Social Anxiety And Emotional Intelligence Among Adults

What is emotional intelligence? Why it is important to understand emotional intelligence in today’s society? People can have a wide range of emotions from being happy, confused, angry, sad, etc. As individuals’, it’s important to understand our own emotions as well as those around us at home, work, and in social environments. If we are able to comprehend and control our emotions, it makes it easier for us to see others’ perceptions of ourselves.

Numerous researches have done on psychological disorders, Social Anxiety Disorder, as one of the most common disorders has been studied and analyzed for plenty of decades. Social Anxiety Disorder is defined as “excessive anxiety on exposure to potential scrutiny or evaluation by others” (Joy Albuquerque MD, FRCP; and Dorian Deshauer MD, FRCP,2002, p.87). It is considered part of the Axis of Anxiety Disorder and is also known as “Social Phobia”. Furthermore, it has been found in studies that Social Anxiety Disorder is the third most common psychiatric illness right after Alcohol Dependence and Depression

The main objectives of these studies are to find out the impact of emotional intelligence at the workplace, in learning institutions as well as in the social circles of human beings. The concept of emotional intelligence has been linked with self-confidence when it comes to learning. This is because according to recent studies emotional intelligence can be related to improving the self-esteem of learners. It’s not possible for an individual to be confident if they don’t recognize who they are, especially how to manage frustrations and temper (Elizabeth, 2002). The ability for an individual to remain calm even in challenging moments shows that they have high emotional stability and great

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

Social Anxiety Disorder affects more than 15 million adults in the United States (“Social Anxiety Disorder: How to Cope”, n.d.). Studies have recently placed Social Anxiety Disorder as the third psychological disorder in the United States, after depression and alcoholism (Richards, n.d.). The onset of most symptoms begins in early adolescence, around age thirteen (“Social Anxiety Disorder: How to Cope”, n.d.). Even with early onset, thirty six percent of people with symptoms report waiting ten years (or more) before seeking help (“Social Anxiety Disorder”, n.d.). Diagnosis can be delayed if the symptoms are minimized to be attributed to being merely shy or introverted. Other times, if the person has become socially withdrawn in response to their Social Anxiety, the behavior can be interpreted as being aloof or uninterested (“Social Anxiety Disorder: How to Cope”, n.d.). Further complicating timely diagnosis and early treatment is because many people with symptoms hesitate to talk about their feelings with others due to their fear of being judged negatively (“Social Anxiety Disorder: How to Cope”, n.d.). People with the disorder can be held back by their terror of feeling humiliated or embarrassed (“Social Anxiety Disorder”, n.d.). Left untreated, anxiety can interfere with social relationships, work, school, and the normal enjoyment of life (“Social Anxiety Disorder Social Phobia”, n.d.). The disorder can result in a low self-esteem, passivity, negative

Emotional intelligence is conceptualized as a person’s ability to overcome stress, communicate effectively, understand others, cope with challenges, and solve conflicts by identifying, using, understanding, and managing their emotions positively (Gines, 2015). Emotional intelligence allows individuals to understand others, without necessarily talking to them. This understanding is vital since it influences the way we relate with other people. Emotional intelligence can be defined using four components which include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (Segal, Smith, & Shubin, 2016). The essay focuses on these four components and the skills that help in building emotional intelligence.

Social anxiety is a debilitating disorder that often leads to significant social impairment, but impairment can transfer over to other domains of a person’s life (Ranta et al., 2007). That is, social anxiety to can lead to being socially incompetent and this can affect a persons work, education, and quality of relationships as well. Adolescents are especially susceptible to social anxiety because it is a developmental time when peer evaluation and social acceptance is very important; putting too much

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, social anxiety is a mental disorder with a lifetime prevalence of 12%. It is characterized by a persistent, intense and chronic fear of being scrutinized by others when engaging in, as well as a fear of, social interactions. In this form of anxiety, individuals are afraid of saying or doing something that will embarrass or humiliate them and have unrealistic appraisals of the negative consequences of social encounters. There are many factors that contribute to social anxiety such as sexual abuse, family conflict, or a natural tendency for a child to be shy or withdrawn. The cognitive behavioral model explains how this disorder is maintained after developing. Individuals do not have to

One of the most common psychological disorders is social phobia, which is termed “social anxiety disorder” (SAD) in the DSM-V (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The lifetime prevalence of social anxiety disorder is 12%, with around half of that being in the form of a generalized type of the disorder that crosses to most social situations. The other half of individuals who suffer from social anxiety disorder are limited in their discomfort to specific situations such as public speaking (Scheiener, 2006). Less serious than social anxiety disorder are shyness and performance anxiety, though the symptoms are quite similar between these character traits and SAD

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is mental health disease that is highly prevalent (Kessler et al., 2005) and is often characterized by an intense fear of being the center of attention in social situations such as pubic speaking, and most, if not all social events (Hedman, Strom, Stunkel, Mortberg 2013). It has been reported as one of the most common psychiatric disorders around (Kessler et al., 2005), with the onset of SAD generally manifesting itself starting during childhood and early adolescents (Shahar, 2014), with a research team out of the Stanford University reporting that cases of SAD often go undertreated (Jazaieri, Goldin, Werner, Ziv, and Gross, 2012). With such a common problem, and with the problem often getting undertreated,

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

Among all anxiety problems, social anxiety disorder is most common anxiety issue and third most common problem in all mental complications (American Psychiatric Association, 2000; Hofmann & Bogels, 2006). SAD is a mental disorder which has a tendency to become chronic and badly disturbs normal functions of life if not diagnosed and treated in time (Beesdo-Baum, et al., 2012; Garcia-Lopez, Piqueras, Diaz-Castela, & Ingles, 2008). It is also among the most prevailing mental disorders and is described in Criterion A of DSM-V as “Marked fear or anxiety about one or more social situations in which the individual is exposed to possible scrutiny by others. Examples include social interactions (e.g., having a conversation, meeting unfamiliar people), being observed (e.g., eating or drinking), and performing in front of others (e.g., giving a speech)” (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). A specific amount of anxiety is always anticipated socially and helps an individual managing future threats (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). But having social anxiety means that anxiety is too much for normal functioning during social situations and often interferes with

Emotional Intelligence is defined as a ‘type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions’ (Salovey and Mayer, 1990: 189). According to Goleman (2001), ‘emotional intelligence comprises of 4 key components which are, Self

To begin, the basics of emotional intelligence are crucial to understanding the foundation from which humans refer to on a daily basis for interacting in society. Emotional intelligence suggests that humans hold the capability to identify, interpret, understand, manage, and response to emotions in ways to enforce positive relationships, establish good communication, empathize, and address conflict within social networks. Humans begin learning this upon entering life, as emotional intelligence determines the ways that humans behave and intermingle with the environment. The degree of intelligence varies among people: those with a high emotional intelligence are able to recognize their own emotions and other emotions in addition to a sort of magnetic draw that pulls others toward them. This is because people with high emotional intelligence know how to better relate to, understand, and help others. Consider a group

To some persons, emotional intelligence is defined as study which looks for human cognitive abilities beyond traditional academic intelligence, (Zeidner et al., 2004). Researchers have categorized their definition based on the either an ability model or mixed model. Based on the Mandell and Phewanti (2003)’s ability model, “emotional intelligence is defined as a set of abilities that involves perceiving and reasoning abstractly with information that emerges from feelings” (p. 389). Studies of John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey (1997) have supported this model stating that emotional intelligence is defined as “the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth” (p. 35). In addition, Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2004) gave the definition of the emotional intelligence as “the capacity to