<p>Introduction: Social disability is present in more than 50% of patients with schizophrenia after clinical remission. How emotional processing differs between patients with high and low social functioning has not been studied so far.</p>
<p>Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted, with 67 outpatients. The Social Functioning Scale and the Emotional Intelligence Test were used.</p>
<p>Results: Statistically significant differences were found in Emotional Facilitation (<em>p</em>=0.007; <em>d</em>=0.74), in Emotional Management (<em>p</em>=0.003; <em>d</em>=0.83) and in all dimensions of social functioning, with a difference of up to 45.43 points between the groups.</p>
<p>Conclusions: The results contribute to the understanding of the role played by emotional facilitation and regulation in social functioning.</p>