Self regulation, or self management, is a key component of emotional intelligence. On this page you'll learn to manage emotions and reactions, improve your emotional intelligence, and what to do if you're offered a marshmallow.

Self management is the key to our ability to manage change and stressful situations.

Stephen Covey emphasizes that you and I have response-ability - the ability to choose our response to any situation.

Managing emotions allows us to make choices so we can choose how we respond to any situation.

That's right...

You choose the best response for the situation. You also choose not to react to impulsive emotions.

And yes, the humble marshmallow plays a central role in research into self regulation. More about this later, I promise.

Self Regulation and Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence consists of four basic capabilities, or domains. These are:

• Self Awareness
• Self Regulation (this page)
• Social Awareness
• Relationship Management

This page focuses on self regulation - the ability to choose how we think, how we feel, and the actions we take. This is the second of the domains of emotional intelligence proposed by Daniel Goleman.

Use the links above to find out about the other domains or start with a comprehensive overview of emotional intelligence.

Definition of Self Regulation

Self regulation is mostly about being able to control your emotions and responses to situations and other people.

But it's also about feeling positive emotions and expressing positive emotions to others.

Some of the abilities (also known as competencies) that are part of self management are:

• emotional self-control – controlling impulsive emotions.
• trustworthiness – being honest and taking action that is in line with your values.
• flexibility – being able to adapt and work with different people in different situations.
• optimism – the ability to see opportunities in situations and the good in other people.
• achievement – developing your performance to meet your own standards of excellence.
• initiative – taking action when it is necessary.

Controlling negative reactions

Sometimes it's okay to let emotions control us, especially when it comes to positive emotions.

Your excitement and joy at passing an exam, or achieving a target for the month, are appropriate expressions of emotion. But it's not great to be controlled by negative emotions such as anger, fear or frustration.

Emotional intelligence suggests that it's important to be aware of all our emotions. When we're aware we can choose how to react and express our feelings.

Self regulation is about using self awareness to keep negative reactions under control.

Would you like a marshmallow...now?

My personal feeling is that marshmallows are best left in the packet - they're not on my list of favorite sweets.

But...

...if you were offered a marshmallow would you take it?

Daniel Goleman refers to the marshmallow experiment in his books Emotional Intelligence and Working with Emotional Intelligence in order to demonstrate the significance that controlling impulses can have in a lifetime.

In the experiment, started in the 1960's, a group of four year old children were offered one marshmallow to eat immediately, or two marshmallows if they could wait until the experimenter returned.

Some children couldn't resist and impulsively ate the marshmallow while others were able to wait 15-20 minutes, and were given two marshmallows.

When the children were followed up as young adults clear differences between the two groups were noted.

The children that waited for the second marshmallow were shown to be more intellectually skilled, more responsible and dependable, and more attentive as adults than the group that could not resist the marshmallow.

They formed better relationships and demonstrated better self control in frustrating situations.

Those who ate the first marshmallow as children tended to be more easily distracted and less dependable as adults.

They had lower intellectual abilities and struggled to control emotions during stress. They continued to react impulsively to situations and couldn't delay gratification in reaching their goals.

Daniel Goleman believes this experiment shows that learning to control our impulses leads to greater success in life. There are negative personal and work related costs associated with impulsive and emotional reactions.

Critics of this experiment say the results may be different if the children were offered nicer sweets (and I agree, but only because I really don't like marshmallows!).

Managing your emotions

You can improve your self regulation. Here are a few ideas:

1. Become more aware of your emotions (self awareness) and how you react to them.
2. If people are critical work out how what they say can be constructive and helpful to you.
3. Take time out: get away from a difficult situation for a short time and get some exercise, drink water, or breathe deeply.
4. Self hypnosis is a valuable way to learn to control your emotions. Download professional self hypnosis sessions on controlling emotions and improving impulse control from hypnosis downloads.
   
5. Make time to think about situations and your emotions. Think of ways you could change what you do or the way you react.
6. Plant new thoughts: when you've identified emotions and reactions that are not useful replace them with new ones that are more positive. Then work hard and practice putting these into action.

Emotions are infectious

Your emotions and moods affect your self management ability. Emotions and moods affect how you feel about yourself...

...and they have an effect on other people.

Have you ever noticed the effect that happy positive people have on you? The same is true of people with low moods.

It's almost as if the mood is infectious.

Everyone experiences negative emotions from time to time. Managing your emotions does not mean covering them up and blocking them out.

What it does mean is becoming aware of the emotions to the point that you can choose the best way to react in a situation.

Give yourself time to think about the emotions and choose a response, rather than reacting impulsively to the emotion.

Managing non-verbal communication

An important aspect of self regulation is recognising the ways in which emotions can be communicated non-verbally.

Non-verbal communication is also known as ‘body language’ and can communicate the way you feel as powerfully, if not more powerfully, than the words you use.

Non-verbal communication conveys emotions and attitudes towards others more effectively than words, but it can be confusing.

Stress Management

An important skill of self regulation is managing the effect of stress in your life.

A quick tip...

Some stress is positive and it motivates us. Positive stress is called Eu-stress.

But...too much stress can have a negative influence and can result in depression and health problems.

If you're feeling stressed it's very difficult to manage your emotions effectively.

Managing your work life balance will also help to manage stress.

George Bernard Shaw is credited with saying Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.

Managing your responses and impulsive emotions is an essential part of creating yourself. This is the key to self regulation.

Choosing how you think, how you feel, and the actions you take will change your experience of life, and the way others experience you.

Reading this page on self regulation is a start. Take the next step now - find out about social awareness.

Leave your thoughts below and keep in touch by visiting our Facebook Page and clicking 'Like' to join the community.

---

---

Like This Page?

Hi! I'm Mark Connelly. As a psychologist and coach with 20+ years of experience, I help people create and manage change.

I may earn a small commission if you buy something through a link on this site. It won't cost you anything and I only recommend products I trust. Please see the affiliate disclosure for more.