Hugh Curley

Emotional Intelligence: What is it?

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Several different definitions have been suggested for emotional intelligence, and a few authors have suggested different names, stating that the name “Emotional Intelligence” is not what we really mean. The definition I use is, “Our ability to recognize, feel, control and use our emotions, and to recognize and respond to others’ emotions in a mutually beneficial relationship.” “Control” does not mean to eliminate or suppress emotions, but to express them in healthy, socially acceptable ways.

Further, much of the literature contrasts Emotional Intelligence with Intelligence Quotient. For that reason, I prefer the term Emotional Quotient, recognizing that intelligence and emotion are two different functions, both of which can help us or hinder us in reaching success as we define it.

There seems to be three camps on emotional intelligence: ability-based, trait-based and popularized. Ability-based, first defined by Salovey and Mayer in 1990, uses standardized tests and compares your results with that of others who have taken the tests. This seems to be the camp most educational institutions favor. They define four areas of abilities:
The ability to accurately perceive emotions,
The ability or use emotions to facilitate thinking,
The ability to understand emotional meaning and
The ability to manage emotions.
The second “ability” listed seems to place emotions in a subservient position to thinking where I believe emotion and thinking must separate but equal.

The trait-based, defined by Petrides, uses self-reporting to measure an individual’s self-perception of their emotional abilities. This method recognizes that emotion lies outside a person’s cognitive ability.

The popularized model, from Goleman in 1995, is also called the mixed model. It recognizes four constructs:
Self-awareness,
Self-management,
Social awareness and
Relationship management.
There are many tests on the internet for self-assessment in each of these four areas. Some of these tests report your strengths in each tested area as a percentile of all people who have taken the test. These tests are subject to “faking it” and on the ones I have taken, the instructions are inadequate such as the time range to consider to answer a question (the past hour, month, year, decade, since a significant emotional event in my life, etc).

The better you understand your emotions and can manage them, and the better you can recognize others’ emotions and properly respond to them, the better your chances of career or life success. Helping you achieve that understanding and ability is my goal and the definition of Emotional Intelligence.

Subscribe to blog feed.

Leave a Reply