Differentiating negative emotions in ourselves and others: associations with internalising symptoms and social functioning

Negative emotion differentiation (NED), or the ability to precisely describe negative emotional states, is linked to positive individual and interpersonal outcomes. Although NED has typically been defined as understanding one’s own emotional states (intrapersonal NED), precisely describing how others are feeling may likewise facilitate social functioning and mental health. However, no validated lab measures exist to assess how precisely one labels others’ discrete negative emotions (interpersonal NED). Across four online studies, participants completed a novel task rating another person's emot