Emotional Intelligence
The Basic Idea
What does it mean to be intelligent? You’ve heard the difference between “street smarts” (being able to handle practical situations well) and “book smarts” (doing well in school). Now think about the last few social interactions you had: did your intelligence play a role in navigating the conversation? You may be surprised to hear that, yes, intelligence matters very much in our interactions and day-to-day activities, although perhaps in unexpected ways.
Your emotional intelligence (EI) can drive your own behaviors, as well as impact others in positive or negative ways. Specifically, EI refers to the ability to monitor and discriminate between one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, and then use this information to guide one’s thoughts and actions.1 Since people differ in their abilities to understand and express their own emotions, EI will vary across people. By considering the components of EI, you may realize that it can have important implications for both your personal and professional lives.
In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels.
– Daniel Goleman, psychologist, New York Times journalist, and author of Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ
