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1. What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional Intelligence 1

  • Emotions are active mental processes that can be managed, so long as individuals develop the knowledge and skills to do so.
  • David Wechsler, claimed that intelligence is the “global capacity of an individual to think rationally, act purposefully, and deal effectively with their environment”.
  • Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer explained EI as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”.

EI history

  • Emotion was seen posing a threat to productive and rational thinking.
  • Mid-20th century scholars explained emotions as mentally destabilizing forces.
  • Goleman’s model of EI includes a blend of emotion-related skills, traditional cognitive intelligence, and distinct personality traits.

EI Models and Measures

  • There are 3 models of EI:
    • Ability model.
    • Trait model.
    • Mixed model.
  • Ability model:
    • Developed by Mayer and Salovey.
    • EI as a standard intelligence that utilizes a distinct set of mental abilities that (1) are intercorrelated, (2) relate to other extant intelligences, and (3) develop with age and experience.
    • EI is divided into 4 branches:
      • Perception/expression of emotion:
        • Identify emotions in themselves and others using facial expressions, tone of voice, and body language.
      • Use of emotion to facilitate thinking:
        • Some emotional states are more optimal for targeted outcomes than others.
        • E.g., anger increases adrenaline; hence, it is useful to direct anger towards a task that requires energy; but it is not a good time for a calm conversation or study.
        • Making decisions based on the impact that emotional experiences may have on actions and behavior is an essential component of EI.
      • Understanding emotions:
        • The ability to differentiate between emotional states, as well as their specific causes and trajectories.
      • Management of emotions of oneself and others:
        • It includes the ability to:
          • Remain open to a wide range of emotions.
          • Recognize the value of feeling certain emotions in specific situations
          • Understand which short- and long-term strategies are most efficient for emotion regulation.
  • Mixed and Trait Models of EI:
    • mixed models offer a broad definition of EI that combines mental abilities with personality traits such as optimism, motivation, and stress tolerance.
    • Boyatzis-Goleman model of EI includes 4 domains:
      • Self-awareness.
      • Self-management.
      • Social awareness.
      • Relationship management.
    • Bar-On model of EI includes 5 domains:
      • Intrapersonal.
      • Interpersonal.
      • Stress management.
      • Adaptability.
      • General mood.
  • Self-report assessments:
    • Surveys that ask respondents to report their own emotional skills are most often associated with mixed and trait models.
    • Self-report measures are usually quick to administer, but they are vulnerable to to social-desirability biases and faking.
    • There is also potentiality of inaccurate judgment of personal ability and skills (the responder does not understand themselves or the questions).
    • Self-report measures have been shown to lack discriminant validity from existing personality measures and have very low correlations with ability measures of EI.
    • Distinguishing EI from personality traits helps us better target the skills that can improve desirable outcomes.
  • When applied in educational settings, theoretical foundations of EI are often integrated into social and emotional learning (SEL) programs. SEL is the process of merging thinking, feeling, and behaving.
  • RULER: A SEL program developed by Yale University that focuses on the development of EI in children:
    • Recognize emotions in oneself and in other people.
    • Understand the causes and consequences of a wide range of emotions.
    • Label emotions using a sophisticated vocabulary.
    • Express emotions in socially appropriate way.
    • Regulate emotions effectively.

Emotional Intelligence in Health Professionals 2

  • Background:
    • Non-cognitive traits have been theorised to predict characteristics, career choice and outcomes of health professionals and could represent a homogenous group.
    • This study aims to profle and compare personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence of health practitioners across a variety of professions.
  • Methods:
    • Empirical literature was systematically reviewed.
    • A two-concept search strategy was applied to four databases (CINAHL, PubMed, Embase, ProQuest).
    • Title/abstract and full text articles were screened against inclusion and exclusion criteria.
    • Methodological quality was assessed using Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool.
    • Data was synthesised narratively and meta-aggregated where feasible.
  • Results:
    • 321 studies representing 153 assessment tools of personality (n=83 studies), behaviour (n=8), and emotional intelligence (n=62) were included.
    • Most studies (n=171) explored personality (medicine, nursing, nursing assistants, dentistry, allied health, paramedics), revealing variation in traits across professions.
    • Behaviour styles were least measured with only ten studies exploring these across four health professions (nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology).
    • Emotional intelligence (n=146 studies) varied amongst professions (medicine, nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiology) with all exhibiting average to aboveaverage scores.
  • Conclusion:
    • Personality traits, behaviour styles and emotional intelligence are all key characteristics of health professionals reported in the literature.
    • There is both heterogeneity and homogeneity within and between professional groups.
    • The characterisation and understanding of these non-cognitive traits will aid health professionals to understand their own non-cognitive features and how these might be useful in predicting performance with potential to adapt these to enhance success within their chosen profession.
  • Emotional intelligence (EI) represents an assortment of non-cognitive skills and capabilities including empathy, professionalism and integrity, and each of these attributes infuence an individual’s ability to cope with environmental demands.
  • All health professional groups demonstrate agreeable, cooperative, and self-directed personality traits with lower levels of neuroticism.
  • However, physiotherapists and pharmacists have a higher level of extroversion which is likely to be related to the person-oriented aspects of their role compared to other health professional groups.
  • Medicine and nursing are more dominant and less abstracted in their expression of personality and are inclined to be more assertive and forceful than other professions.
  • Nurses and psychologists tend to exhibit Type A behaviour styles, including higher levels of competitiveness, time urgency, and with an external locus of control.
  • Comparatively, occupational therapists appear to demonstrate behaviour dependent on their role, with clinician behaviour focused on patient interactions, whereas administrators are more pragmatic and objective with a focus on the operational management of others.
  • Collectively, health professionals exhibit average to above average global EI, except for nurses who demonstrate average to low EI on standardised assessments.

