EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence

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Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

LESSON 25

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional Intelligence, also called EI, describes an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage

the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups. However, being a relatively new area, the definition of

emotional intelligence is still in a state of flux.

It may also be defined as the ability to recognize and monitor our own emotions and those of others and to

use this information as a guide to thinking and actions.

Robert Cooper and Aymen Sawaf defined emotional intelligence as "the ability to sense, understand, and

effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, connection

and influence."

Therefore, emotional intelligence is the ability to use emotional information and emotional energy to

understand and motivate self and others for personal and professional development, and to create an

environment of harmony with fellow persons to achieve success.

For many decades and centuries, a lot of emphasis has been placed on certain aspects of intelligence such as

cognitive skills, logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills etc. We can

however see that some of the top achievers were not clever at all in childhood and a significant proportion

of who were clever are not at the top now. Researchers were puzzled by the fact that while IQ could predict

to a significant degree the academic performance and, to certain degree, professional and personal success,

there was something missing in the equation. Some of those with great IQ scores were not doing well in

life, perhaps wasting their potential by thinking, behaving and communicating in a way that hindered their

chances to succeed. One of the major missing parts, discovered later, in the success equation is emotional

intelligence.

Importance of Emotional Intelligence

75% of careers are derailed for reasons related to emotional competencies, including inability to handle

interpersonal problems; unsatisfactory team leadership during times of difficulty or conflict; or inability to

adapt to change or elicit trust (The Centre for Creative Leadership, 1994). People who accurately perceive

others' emotions are better able to handle changes and build stronger social networks. Social and emotional

abilities were four times more important than IQ in determining professional success and prestige.

Daniel Goleman revolutionised the literature about emotional intelligence saying emotional quotient (EQ) is

more important than IQ in obtaining and retaining jobs.

Salovy and Mayer 1990 also postulated that emotional intelligence is linked to problem solving and

achievement. It is also described that while interacting with members of the social environment, emotionally

intelligent people produce win-win relationship and outcome for themselves and others. Emotionally

intelligent people develop a magnetic field of emotional attraction around them and often are the owners of

an ever-increasing network of social relationships. They provide a nucleus of support to all others around

and are able to sustain progress for themselves and those in their team.

Emotionally intelligent people are capable of diagnosing and monitoring the internal environment of their

own and others' minds and show remarkable skills in managing mutually beneficial relationships with

others.

Emotionally intelligent people are generally optimistic, flexible and realistic, and are fairly successful in

solving problems and coping with stress without losing control. This is a road to sure success and can be

acquired. Sandra Ford Watson , international author of book Courage said, emotional intelligence is a

required skill if you are to lead or work successfully with a group or team.

Daniel Goleman isolated five elements/dimensions of EI:

1. Self-awareness

Being aware of your emotions and their strengths and weaknesses

2. Self-management

Using awareness of your emotions to manage your response to different situations and people.

3. Self Motivation

Motivating self for doing job and achieving success.

4. Empathy

Understanding the perspectives of other people including their motivations, their emotions, and the

meaning of what they do and say.

Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Social skills

Using awareness of one's own emotions and the emotions of others to manage relationships to a

successful outcome.

EI IS Related To Emotions and Intelligence

Each emotion expresses a quantity or magnitude in a positive/negative scale. This way, we experience

positive and negative emotions in different degrees and with diverse intensity. We can experience abrupt or

gradual changes of emotional intensity, either towards the positive or negative side. That is to say, all

emotion represents a magnitude or measurement along a continuum that can take positive or negative

values. Positive emotions are emotions such as: Love, joy, surprise, etc., while negative emotions are Fear,

sadness, anger, disgust, shame, etc.

Intelligence is a property of mind that encompasses many related mental abilities, such as the capacities to

reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn.

An intelligence quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests attempting

to measure intelligence. IQ tests are generally designed and used because they are found to be predictive of

later intellectual achievement, such as educational achievement. IQ also correlates with job performance and

income, although in all cases other factors explain most of the variance. Recent work has demonstrated

links between IQ and health.

In 1905 the French psychologist Alfred Binet published the first modern intelligence test, the Binet-Simon

intelligence scale. His principal goal was to identify students who needed special help in coping with the

school curriculum. Along with his collaborator Theodore Simon, Binet published revisions of his

intelligence scale in 1908 and 1911, the last appearing just before his untimely death.

Multiple Intelligences

Charles Spearman and Cyril Burt, researchers in the early 1900's, created a remarkable theory that would

expand to the current science of multiple intelligences. Before them, scientists had left unanswered the exact

nature of intelligence. They believed that there was a collection of various specific abilities "s", such as

mathematical or writing ability, that unified into a single factor of intelligence, "g". This theory provided that

the g factor was more important to the specific s factors than others by a given multiplicative value,

depending on the s factor. For example, they concluded that g was 4.5 times more important to

mathematical skill than it was to musical aptitude.

