Defining Emotional Intelligence

Earliest roots can be traced to Darwin’s work on importance of emotional expression for survival and second adaptation. In 1900s, traditional definitions of intelligence emphasized cognitive aspects (IQ) and then later on begun to recognize the importance of non-cognitive aspects from which the term â€Å"social intelligence† was coined. Similarly it was in 1940 even David Wechsler joined in the bandwagon and argued that all emotional intelligence models will not be complete unless all the non-intellective factors could be defined. But it was in the 1970s and 80s that Emotional Intelligence as a theory was fully developed by the works and writings of Howard Gardner, Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer, however, it was the works of Daniel Goleman who published â€Å" Why It Can Matter More Than IQ† in 1995 that made the term widely popularized. Defining Emotional Intelligence The EQ concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there are wider areas of Emotional Intelligence that dictate and enable how successful we are. Success requires more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence, ignoring essential behavioural and character elements. We've all met people who are academically brilliant and yet are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that despite possessing a high IQ rating, success does not automatically follow. Goleman defined EQ as being a different way of being smart. It includes knowing your feelings, and using them to make good decisions, managing your feelings well, motivating yourself with zeal and persistence , maintaining hope in the face of frustration, exhibiting empathy and compassion, ability to interact smoothly at the same time managing relationships effectively. And all of these emotional skills matter immensely in marriage, families, in our careers for health and contentment. Different approaches and models have been developed to fully explain what EQ. Substantial disagreements exist in relation to both the terminologies at the same time its operationalizations. The definitions are so varied and researchers have been re-evaluating, re-defining it based on their own unique way of understanding it. So for now we would be defining it based on three main models : 1 . Ability EI Model, Mixed Model and Trait EI model, however we will be focusing our understanding to the model that made the term popular, which is the Mixed Model by Goleman. Ability EI Model Salovey and Mayer's conception of EI strives to define EI within the confines of the standard criteria for a new intelligence. Following their continuing research, their initial definition of EI was revised to â€Å"The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth.† The ability based model views emotions as useful sources of information that help one to make sense of and navigate the social environment.The model proposes that individuals vary in their ability to process information of an emotional nature and in their ability to relate emotional processing to a wider cognition. This ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviors. The model claims that EI includes four types of abilities: 1. Perceiving emotions – the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts—including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible. 2. Using emotions – the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving. The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand. 3. Understanding emotions – the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time. 4. Managing emotions – the ability to regulate emotions in both ourse lves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals. The ability-based model has been criticized in the research for lacking face and predictive validity in the workplace. Trait EI Model Petrides and colleagues proposed a conceptual distinction between the ability based model and a trait based model of EI.Trait EI is â€Å"a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality†. In lay terms, trait EI refers to an individual's self-perceptions of their emotional abilities. This definition of EI encompasses behavioral dispositions and self perceived abilities and is measured by self report, as opposed to the ability based model which refers to actual abilities, which have proven highly resistant to scientific measurement. Trait EI should be investigated within a personality framework. An alternative label for the same construct is trait emotional self-efficacy. The trait EI model is general and subsumes the Goleman and Bar-On models discussed above. The conceptualization of EI as a personality trait leads to a construct that lies outside the taxonomy of human cognitive ability. This is an important distinction in as much as it bears directly on the operationalization of the construct and the theories and hypotheses that are formulated about it. Mixed Models of EI This is the model that was introduced by Daniel Goleman and focuses on EI as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Goleman outlines four domains of EI based on two types of competencies: Personal Competency and Social Competency. Personal Competency 1. Self Awareness- the ability to recognize and understand over one’s emotions as they occur 2. Self Management- One’s ability to manage internal state, impulses, and emotional reactions to situations and people Social Competency 1. Social Awareness – One’s ability to understand emotions in people, this means understanding what others are thinking and how they are feeling from one’s own 2. Relationship Management – One’s ability to arrange interaction with others effectively