The free encyclopedia · 71 entries and growing
Definitions, an A–Z of feelings, practical tools and the research behind them — edited by people who teach this every week in prisons, classrooms, locker rooms and living rooms.
Popular: What is emotional literacy?, The Theory (TEIBC), Literacy vs. intelligence, The test
Featured entry
Emotional literacy is the ability to read emotion — in yourself and in others — and to respond to it with intention instead of reacting on autopilot. In the 10P Emotional Literacy System it has two halves: literacy, reading and being aware of what is felt, and intelligence, choosing the right tool to manage it. Emotional intelligence is part of the larger emotional literacy system, not the other way around.
The flagship theory · TEIBC
The Theory of Emotional Illiteracy-Based Criminality holds that people adopt criminality as a coping mechanism for unprocessed trauma, and that emotional literacy is the path back to prosocial life. It was developed by Samual Nathaniel Brown from 24 years inside California prisons, years of self-directed study, and a decade of teaching.
The same mechanism drives drinking, retail therapy, compulsive sex, rage and isolation. Different behaviors, one root. That makes it a human theory, not a prison theory.
The 10P Emotional Literacy System
To be emotionally literate is to read emotion. To be emotionally intelligent is to choose the right tool and manage it. Together they make one system. How the system works →
Free · 20 questions · 5 minutes
Where do you stand in each quadrant?
The Emotional Literacy Test scores reading and responding separately, then maps how you cope.
The app
Practice every day, right from your phone
Daily check-ins, a word of the day, your private feelings journal and every tool, installable on any phone and usable offline.
Free interactive tool
Most of us only have three or four words for what goes on inside. The check-in walks you from “I’m fine” to the precise word, and gives you one thing to do with it.
Take the 60-second check-in
2026-10-24 · 2 minNo one is born bad: why we built a theory around itThe Theory of Emotional Illiteracy-Based Criminality started with a parole-board diagnosis and one question: what is the opposite of antisocial? Here is why it matters to everyone, not only people in prison.
2026-10-17 · 2 minWhy we call it literacyEmotional intelligence is half the story. We call it literacy because reading comes first — and because anything you can learn to read, you can learn at any age.
2026-10-10 · 2 minHeavy is the head: men, crowns and feelingsMen are taught that a crown means never showing weight. Emotional literacy says the opposite: a king knows exactly what he is carrying.
Who writes this
The 10P Program is a Los Angeles emotional-literacy organization founded by Samual Nathaniel Brown — author of the Theory of Emotional Illiteracy-Based Criminality, autodidact, and carceral scholar who earned college degrees with honors while serving 24 years in California prisons. 10P began in 2014 at New Folsom and now teaches youth, families, athletes, people with disabilities, organizations and community circles statewide. Every entry here is written from lived experience and classroom practice, and checked against published research.
From the editors
This encyclopedia is free because the work behind it is real. Here is where it lives.
10P Program
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Music by Samual Nathaniel Brown
I AGREE — Advocate Gender Racial Economic Equality
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Book
The 10P B.E.L.T. Participant Manual
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