The Role of Emotional Competencies in Social Interactions
Our research examines how emotional competencies (particularly emotion recognition, emotion understanding, and emotion regulation) shape behavior and outcomes in interpersonal interactions. Across naturalistic social encounters and workplace conflicts as well as negotiations, our findings suggest that these competencies influence how people are perceived by others and how effectively they manage challenging situations.
In one study published in the International Journal of Conflict Management, we found that managers higher in ability emotional intelligence were perceived as warmer and more competent when responding to workplace conflicts, which in turn predicted greater conflict-resolution effectiveness. We are now extending this work to airline personnel using videotaped conflict interactions and examining the additional role of implicit and explicit intergroup bias.
In another published study of everyday social interactions, we examined how emotion recognition and emotion regulation shape social experiences. More adaptive emotion regulation was linked to more positive feelings, greater social confidence, and more positive behavior, while high emotion recognition could sometimes amplify the downsides of less adaptive regulation.
Building on this work, our SNSF-funded project "Proximal and distal effects of emotion recognition training in typically developing adults" will test whether training emotion recognition ability also leads to changes in interpersonal behavior and outcomes, including more empathic communication in medical students.
Collaborators: Evgenia Mekhtieva, Nils Sommer, Smaranda Boroş, Monica de Jong
Selected relevant publications
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Sommer, N. R., & Schlegel, K. (2026). Navigating social waters: Exploring the impacts of trait cognitive emotion regulation and emotion recognition ability in naturalistic social situations. The Journal of Social Psychology, 166(4), 477–491.
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Schlegel, K., de Jong, M., & Boroş, S. (2025). Conflict management 101: How emotional intelligence can make or break a manager. International Journal of Conflict Management, 36(1), 145–165.
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Schlegel, K. (2021). The effects of emotion recognition training on interpersonal effectiveness. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 43(2), 141–153.
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Schlegel, K., Mehu, M., van Peer, J. M., & Scherer, K. R. (2018). Sense and sensibility: The role of cognitive and emotional intelligence in negotiation. Journal of Research in Personality, 74, 6–15.