ABSTRACT
Emotional intelligence means to be able to acknowledge and handle emotions in yourself and in others. The term was popularized by the success of Daniel Goleman’s book Emotional Intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ, which appeared in 1995 (1996 in the UK). Goleman defined emotional intelligence or ‘EQ’ as ‘the capacity for recognizing our own feelings and those of others, for motivating ourselves, and for managing emotions well in ourselves and in our relationships’ (Goleman 1998: 317). The term ‘emotional intelligence’ was coined in 1990 by Jack Mayer and Peter Salovey. By 1997, they stated that emotional intelligence involves:
• 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 emotions and emotional knowledge; • the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual
growth. (Salovey and Meyer 1997: 10)
Goleman subsequently identified five ‘social and emotional competencies’ which make up emotional intelligence (Goleman 1998: 318). These are:
Self-awareness Being alert to your feelings Self-regulation Managing your feelings Motivation Using feelings to help achieve your goals Empathy Tuning into how others feel Social skills Handling feelings well in interactions with others
‘Emotional literacy’ is a related term and indeed was reported to be a working title for Goleman’s book (Orme 2001: 23). This term was first used in the 1970s by clinical psychologist Claude Steiner. Steiner’s definition of emotional literacy suggests that it covers very similar ground to emotional intelligence. He describes it as ‘the ability to understand your emotions, the ability to listen to others and empathize with their emotions, and the ability to express emotions productively’ (Steiner and Perry 1997: 11).
