'The most important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said.'

Accurately understanding and interpreting the emotions of others is crucial for navigating social interactions and building meaningful relationships. While the importance of Emotion Recognition Accuracy (ERA) is widely acknowledged, its direct link to well-being remains poorly understood. The Social and Organizational Psychology Group (Ursula Hess) investigated  the relationship between ERA and well-being across multiple cultures. The focus was on the Assessment of Contextualized Emotions (ACE), a test that distinguishes between accurately perceiving intended emotions and perceiving additional, "secondary" emotions that may introduce bias. If you want to find out how loneliness as well as the the level of personal and social well-being effect the accuracy of  emotion recognition, check out their Journal of Research in Personality Article!

Abstract

Emotion Recognition Accuracy (ERA) is vital for social functioning and social relationships, yet empirical support for a positive link with well-being has been sparse. In three studies, we show that the Assessment of Contextualized Emotions (ACE) which distinguishes between accurately perceiving intended emotions and bias due to perceiving additional, secondary emotions, consistently predicted personal and social well-being. Across thirteen world cultures, accuracy was associated with higher well-being and life satisfaction, and bias linked to loneliness. A social interaction study in Czech Republic found accuracy (bias) was positively (negatively) associated with social well-being. The effects of accuracy and bias on well-being were partially mediated by social interaction quality in a third study. These findings further our understanding of ERA’s social functions.