Last Updated on May 24, 2022 by Editors Desk
The ability to sense, control, and assess emotions is referred to as emotional intelligence (EI). Some academics believe emotional intelligence can be taught and improved, while others believe it is a natural trait. If you’re wondering what does emotional intelligence mean, then you’ve come to the right place.
It’s important to be able to express and control emotions, but it’s also important to be able to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Consider a world in which you couldn’t tell when a friend was unhappy or when a coworker was upset. Emotional intelligence is a term used by psychologists to describe this capacity, and some experts believe it is more significant than IQ in terms of overall life success.
How Emotional Intelligence Is It Measured?
A variety of different tests have been developed to assess emotional intelligence. Self-report exams and ability tests are the two most common types of such examinations.
Because they are the easiest to administer and assess, self-report tests are the most popular. Respondents to such examinations rate their own behaviour in response to questions. For example, a test taker might disagree, slightly disagree, agree, or strongly agree with a statement like “I often feel that I understand how others are experiencing.”
Ability tests, on the other hand, include putting people in circumstances and then evaluating their abilities. People are frequently required to demonstrate their abilities, which are subsequently graded by a third party.
Here are two measures that may be used in an emotional intelligence exam conducted by a mental health professional:
Mayer-Salovey-Caruso The Mayer and Salovey Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) is an ability-based test that measures Mayer and Salovey’s EI model’s four branches. Participants do tasks that test their capacity to sense, identify, comprehend, and manage emotions.
The Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI) is based on an older instrument called the Self-Assessment Questionnaire, and it entails having individuals who know the person rate their ability in a variety of emotional competencies. The test is intended to assess the social and emotional skills that help people stand out as good leaders.
Components
Emotional perception, the ability to reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotions, and the ability to control emotions, according to researchers, are the four degrees of emotional intelligence.
- Perceiving emotions: The first step in comprehending emotions is to appropriately perceive them. Understanding nonverbal signs such as body language and facial expressions may be required in many instances. Emotions as a tool for reasoning: The next step is to use emotions to stimulate thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions aid in the prioritisation of what we pay attention to and react to; we emotionally react to things that catch our attention.
- Emotions as a tool for reasoning: The next step is to use emotions to stimulate thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions aid in the prioritisation of what we pay attention to and react to; we emotionally react to things that catch our attention.
- Understanding emotions: Our perceptions of emotions can have a wide range of meanings. When a person expresses furious emotions, the observer must determine what is causing the individual’s anger and what it could indicate. If your supervisor is enraged, it might be because they are unhappy with your job, or because they received a speeding ticket on their way to work that morning, or because they have been arguing with their partner.
- Managing emotions: Emotional intelligence at its highest level requires the ability to properly control emotions. Emotional management includes regulating emotions and behaving correctly, as well as responding to the emotions of others.
The four branches of this model are ordered in order of complexity, with the more basic processes at the bottom and the more advanced processes at the top. The lowest levels, for example, entail perceiving and expressing emotion, but higher levels necessitate more conscious involvement and involve emotion regulation.
Impact of Emotional Intelligence
In recent years, there has been a surge in interest in teaching and learning social and emotional intelligence. Many schools now incorporate social and emotional learning (SEL) programmes as part of their curriculum.
These projects aim to improve kids’ health and well-being while simultaneously assisting them in academic success and preventing bullying. Emotional intelligence can be used in a variety of situations in everyday life.
Before acting, consider your options.
Emotionally knowledgeable people understand that emotions are powerful, but they are also fleeting. When a highly charged emotional event occurs, such as growing upset at a coworker, the emotionally sensible answer is to wait. This allows everyone to control their emotions and think more clearly about all of the issues at hand.
Improved Self-Awareness
People who are emotionally intelligent are not only good at imagining how others could feel, but they are also good at comprehending their own feelings. People with self-awareness can consider the many various circumstances that influence their emotions.
Empathy for Others
Being able to think about and sympathise with how other people are experiencing is a big aspect of emotional intelligence. This usually entails thinking about how you would react if you were in the same circumstance.
People with high emotional intelligence can think about other people’s views, experiences, and feelings and utilise that information to explain why they behave the way they do.
