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3 Science-Based Truths Behind Emotional Intelligence
And how you can still use it in your life.
We all know the concept of emotional intelligence (EI).
Most of you probably heard about it after Daniel Goleman popularized the term in his best-selling book “Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ” in 1995. He described EI as:
“Abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and survive in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to manage one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.”
His book was an absolute boom and EI soon became mainstream.
However, there had been other approaches to EI before Goleman:
- Edward Thorndike’s social intelligence.
- Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences.
- Peter Salovey & John D. Mayer, who gave the first formal definition of EI, in which Goleman based his research.
- Reuven Bar-On, who coined the term emotional quotient (EQ).
However, regardless of the amount of literature, there’s never been consensus for the definition of EI, its theoretical basis, or even how it can be measured.
