Dr. N.L. Kachhara
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself, of others, and of groups. It can be divided into ability EI and trait EI. Criticisms have centered on whether EI is a real intelligence and whether it has incremental validity over IQ and the Big Five personality traits. Substantial disagreement exists regarding the definition of EI with respect to both terminology and operationalization. Currently, there are three main models of EI:
- Ability model
- Mixed model (usually subsumed under trait EI)
- Trait model
Ability model
"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 wider cognition. This ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviors. The model claims that EI includes four types of abilities:
- Perceiving emotions the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifactsincluding 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Managing emotions the ability to regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others. Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.
The ability EI model has been criticized in the research for lacking face and predictive validity in the workplace."
Mixed model
"The model introduced by Daniel Goleman focuses on EI as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive leadership performance. Goleman's model outlines five main EI constructs
- Self-awareness the ability to know one's emotions, strengths, weaknesses, drives, values and goals and recognize their impact on others while using gut feelings to guide decisions.
- Self-regulation involves controlling or redirecting one's disruptive emotions and impulses and adapting to changing circumstances.
- Social skill managing relationships to move people in the desired direction
- Empathy - considering other people's feelings especially when making decisions
- Motivation - being driven to achieve for the sake of achievement."
Goleman's model of EI has been criticized in the research literature as mere "pop psychology."
Trait model
"In lay terms, trait EI refers to an individual's self-perception 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." "The trait EI model is general and subsumes the Goleman model 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."
"Locke claims that the concept of EI is in itself a misinterpretation of the intelligence construct. He suggests the concept should be re-labeled and referred to as a skill."
