusions frame Saarni’s impact on these findings.