ABSTRACT
The main objective of this book is to contribute to a more helpful and comprehensive definition of what emotional intelligence is, and how it can be applied to deal with the many problems we all face in everyday life. We hope we have achieved this objective. Nevertheless, as a careful reading of the chapters in this volume will suggest, we are not quite there yet. Indeed, our book cannot but reflect the continuing existence of some degree of confusion in the literature about how one might define emotional intelligence (EI). Some of the chapters seem to adopt a slightly different approach and define EI in a somewhat different way. Despite these apparent differences, however, there are also some important similarities. As can be seen in Table 12.1, all the chapters focus on skills or processes that promote effective action in emotionally charged situations. The skills are also intended to improve emotional well-being. Interestingly, there is also reasonable overlap with the content of the theories. For example, emotional awareness is described as important in all of these chapters. Similarly, effective emotion management (or coping) appears as a component of EI in almost all of these chapters.
