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JIMINY SELF-HELP HANDBOOK 10

Emotional maturity is defined by how well we interact with others, how we manage to control our
emotions and how we respond in critical situations or that take us out of our comfort zone.

In short, we can consider ourselves emotionally mature if we manage to control our emotions rather
than let ourselves be controlled by them. This does not mean that we should hide or repress what we
feel, but that we are able to recognize what we are experiencing and do our best to respond in a
positive and constructive way even in the face of disaster, that we have high EQ.

Emotionally mature people are those who know how to use their full range of emotions. They are the
ones who can express their emotions without fear, without malice, sincerely and responsibly.

A mature person has, first of all, a good relationship with herself/ himself. This means that (s)he knows
herself/ himself well enough to know her/ his strengths and weaknesses, to know how to receive and
accept criticism. We no longer assume that someone is criticizing us for humiliating us; when we make
a mistake, we understand that there are aspects that could be improved and we no longer supply
unnecessary tensions. We learn that we can listen to criticism and survive it - without arming ourselves
and without denying that there has ever been a problem.
An emotionally mature person is a person who takes full control of her/ his life. It can be easily noticed
that an emotionally mature person does not try to complicate her/ his own life or that of those around
her/ him.

Emotional maturity is certainly a significant predictor of the level of success that an individual can
achieve, whether we are talking about personal or professional plan. So it becomes very important to
know at what level you are at the moment and, who knows… maybe we are ready to change
something.

The best known test for identifying the present emotional maturity level is Friedman Test for
Evaluating Emotional Maturity. It is a test with 25 questions with YES and NO answers and each answer
has a number of points associated with it. You tick your answer and, after you finish the test, sum all
10
the answers and divide the final result by 25, then look down to see what it means .

No. ITEM YES NO
Your Points Your Points
answer answer
I am easily discouraged and I have occasional 11 21
1.
moments, states and crisis of depression.
I like to dress stylish and I am happy when I 7 20
2.
receive attention for my clothes and manners.
I am master of myself and cold-blooded in 26 7
3.
unpredicted and dangerous situations.
I tend to be irritable and rigid (dogmatic, 12 30
4.
stubborn) when I support a point of view against a
strong opposition.
Solitude is agreeable and I like being alone. 40 8
5.

I often say things that I later regret. 10 20
6.

10 https://onlycuriosity.wordpress.com/2015/01/22/emotional-maturity-test-friedman-scale/