Although crude, these ideas formed the foundation upon which multiple intelligences, a much kinder

science, would lie. With the popularity of these ideas came the idea that each person had a different area of

aptitude, and thus that people who tested poorly on a Stanford-Binet or other standardized verbal or logical

examination were not necessarily lower in intelligence.

Howard Gardner, is another forerunner in the field who labels behavior into the aptitudes in seven types of

intelligence. The following dimensions of multiple intelligence were identified by Gardner:

Multiple intelligence consists of 10 dimensions:

Logical

You may be number smart. You will be good at mathematics and other number activities; you are also good

at solving problems. This is sometimes called being Logical smart.

Verbal

You may be word smart. You will enjoy reading, writing and talking about things. This is sometimes called

being Linguistic smart

Interpersonal

You may be people smart. You will like to mix with other people and you will belong to lots of clubs. You

like team games and are good at sharing. This is sometimes called being Interpersonal smart.

Intrapersonal (Being alone)

You may be myself smart. You will know about yourself and your strengths and weaknesses. You will

probably keep a diary. This is sometimes called being Intrapersonal smart

Spatial

You may be picture smart. You will be good at art and also good at other activities where you look at

pictures like map reading, finding your way out of mazes and graphs. This is sometimes called being

Visual/Spatial smart.

Organizational Psychology (PSY510)

Musical

You may be music smart. You will enjoy music and can recognise sounds, and timbre, or the quality of a

tone. This is sometimes called being Musical smart.

Kinesthetic (Body Movement)

You may be body smart. You will enjoy sports and are good at swimming, athletics, gymnastics and other

sports. This is sometimes called being Kinaesthetic smart.

Naturalist (Concern with nature)

You may be nature smart. You will like the world of plants and animals and enjoy learning about them. This

is sometimes called being Naturalistic smart

Existential (Personal mission)

Knowing the reason for one's existence. In other words, knowing about the mission of his or her.

Emotional

Understanding the emotions of oneself, and others.

Emotional intelligence is related to:

1. Success in job

2. Effectiveness

3. Adoption and change in organizations

4. Life success

5. Leadership

Many organizations are using EI as a basis for selection, promotion and prediction of employee behavior

and success in organizations

REFERENCES

· Luthans, Fred. (2005). Organizational Behaviour (Tenth Edition). United States: McGraw Hill Irwin.

· Mejia, Gomez. Balkin, David & Cardy, Rober. (2006). Managing Human Resources (Fourth Edition).

India: Dorling Kidersley Pvt. Ltd., licensee of Pearson Education in South Asia.

· Robbins, P., Stephen. (1996). Organizational Behaviour (Seventh Edition). India: Prentice Hall, Delhi.

· Huczynski, Andrzej & Buchanan, David. (1991). Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text

(Second Edition). Prentice Hall. New York.

· Moorhead, Gregory & Griffin, Ricky. (2001). Organizational Behaviour (First Edition). A.I.T.B.S.

Publishers & Distributors. Delhi.

· Intelligence Quotient: Retrieved froim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_quotient

· Emotional Intelligence: Regrieved from: http://library.thinkquest.org/C0121653/contradictory.htm

FURTHER READING

· Intelligence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_(trait)

· Armstrong, Thomas. Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1994:

http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/books_videos.htm#Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

· Armstrong, Thomas. 7 Kinds of Smart: Identifying and Developing Your Many Intelligences, New

York: Plume, 1993: http://www.thomasarmstrong.com/books_videos.htm#7 Kinds of Smart

· Emotional Intelligence: http://www.6seconds.org/

· Multiple Intelligence Information: http://www.eintel.org/

· Ciarrochi, H. and Mayer, J. (2005). "Can Self-Report Measures Contribute to the Study of Emotional

Intelligence? A Conversation between Joseph Ciarrochi and John D. Mayer" The University of New

Hampshire:

http://www.unh.edu/emotional_intelligence/ei%20Controversies/ei%20can%20self%20report%20co

ntribute.htm accessed January 2, 2006.

· Nancy (1995). "The EQ Factor," Time Magazine (October 2). Web reference at

http://www.time.com/time/classroom/psych/unit5_article1.html accessed January 2, 2006.

· Emotional Intelligence: http://www.eiconsortium.org/research/what_is_emotional_intelligence.htm

· Emotinal intelligence articles,time management tips and more:

http://www.icejobs.com/performjob_at23.htm

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