Emotional Intelligence (EI) Theory Essay

Two psychologists, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, first introduced the concept of “emotional intelligence”, or EI, in a journal article in 1990 (Goleman, 2005). It was then popularized in 1995, with the book Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman. Goleman posited that EI is as important, if not more important, than IQ in terms of success in academics, business, and interpersonal relationships (2005).

Emotional Intelligence, also known as ‘EI’, is defined as the ability to recognize, authoritize and evaluate emotions. The ability to control and express our own emotions is very important but so is our ability to understand, interpret and respond to the emotions of others. To be emotionally intelligent one must be able to perceive emotions, reason with emotions, understand emotions and manage emotions.

Another characteristic of Emotional intelligence (EI) consists of the abilities to be able to persist in the face of frustrations; mood and distress regulation in order to think; urge control and deferment of gratification; to empathize and to hope. Studies have shown that a person with EI show competency in different areas of their professional life like self-management and relationships, self-regulation, and motivation. Taking into consideration the slices that conforms a leader with high EI it is fair to say that these skills are not innate but teachable to those who want to be the best leader they can be. EI skills can be fortified via steady education and training.

Managing human emotions plays a critical role in everyday functioning. After years of lively debate on the significance and validity of its construct, emotional intelligence (EI) has generated a robust body of theories, research studies, and measures (Stough, Saklofske, & Parker). There has been work and many ideas by Jack Mayer, Peter Salovey, David Caruso, Daniel Goleman, and Steve Hein to name a few. All researchers have different interpretations of the term emotional intelligence and different visions of what emotional intelligence can mean for humanity (Hein, 2005). In 1985 Wayne Leon Payne, then a graduate student at an alternative liberal arts college in the USA, wrote a doctoral dissertation which included the term “emotional intelligence” in the title. This seems to be the first academic use of the term “emotional intelligence.” In the next five years no one else seems to have used the term “emotional intelligence” in any academic paper. Then in 1990 the work of two American university professors, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, was published in two academic journal articles. Mayer and Salovey were trying to develop a way of scientifically measuring the difference between people’s ability in the area of emotions. They found that some people were better than others at things like identifying their own feelings, identifying the feelings of others, and solving problems involving emotional issues. Since 1990 these professors

Emotional intelligence is a term I had never heard of before I took my first leadership class. Now that I know what emotional intelligence is and I understand how to use it I hope to apply it to benefit myself and my organizations. I recognize what a huge disadvantage those that do not understand emotional intelligence are faced with. Emotional Intelligence has become a vital part of how today's leaders meet the many various challenges they face on a day to day basis. Emotional Intelligence can help leaders lead their group or organization through the good and the bad times, something that fewer and fewer people seem capable of accomplishing. Lack of emotional intelligence is

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a critical skill in each area of our life, beginning with the personal life and ending on the work environment. It can improve an individual's social effectiveness, and allow for the better understanding of how our emotions work. “Emotional intelligence involves the ability to recognize and control one's own emotions and the emotions of others and refers to a variety of competencies and skills such as empathy and self-control that affect personal and professional outcomes” (Butler, Kwantes, and Boglarsky, 2014).

Wang et. Al, expresses that Emotional Intelligence encompasses: Mindfulness of self and other’s emotions, personal relationship skills, self-management skills, acceptance of change or struggle, and the ability to see through other’s perspectives (Wang, Wilhite, Wyatt, Young, & Bloemker, 2012). In Morrison (2007), decisiveness, coping with stress, communication of workers, collaboration and teamwork, evaluation and observation, are the foundation upon which emotional intellect stands.

Emotional intelligence was described formally by (Salovey & Mayer). They defined it as ‘the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions’. They also provided an initial empirical demonstration of how an aspect of emotional

After answering the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, I received a score of 128.4 out of 150 points.

The concept of emotional intelligence is difficult to standardize because the emotions of people are unique and may change with age and circumstances. The study will involve the teacher introducing an EI topic to explore; the students will then

As a result of the various definitions of emotional intelligence, there emerged three most widely recognized and main models of emotional intelligence. The model as proposed by the modern pioneer of Emotional Intelligence studies Salovey and Mayer sees emotional intelligence as a cognitive ability, while the model as proposed by Bar-On views emotional intelligence as a mixed intelligence, meaning it consists of cognitive ability and personality aspects (Mayer and Salovey, 1990; Bar-On, 2004) This model stresses the importance of how both cognitive and personality factors can effect general well-being. The third model was developed by Daniel Goleman (2001), who like Bar-on also perceives emotional intelligence as a mixed intelligence, but his model focuses on how the two factors can determine organizational and workplace success.

Leaders today are presented with an ever-increasing reliance on unifying a team or organization to achieve goals and objectives. With this demand for higher-level leaders, the ability through which a leader is able to appeal to specific traits and qualities is never more important. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one area of focus that a leader in the marketplace today must be able to appeal to and demonstrate as a core competency.

The general concept of emotional intelligence (EI) is partly rooted in Thorndike’s (1920) idea of ‘social intelligence’ and Gardner’s (1983) theory of multiple intelligences (especially ‘intrapersonal’ and ‘interpersonal’ intelligence). In the current context, EI asa construct was discussed in a dissertation by Payne (1986), even though as a term it had appeared in the literature much earlier (Leuner, 1966). Salovey and Mayer (1990) put forward a theoretical model that viewed the construct as a subset of social intelligence and Goleman (1995) provided a broad and highly influential account that has nonetheless attracted concerted criticism for its unsubstantiated claims about the vital importance of EI in people’s personal, social and professional lives. The fact that the field still lacks a universally accepted operational definition has contributed significantly to the emergence of inconsistent and sometimes, contradictory findings that have often been discussed in the scientific literature (e.g. Davies, Stankov, & Roberts, 1998; Epstein, 1998; Mathews, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2002).

Although intelligence has been studied for over a century, the study of emotional intelligence is relatively new in comparison. One commonly used definition of EI is ‘the ability to understand your own emotions and those of people around you’ (Maltby et al., 2010, p. 392). There are four main models are: The Salovey Mayer, and Caruso model (Mayer & Salovey,

Definition: “Emotional intelligence can be defined as a set of personality traits, as competencies, or as an intelligence. Trait-based approaches gather together traits such as optimism, assertiveness, and reality testing to create an EQ construct. Competency-based approaches include traditional leadership competencies such as influence, communication, and self-awareness. The ability-based approach to EI posits four related abilities: identifying emotions accurately; using emotions to facilitate thinking; understanding emotional causes and progressions; and managing emotions to result in optimal outcomes.”