The article presents a theoretical analysis of the various contemporary approaches of foreign authors to the definition of the concept of “Emotional self-regulation” over the past three decades. The need for a rigorous definition of the content of a concept is emphasized by many researchers in order to more accurately understand the subject of research and differentiate from the closest and most similar concepts. The paper discusses the closest terms in the English-language literature, discusses the definitions of various authors, provides the most famous discussions on the definition of this phenomenon, reveals the most important characteristics and components. The researchers emphasize that emotional regulation is not limited to emotions control, but includes initiating, inhibiting and/or changing the emotional state, that it serves to achieve biological or social adaptation or to achieve individual goals, note its awareness and intentionality. The article makes a distinction between the concepts of emotional regulation and emotion regulation; emotional control and emotional regulation; antecedent and concurrent emotional regulation; self-regulation and externally imposed regulation; unintentional and goal-oriented regulation; voluntary regulation and less arbitrarily controlled.