What is Emotional Intelligence and How Can You Develop it? 4

  • Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, comprehend, manage, and handle emotions in a positive way.
  • It should start with oneself and then extend to others.
  • EQ: Emotional Quotient.
    • It is a measure of emotional intelligence.
    • It was made popular by Daniel Goleman in 1995.
    • EQ is particularly important in leadership roles.
    • People with high EQ have better mental health, work success, and relationships.
  • IQ: Intelligence Quotient.
    • It is a measure of cognitive intelligence and ability to problem-solve.
    • IQ does not asses how a person interacts with others.
  • How to improve your EQ:
    • Deliberate practice using Goldman’s model.
  • Goldman’s model or mixed model:
    • Self-awareness:
      • Recognize your emotions.
      • Can be improved by reflective journalling.
    • Self-regulation:
      • Manage your emotions.
      • Can be improved by mindfulness and breathing exercises.
    • Motivation:
      • Drive to achieve goals.
      • Can be improved by understanding our personal values, priorities, and passions.
      • Can be improved by setting goals and working towards them.
    • Empathy:
      • Understand others’ emotions.
      • Can be improved by active listening and understanding body language.
    • Social skills:
      • Manage relationships.
      • Can be improved by practicing communication skills and conflict resolution.

The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence in Predicting Academic Stress, Burnout, and Engagement 3

  • The current study examined the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (TEI), academic stress, burnout, and engagement in Japanese undergraduate students learning English as a second language.
  • 184 participants (females=87, mean age=19.7 years) completed two questionnaires, one administered at the beginning of the academic semester (i.e., baseline), and one administered at the end of the academic semester (i.e., follow-up).
  • Structural equation modeling revealed that TEI factors predicted engagement and negatively predicted academic stress, while stress strongly predicted burnout.
  • Cluster analysis and ANOVA revealed that participants with high TEI reported significantly lower scores for stress and burnout and higher scores for academic engagement (i.e., emotional and agentic) compared to participants with low TEI.
  • In addition, exhaustion significantly increased between baseline and follow-up for participants with low TEI but not for participants with high TEI.
  • For participants with high TEI, inadequacy significantly decreased whereas emotional engagement significantly increased between baseline and follow-up.
  • Results suggest that increasing TEI may reduce academic stress and burnout while increasing engagement among second language learners in a Japanese context.
  • Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) posited by Petrides and Furnham (2001), is defined as “a constellation of behavioral dispositions and self-perceptions concerning one’s ability to recognize, process, and utilize emotion-laden information”.
  • The theory consists of 15 factors:
    • adaptability
    • assertiveness
    • emotion expression
    • emotion perception
    • emotion regulation
    • low impulsiveness
    • relationships
    • self-esteem
    • self-motivation
    • social-awareness
    • stress management
    • trait empathy
    • trait happiness
    • trait optimism
  • The 15 factors are categorized into 4 domains:
    • emotionality
    • self-control
    • sociability
    • wellbeing
  • Over the course of an academic semester, higher TEI contributed to an increase in engagement while predicting a decrease in stress.

Emotional Intelligence at Work: Why IQ Isn’t Everything 5

  • IQ is not the only predictor of success.
  • To become an engineer, you need an IQ > 115.
  • IQs above 120 are not correlated with success.
  • All people in the same field have similar IQs, but the success is then determined by other factors such as EQ which distinguishes people.
  • EQ answers questions like:
    • How well you manage yourself?
    • Can you work towards your goals despite obstacles?
    • Do you give up easily?
    • Do you have negative or positive outlook?
    • Can you tune into other people?
    • Do you notice other people?

References

  1. Scarbrough, S. (2023). Psychology of human relations. Open Oregon Educational Resources by Pressbooks. https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/psychologyofhumanrelations/ Read Section 5.2 - Emotional Intelligence. ↩

  2. Louwen, C., Reidlinger, D., & Milne, N. (2023). Profiling health professionals’ personality traits, behavior styles and emotional intelligence: A systematic review. BMC Medical Education, 23, 120. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04003-y ↩

  3. McEown, K., McEown, M. S., & Oga-Baldwin, W. Q. (2023). The role of trait emotional intelligence in predicting academic stress, burnout, and engagement in Japanese second language learners. Current Psychology, 43, 1395–1405, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-023-04296-8 ↩

  4. Ash, S. (2023, May 1). What is emotional intelligence and how can you develop it? (Goleman’s 5 Component Model) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/lBUjfJJEqSM ↩

  5. Big Think. (2018, September 30). Emotional intelligence at work: Why IQ isn’t everything | Big Think [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/7ngIFlmRRPQ ↩