Emotional intelligence

While it’s only become a more popular buzzword in the past decade, the concept of emotional intelligence skills has been around for at least 25 years. Whether you know it as emotional quotient (EQ), emotional intelligence (EI), or you’re familiar with the idea of “soft skills” more broadly, Emotional intelligence underpins our professional relationships, interpersonal communications, and ability to motivate ourselves. If you’ve ever held yourself back when you’ve felt like lashing out, you’re already familiar with one way EI works. Like other aspects of the self, it’s not tangible, but even though we can’t see emotional intelligence, we can certainly feel its impact. Before you read on, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • • What are Emotional Intelligence Skills? Emotional intelligence is: “a type of intelligence that involves the ability to process emotional information and use it in reasoning and other cognitive activities.” American Psychological Association, 2018 EI is relevant in both our professional and personal relationships, as well as the relationships we have with ourselves. We’ll look at the dynamics of how EI plays a big role in interpersonal skills. “Emotional intelligence” was coined by two American psychologists, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, in 1997, and from their definition, we can get a great idea of what emotional intelligence skills are all about: “The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying...

We all have days when emotions get the better of us. Passion can cloud our judgment, fear can tyrannize our decisions, and resentment can lead us to do things we regret. But although emotionality has historically been portrayed as the fiery and foolish nemesis of reason and rationality, emotions are fundamental to our ability to function. They motivate us to act, are essential to social interactions, and form the bedrock of our felt sense of morality. Emotional intelligence can provide a significant advantage for mastering our emotions. In this post, we’ll get up close with emotional intelligence to find out what it is, why it’s valuable, and how you can cultivate more of it. Before you continue, we thought you might like to This Article Contains: • • • • • • • • • What Is Emotional Intelligence? 3 Examples Many people have an intuitive grasp of what emotional intelligence is, but for academics, Peter Salovey and John Mayer (1990, p. 185) were the first to develop a psychological “set of skills hypothesized to contribute to the accurate appraisal and expression of emotion in oneself and others, the effective regulation of emotion in self and others, and the use of feelings to motivate, plan, and achieve in one’s life.” From this perspective, emotional intelligence could be useful in almost all areas of life. Let’s look at some Self-awareness and leadership Our awareness of emotions is centrally important to our relationships (Schutte et al., 2001) and ability to lead other...

• Stress Management: How to Reduce and Relieve Stress • Emotional Intelligence Toolkit • Conflict Resolution Skills • Why Emotions Matter • Good Leaders Use Emotional Intelligence • Emotional Intelligence at Work • Emotional Intelligence in Love and Relationships • Improving Family Relationships With Emotional Intelligence • Online Therapy: Is it Right for You? • Mental Health • What is emotional intelligence or EQ? • Why is emotional intelligence so important? • Building emotional intelligence: Four key skills to increasing your EQ • Building emotional intelligence, key skill 1: Self-management • Key skill 2: Self-awareness • Key skill 3: Social awareness • Key skill 4: Relationship management By , , and • What is emotional intelligence or EQ? • Why is emotional intelligence so important? • Building emotional intelligence: Four key skills to increasing your EQ • Building emotional intelligence, key skill 1: Self-management • Key skill 2: Self-awareness • Key skill 3: Social awareness • Key skill 4: Relationship management What is emotional intelligence or EQ? Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict. Emotional intelligence helps you build stronger relationships, succeed at school and work, and achieve your career and personal goals. It can also help you to con...

Emotional intelligence skills are abilities that allow you to understand and manage your What does it take to be emotionally intelligent? According to psychologist Daniel Goleman, who popularized and wrote extensively about the concept, there are five components of emotional intelligence. This article discusses what you can do to learn to improve these emotional intelligence skills. By working on and increasing these skills, you can become more emotionally intelligent and raise your EQ. Tom Werner / Getty Images To become self-aware, you must be capable of monitoring your own emotions, recognizing different emotional reactions, and then correctly identifying each particular emotion. Self-aware individuals also recognize the relationships between the things they feel and how they behave. These individuals also recognize their own strengths and limitations, are open to new information and experiences, and learn from their interactions with others. Goleman suggests that people who possess self-awareness have a good sense of humor, are confident in themselves and their abilities, and are aware of how other people perceive them. 10'000 Hours / Getty Images In addition to being aware of your own emotions and the impact you have on others, emotional intelligence requires you to be able to regulate and This doesn't mean putting emotions on lockdown and hiding your true feelings—it simply means waiting for the right time and place to express them. appropriately. Those who are skill...

Key points • Emotional intelligence is best conceived as a set of skills for communicating emotionally, or what are called “emotional competencies.” • Social intelligence is perhaps more important and relates to how we behave in, and manage a variety of, social situations. • Improving your emotional and social intelligence isn’t easy, but viewing them as a set of skills rather than inborn traits is a good start. Emotional intelligence (EQ), on the other hand, is conceived to be our basic ability to process and manage our own emotions and to recognize, understand, and manage the emotional messages exhibited by others. Part of the controversy over emotional intelligence is that the same underlying mechanism—core intelligence—may be responsible for our ability to process emotions and emotional information. In other words, emotional intelligence is not a distinct entity. Think of it as a subset of Why Does This Matter? Intelligence of any sort is only useful when we use it to develop and hone our skills in dealing with our environment. Viewing emotional intelligence as some sort of inborn trait does us a disservice, because there is a tendency to believe that some of us have it (i.e., are born with it) and some of us don’t. A better way to look at EQ is to view it as a set of skills that can be developed and improved. There are actually two approaches to measuring EQ—the “mixed model,” which views emotional intelligence as a combination of traits and skills, and the “abilities...

Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to a person’s ability to understand and manage their emotions as well as recognize the feelings of others. Research shows it is a useful tool for navigating work life, relationships, education, and mental and physical well-being. Behavioral experts commonly refer to the five components of EI, which involve behaviors such as a person’s self-awareness and empathy for other people. This article explores EI, its components, why it is important, and examples. Share on Pinterest Lauren Lee/Stocksy EI refers to a person’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage their emotions as well as their ability to understand others’ emotions. Many people think of intelligence in terms of cognitive abilities, such as those that make up their • use logic to solve problems • pick up new skills easily • use a large vocabulary • memorize and retain information Since the 1990s, though, psychologists have increasingly noted the importance of EI. While some aspects of EI may be genetic and closely related to personality type, Psychologist Daniel Goleman created one of the most popular models of EI. It breaks down EI into five key components, according to a 1. Self-awareness A key part of EI is a level of understanding and self-awareness of a person’s own emotions. An individual with high EI is not only aware of what emotions they are feeling but can put words to their feelings. They can also understand the consequences of their emotions and how they may chang...

emotional intelligence, set of psychological faculties that enable individuals to perceive, understand, express, and control their Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences [1983]) that human intelligence see An early theory of emotional intelligence was introduced in 1990 by the American Perception, expression, and control Emotional intelligence involves appraising and expressing emotions of both oneself and others. Accurate perception of one’s own emotions is necessary to appropriately respond to and communicate those emotions to others. Once recognized, one’s emotions can be expressed through see Emotional intelligence also Components, models, and acquisition According to Salovey, Mayer, and other researchers, emotional intelligence encompasses the abilities to perceive emotions in oneself and others, to use emotions in thought and action, to understand emotions, and to manage or control emotions. In Emotional Intelligence (1995), a work that served to popularize the notion in the 1990s, the American psychologist Daniel Goleman described emotional intelligence as On the basis of such abilities-based models, researchers have devised tests of emotional intelligence similar to those used to measure a person’s