Emotional Intelligence Concepts

Mayer, Salovey & Caruso (2008) state that 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 a wider cognition. They divide the abilities and skills of EI into four areas, constructs or branches which is known as the four-branch ability model of emotional intelligence which are: • Perceiving Emotions: This is the first and fundamental branch ability in the model which makes the others possible. It is connotes the ability to identify one’s emotions as well as detect and decipher emotions in faces, voices, pictures, symbols, expressions, artifacts and postural or body expressions. • Using emotions: It is the ability to harness perceived emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities such as thinking, creativity and problem solving.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW Journal I Antecedents Of Emotional Intelligence: An Empirical Study Emotional Intelligence Salovey and Mayer (1990) introduced the concept of “emotional intelligence” in their work which combines affect with cognition, emotion, and intelligence. Emotional intelligence represents a set of dispositional attributes for monitoring one’s own and others’ feelings, beliefs, and internal states in order to provide useful information to guide one’s and others’ thinking and action (Carson, Carson, & Birkenmeier, 2000; Goleman, 1995). Carson et al. (2000) developed a measure of emotional intelligence based on Goleman’s five behavior-based factors: empathetic response - the ability to understand the emotional structure of other people; mood regulation - the ability to regulate and manage one’s moods and impulses; interpersonal skill - the ability to manage relationships and build positive networks; Internal motivation – the ability to influence the environment and pursue goals for the greater good while delaying immediate gratification; and self-awareness – the ability to self-monitor moods, emotions and drives, and their effects on others.

To improve one’s ability in emotional intelligence, it is important to understand the elements/competences involved in it. Each competence needs to be comprehended along with how it would look like in action. The competence themselves can be classified as: Figure 2.2.4: Competences of EI The personal competence comprises of self-awareness, self-regulation, and motivation. The social competence comprises of empathy and social skills. Personal competence is one’s ability to be aware of one’s emotions and manage behaviour and tendencies.

This describes the ability to have effective relationships and is also the ability that underpins popularity, leadership and interpersonal effectiveness. Mayer and Salovey (1993:433) defines emotional intelligence as a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one 's own and others ' emotions, to distinguish among them, and to use the information to guide one 's thinking and actions. Mayer and Salovey (1997) revised this definition to include: • 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

According to Cherniss (2001) the term EI refers to the ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason with emotion, and regulate emotions in him/her self and others. In other words, EI is one’s ability to be aware of one’s own feelings, be aware of others’ feelings, to differentiate among them, and to utilize the information to guide one’s thinking and behaviour (Salovey and Mayer, 1994). From this definition it is observed that definition consists of three levels of abilities: evaluation and expression of emotion, regulation of emotion; using emotions in

The first was social competence involving sharing, initiating and maintaining interactions, cooperating, problem solving and recognizing emotions. The second was emotional and behavioral self-regulation involving problem solving, managing negative emotions and using work-related skills. The measures were two questionnaires (pre-intervention and post-intervention)

The general attributional approach recognizes that humans try to make sense of their surroundings and themselves and that this sense-making activity is an important part of the social phenomena under asking questions and trying to find the truth. Attribution theories, very differently, are theories of more clearly stated or related. Even though explanations and feature guesses (trait) based on what you 've been told are occasionally related, they are clear/separate in many ways. Most theorist sort out explanations of success or failure using polarities of three characteristics that can help define personality: locus of control, stability and Controllability

Other examples of other scales to determine the level of emotional intelligence are Bar-On and the Goleman methods. The Goleman method focuses on the capacity to recognise our own emotions and of others for motivating ourselves and for managing emotion well in us and in our relationship. On a similar note the Bar On strategy or the model focuses on understanding oneself, and others and relating to people and adapting to and coping with the immediate surroundings which increases the chances of one’s being successful in dealing with the environment demands. The influence of emotional intelligence on the popular culture is rampant and widespread and rapid. Even though it has stimulated a surprising number of research initiatives across a wide range of domain within the scope of psychology itself the swiftness with which the concept of emotional intelligence has caught on has somewhat inevitably created a possible gap between what we know and what we need to

Another task is to learn to contain emotions and the socially appropriate or acceptable expression of emotions (the regulation of emotions), however (Cutting & Dunn, 1999 as cited in Pons, Harris & Rosnay, 2004). Begeer (2007) stated that functional regulation of emotional expressions during social interactions requires emotional skills and an understanding of others’ subjective mental states, i.e., a child needs to control its own emotional expression and has to be able to adequately attend to and recognize the emotional state of the interaction

A leader need a high degree of emotional intelligence to regulate their emotions and motivate others. To be a successful leader, emotional intelligence become an important course of growth and development of leadership in terms of building blocks in establishing relationship and deepening relationship with subordinates. According to Goleman’s emotional intelligence model (2001), four component include self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management. I found out that Kathy Smith is lacking in the area of social