You must have come across the term “emotional intelligence” that women are better at it than men, or it’s an important element in the relationship. Today, we’ll discuss what is emotional intelligence; its components, tips, how to measure it, use it, impact, and flaws.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is the capability of evaluating, controlling, and perceiving your emotions. Some professional experts say that EI is a learned art that you can learn and proficient at it, and others suggest that it’s an inborn trait.
It’s a significant capability of a person to control and express one’s emotions, and it’s also equally important to respond appropriately, rightly interpret, and understand the emotions of others. How bizarre the world would be when you don’t know whether you’re feeling happy or sad, and your colleagues are feeling joyful or angry. That’s why psychologists call it emotional intelligence, and they say that people with more EI are successful in life than simply having more IQ.
Components of Emotional Intelligence
The four main levels and components of emotional intelligence are as follows;
Perceiving
As the name implies, it’s the first level where you comprehend the perceived emotions rightly. Often it comprises of comprehending the facial expression of others, their body language, and various other non-verbal cues.
Reasoning
This level of EI is to boost your cognitive and thinking ability based on your emotions. The emotions help you to prioritize that what types of things you should respond, react, and pay attention to.
Understanding
The perceived emotions could comprise a lot of meanings and interpretations. If a person is sharing angry and frustrating emotions, then the perceiver should comprehend the cause of the anger and what it implies.
For instance, if your manager is angry and having a bad mood, then it could be because he isn’t satisfied with your performance at work. Or he had an argument with his wife, or he received an over-speeding ticket from the police on his way to work, or something else.
Managing
The most difficult and highest level of emotional intelligence is controlling your emotions effectively. Emotional management also means regularizing your emotions and responding to your and others’ emotions appropriately.
These are the four main levels and components of emotional intelligence ranging from basic to complex. The lower levels only deal with receiving and sharing your emotions, and the higher level demands consciousness and mindfulness.
How to Measure Emotional Intelligence
There are many ways to measure and assess the emotional intelligence of a person. Usually, they comprise of two types; the self-report test, and the ability test. However, self-report is a simple and easier administer test, where the person answers the questions by rating one’s behavior and attitude. For instance, it could be agreed, disagree, or strongly agree or disagree.
On the other hand, ability tests are comprised of making people respond to a certain situation and then evaluating their skills. The test requires people to exhibit their skills, and the 3rd party checks your skill. However, the mental health professional usually employ two methods to measure EI, and they’re as follows;
ESCI
ESCI or emotional and social competency inventory consists of the old technique of self-analysis questioners, and it also comprises of a person offering to rate based on one’s abilities and emotional competencies. The test evaluates the social and emotional capabilities and competencies of a person.
MSCEIT
It’s an ability test measuring the four elements of Mayer and Salovey’s EI model, the 3rd party analyzes one’s capability to perceive, identify, understand, control, and manage emotions.
How to Use EI
Emotional intelligence helps you in many ways, and you can practice and use it in the following ways;
- Accepting responsibility and criticism
- Moving on in life after making mistakes
- Saying when it comes to it
- Expression your feelings and emotions with others
- Solving problems and issues that would work for everyone
- Empathizing with others
- Developing listening skill
- Recognizing yourself that why you do certain things
- Not judging others
EI plays a significant role in our interpersonal relationships and communication. Many professional experts suggest that EI is more important for succeeding in life than IQ. However, the good news is that you can improve your emotional and social skills.
Impact of Emotional Intelligence
The trend of learning and teaching emotional and social intelligence skills has increased significantly in recent years. In fact, many schools have started the standard program of SEL (social and emotional learning). It’s to improve the well-being of students and prevent bullying so that they could succeed in life.
Empathizing with Others
The main part of EI is to identify your own feelings and empathize with the feelings of others. It comprises of putting yourself in the shoes of others and imagining that how you would feel. People that have strong EI would experience and observe the emotions of others better. They know why other people behave and act in a certain based on their observatory information.
Self Awareness
Emotionally intelligent people do not only think better and understand the feelings and emotions of others, but they also adapt their own feelings relevant to the environment. Self-awareness helps you to think about various factors that are contributing to the emotions of a person.
Think before doing it
EI people are aware of the fact that emotions are a very powerful temporary tool. For instance, whenever any type of emotionally charged event happens like an angry argument with your colleague, then they take a step back and respond accordingly. It makes them calm down their emotions and thinks about various other factors relevant to the argument.
Tips to Improve Emotional Intelligence
Some of the tips to improve your EI skill are as follows;
Reflect
The important element of EI is to comprehend the reason for your emotions like how they impact your behavior and decisions. When you think that how other people should reply, then you would consider the role of their emotions.
For instance, why a person is feeling and behaving in a certain way, and what factors are contributing to it. Why your emotions and feelings are different from his/her, and how. When you think about such questions, then you can easily understand the role of emotions.
Empathize
Understanding the emotional state of the other person is difficult. In order to do that, you should try to put yourself in the shoes of the other person, and then you would understand their position. However, it allows you to feel in their situation, and you should develop a habit of empathizing with others.
Listen
The first step in understanding the feelings and emotions of other people is to pay heed to them, and carefully listen to them whatever they want to say, verbally or non-verbally. Non-verbal cues, body language, and expression are equally, they would let you know if a person is feeling down.
Flaws of Emotional Intelligence
If a person has lower EI, then it would impact a person’s life in various ways in terms of relationships and work. However, if a person has higher EI, then it would result in the form of potential challenges. Some of the potential flaws are as follows;
- People with higher EI or EQ could use their skill for deceiving and manipulating others
- It’s difficult for people with higher EQ or EI to offer negative feedback because they don’t want to hurt others’ feelings
- People with higher EI have lower innovation and creativity level
Conclusion: What is Emotional Intelligence? Components, Impact
After an in-depth study of what is emotional intelligence; its components, impact, how to use it, improvement tips, and potential flaws; we’ve realized that emotional intelligence is very important for our lives. If you want to take advantage of EI skills, then you should practice the abovementioned tips in your life.
Ahsan is an accomplished researcher and has a deep insight in worldly life affairs. He goes Live 3 days a week on various social media platforms. Other than research writing, he’s a very interesting person.
