Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
Section 1: Define and Research “Emotional Intelligence”
Emotional intelligence (EI) can be defined as the ability of a person to identify their emotions, be in charge and to convey these emotions by understanding other individuals’ emotions. Through the control, one can maintain a relationship with others and be able to fit in their surroundings and to fulfill his/her missions in life. The theory ‘emotional intelligence’ was developed in the 1970s- 1980s by three psychologists Peter Salovey, Howard Gardner and John Jack Mayer in their research. This theory was mostly recognized in 1995 when Daniel Goleman wrote a book titled Emotional Intelligence (Schutte et al., 1998).
Emotional intelligence can be identified through its characteristics. One characteristic of high emotional intelligence is self-awareness. The feature of self-awareness enables an individual to understand their strengths and their weaknesses. They know what they are best at especially at work or in school and they are informed of what they are not good at. Their weak points do not pull them back from achieving their goals because they have strategies that make it possible for them to maximize their strengths for better results. The second feature of high emotional intelligence is empathy. Most individuals who have high emotional intelligence are empathetic. Research shows that such persons can interact with others well due to their ability to understand their emotions.

Also, they show sympathy towards others and take their time and other resources to help those in need. The act of curiosity is also found in people who are empathetic. They tend to understand their environment and take the time to learn any new occurrence or person in it by questioning them in details. Being dynamic is another character of someone showing high emotional intelligence. Dynamic people do not avoid change. Instead, they take the challenge and make it part of their daily routine. They understand that failure to adapt to change can lead to failure especially in the current world of change. Their plans always have strategies that can be adapted to counter the change in future if the change occurs (Mayer & Geher, 1996).
Just like individuals with high emotional intelligence show specific behaviors, people with low emotional intelligence have their features too. The following are some of the examples of low emotional intelligence. One example of low emotional intelligence is constant blame. Some people always find a way of putting the blame on someone else for their problems. Instead of looking for a way to find a solution to their weaknesses they find it appropriate to blame their bosses parents or friends. Another example is being inconsiderate of others feelings. For instance, some managers do not involve their subordinates in their decision making and do not ever want to consider the issues facing them, but all they care about is the success of their departments. Finally fear of change is a good example of low emotional intelligence. This category of people won’t do anything outside of their routine. They follow the same processes and never want to try new ideas outside their comfort zones. Therefore, emotional intelligence is imperative in our daily lives. It helps us in our relationship with people from all kinds of backgrounds in our workplace and environment, and this helps us love our work and build our careers. On the other hand, it contributes greatly to our leadership skills especially for those who hold leadership positions. One interesting thing that emotional intelligence has helped me learn is how having high EI can contribute to the success of an individual at workplace especially through teamwork. I have also learned that many individuals who like criticizing and complaining are due to low EI but not because they are better in arguments (Dulewicz & Higgs, 2000).
Section 2: Answer these questions in (complete sentences).
What are two personal habits that have served you well?
The two personal habits that have served me well include taking 5-10 minutes in the morning to write down all the positive things I want to achieve by the end of the day and having a nature walk as I meditate on my past and how to improve my future.
How good are you at accepting help from others?
I am not good at accepting help from others since I always want to feel independent and satisfied by my achievement knowing I have work for it.
How good are you at asking for help?
Asking for help is very hard to me because I think it makes me look like a liability or incompetent in my work.
What is one of the internal battles to have each day?
One of the battles that we struggle with includes the choice between eating healthy and taking junk food.
Who inspires you? Why?
Mother Teresa mostly inspires me because of how she sacrificed herself just to give back to the society and make a difference.
On an “average day” would you consider yourself a high or low energy person?
I would consider myself a low energy person because I like doing activities that are not too involving such as reading books, watching series and typing.
On an “average day” is your main focus on results and tasks or people and emotions?
My main focus on an average day is results and tasks because I like to list my activities and what achieved at the end of the day.
Section 3: Please write a summary of Emotional Intelligence and how you view your Emotional Intelligence level.
Emotional intelligence is the ability of a person to identify their emotions and others emotions too. The theory was developed in the 1970s- 1980s by three psychologists Peter Salovey, Howard Gardner and John Jack Mayer in their writings. It’s through the book ‘emotional intelligence’ by Daniel Goleman that made it know well in the worldwide in 1995.Since then this theory has become very relevant in companies and in developing individuals since it offers a new concept on how to learn other people’s attitudes, characters, skills, and their potential. In many organizations, the new concept is applied in human resource where it helps in the recruitment process of new employees. It’s also used in customer service (Schutte et al., 1998).
The theory of emotional intelligence contrasts the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of a person by arguing that our success is determined by a wide range of factors that it outlines as compared to IQ which neglects some characters which contribute to success. Success in one area does not necessary mean that a person is victorious, but a lot of aspects have to be considered. EI mostly focuses on two aspects of emotions. They include the self- awareness and awareness of others. Emotional intelligence can vary in two ways, high and low emotional intelligence. The characteristics are clearly portrayed by different individuals in the workplace differentiating them. However, it’s important for companies to possess employees with both traits to promote career development and interpersonal skills (Mayer & Geher, 1996).
Emotional intelligence is a trending issue in the psychological field, and many people need to be aware of it. Through this concept employees can develop motivation through their emotions which encourage them to work hard for the success of the business. Social skills can also be developed which help our society in relating well with each other, and this reduces the levels of conflicts even at workplaces due to the sense of teamwork. Additionally, people can realize their reactions and work to manage them through self-control. Leadership skills are developed in self-awareness and through the feature of empathy. From the characteristics of high emotional intelligence have concluded that I possess high-level intelligence because I’m dynamic, team player, aware of my strengths and weaknesses, have good relations, and above all, being a perfectionist is not my character, and it’s always my believe that people learn from their past errors.

References
Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., &
Dornheim, L. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of emotional
intelligence. Personality and individual differences, 25(2), 167-177.
Mayer, J. D., & Geher, G. (1996). Emotional intelligence and the identification of emotion.
Intelligence, 22(2), 89-113.
Dulewicz, V., & Higgs, M. (2000). Emotional intelligence-A review and evaluation study.
Journal of managerial Psychology, 15(4), 341-372.