ABSTRACT
In 1995 the American Dialect Society (1999) selected Emotional Intelligence as the most useful new term. The explosion of interest in the construct arose from Daniel Goleman's (1995) bestseller - Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ. This book popularised aspects of the academic work on emotional intelligence first published by Professor John Mayer, Peter Salovey and colleagues in 1990 (Mayer et al., 1990; Salovey and Mayer, 1990) and the work of Professor Howard Gardner on intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence first published in 1983. John Mayer and Peter Salovey presented research findings which suggested that processing information
about emotions entailed abilities different from those required to process information about verbal, mathematical or visuo-spatial problems contained in traditional intelligence tests. Gardner argued that there were many other intelligences besides that measured by traditional IQ tests and these included the ability to understand and regulate one's own emotions (intrapersonal intelligence) and the ability to understand and manage relationships (interpersonal intelligence). The argument put forward in Goleman's book was that success at work and in achieving valued life goals was largely due, not to IQ, but to emotional intelligence - the capacity to recognise and manage one's own emotions and those of others in significant interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, while it is widely accepted that genetic factors set limits on IQ, implicit in Goleman's book was the idea that emotional intelligence is predominantly environmentally determined and could be improved by training. The American public was highly receptive to this idea, because it came at a time when Herrnstein and Murray's (1994) book The Bell Curve argued that high IQ was a key factor in determining occupational success and membership of higher social classes.