How to Make Use of
Emotional intelligence can be applied to a variety of situations in your daily life. Emotional intelligence can be practised in a variety of ways, including:
- Accepting criticism and taking responsibility
- After making a mistake, being able to move on.
- Being able to say no when necessary and being able to express your emotions to others
- Ability to solve problems in a way that benefits everyone
- Empathy for others is a quality that many people possess.
- Having excellent listening abilities
- Understanding why you do what you do and without passing judgement on others
Good interpersonal communication necessitates emotional intelligence. Some experts believe that this talent, rather than IQ, is more essential in determining life success. There are, however, things you can do to improve your social and emotional intelligence.
Understanding emotions can help you have better relationships, feel better, and communicate more effectively.
Suggestions for Increasing EI
It’s crucial to be emotionally knowledgeable, but what can you do to develop your own social and emotional abilities? Here are a few pointers.
Listen
The first step in understanding what other people are feeling is to pay attention. Pay attention to what people are attempting to say to you, both orally and nonverbally. Body language may convey a lot of information. Consider the various things that may be contributing to someone’s emotion when you sense that they are feeling a specific way.
Empathize
It’s important to be able to read people’s emotions, but you also need to be able to put yourself in their shoes to genuinely grasp what they’re saying. Experiment with empathising with others. Consider how you would react if you were in their shoes. Such activities can help you acquire a deeper emotional knowledge of a situation and, in the long run, greater emotional skills.
Reflect
Emotional intelligence also includes the ability to reason with emotions. Consider how your emotions have a role in your decisions and actions. Examine the role that other people’s emotions play while considering how they react.
Why is this individual in such a bad mood? Are there any elements that you’re not aware of that could be causing these feelings? What makes your feelings different from theirs? You may find it easier to comprehend the role of emotions in how individuals think and behave when you investigate such problems.
Pitfalls to Avoid
Lowering one’s emotional intelligence skills can lead to a slew of problems in several areas of life, including employment and relationships.
People with fewer emotional abilities are more likely to get into fights, have poorer relationships, and have trouble managing emotions.
Having a low amount of emotional intelligence can have a lot of disadvantages, but having a high level of emotional intelligence can also present difficulties. For example:
- People with high emotional intelligence may be less creative and imaginative, according to research. For fear of hurting other people’s feelings, highly emotional intelligent people may find it difficult to give critical comments.
- According to research, high EQ can be exploited for manipulative and misleading objectives. People with high emotional intelligence may be less creative and imaginative, according to research. For fear of hurting other people’s feelings, highly emotional intelligent people may find it difficult to give critical comments.
- According to research, high EQ can be exploited for manipulative and misleading objectives.
History of emotional intelligence
The term “emotional intelligence” didn’t enter our lexicon until the 1990s. Despite the fact that it is a relatively new term, interest in the concept has exploded since then.
Early Development
The psychologist Edward Thorndike defined “social intelligence” as the ability to get along with other people as early as the 1930s. Psychologist David Wechsler hypothesised in the 1940s that varied effective components of intelligence could have a significant impact on people’s success in life.
Subsequent Events
In the 1950s, the humanistic psychology school of thought arose, and thinkers like Abraham Maslow began to pay more attention to the various ways in which people could develop emotional strength.
The concept of many intelligences emerged as another crucial concept in the development of emotional intelligence. Howard Gardner proposed this concept in the mid-1970s, arguing that intelligence was more than just a single, generic skill.
Emotional Intelligence’s Ascension
Wayne Payne’s doctoral dissertation, published in 1985, was the first to introduce the term “emotional intelligence.” Keith Beasley used the phrase “emotional quotient” in an essay published in Mensa Magazine in 1987.
In the journal Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer published their seminal piece “Emotional Intelligence” in 1990. “The ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to utilise this information to guide one’s thinking and actions,” they described emotional intelligence.
After the publication of Daniel Goleman’s book “Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ” in 1995, the concept of emotional intelligence gained traction.
Since then, the topic of emotional intelligence has piqued public attention and has become relevant in sectors other than psychology, such as education and business.
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