Telling Pictures, Seeing Words. Metaphors and Images of Emotional Competence

Abstract

With the term “emotional competence” we can understand the ability persons have to recognise, accept, correctly express their emotional states. It is a matter of recognising, naming, taking and managing own and others' emotional characteristics. Being emotional competent is, also, being empathetic. To recognise, name and describe emotional states, a rational and denotative language based on conceptuality and classification is not enough. It is necessary the connotative and analogical dimension of the metaphor. The metaphor may be expressed not only through verbal language but also through images, which are excellent precious resources. Therefore, the symbolic apparatuses of the emotional competence become functional for constructing a more authentic knowledge and representation.