What is Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence underlies many of the skills we use in our daily lives, such as emotional awareness, applying emotions to certain tasks and situations, and interacting with other people [5]. Most models of emotional intelligence include recognition or awareness of your own and others’ emotions, and the regulation or management of your own and others’ emotions [6]. Mayer and Salvoyey created a model of 4 branches to provide an in-depth explanation of the different aspects of emotional intelligence [6]:

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Branch 1:  

Branch number 1 consists of the perception, appraisal and expression of emotions. In other words, the ability to receive and recognize emotional information. This branch underlies basic emotional skills like identifying your own emotions and being able to tell the difference between emotions [6].  

Branch 2:

The second Branch is how we use emotions to direct our attention to important information. For example, different moods can encourage someone to use more deductive versus inductive reasoning when faced with different situations [6].  

Branch 3:  

Branch 3 is our ability to cognitively understand and analyze emotions. This branch goes hand in hand with skills like labeling our own and others’ emotions, being able to tell the relationship between words and certain emotions and predict transitions between emotional states [6].  

Branch 4:  

The final branch is about the ability to regulate your emotions. This can be managing your own emotions – or the emotions of others– by increasing positive emotions and moderating negative emotions. A useful skill that falls under branch 4 is being able to successfully cope with negative emotions [6].  

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Why is Emotional Intelligence Important

Emotional intelligence is important for many emotion-based skills, but also with coping strategies [4,8]. Sources show that increased emotional intelligence is linked to increased coping skills due to reducing the stress caused by trauma [8]. For instance, emotional intelligence has been positively linked to coping strategies that revolve around problem-solving, social support, and cognitive appraisal [4]. Further, emotional intelligence has a negative relationship with coping skills that aren’t effective [4].

So, what about low emotional intelligence? Having low intelligence can look like not being able to decipher between your own emotions and having a hard time understanding others’ point of view or emotional states. Lower emotional intelligence has also been linked to lower positive mood [2]. For instance, one study suggests that individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have overall lower emotional intelligence scores than people without MDD [7]. The individuals with MDD had a harder time understanding their own emotions and had lower sensitivity to shifting emotional states [7]. Additionally, individuals experiencing borderline personality disorder and substance use disorder had a hard time regulating their emotions [7].

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Strategies to Enhance Your Emotional Intelligence

Sources show that emotional intelligence is not a fixed ability, meaning that someone can enhance their emotional intelligence with practice of certain skills [3]. Below is some activities you can focus on to practice emotional intelligence [1]:  

For Self-awareness  

• Reflect on past situations that provoked strong emotions and identify the emotions and the cause.  

For Self-management  

• Practice grounding skills such as deep breathing and meditating  

For Social awareness  

• Try to practice having empathy and compassion for the people around you  

For Relationship management  

• Ask someone you’re close with to explain why they acted the way they did and try to understand where they’re coming from

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References

Davis, T. (2023). Emotional intelligence and how to increase it. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/click-here-for-happiness/202011/emotional-intelligence-and-how-to-increase-it

Downey, L. A., Johnston, P. J., Hansen, K., Schembri, R., Stough, C., Tuckwell, V., & Schweitzer, I. (2008). The relationship between emotional intelligence and depression in a clinical sample. The European Journal of Psychiatry, 22(2), 93–98. https://doi.org/10.4321/S0213-61632008000200005

Hunt, N., & Evans, D. (2004). Predicting traumatic stress using emotional intelligence. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42(7), 791–798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2003.07.009

Moradi, A., Pishva, N., Ehsan, H. B., Hadadi, P., & pouladi, F. (2011). The relationship between coping strategies and emotional intelligence. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 30, 748–751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.10.146

Emotional intelligence. Psychology Today. (n.d.-a). https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/emotional-intelligence

Schulze, R., & Roberts, R. D. (Eds.). (2005). Emotional intelligence: An international handbook. Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

Schutz, A., & Nizielski, sophia. (2012). Emotional Intelligence as a Factor in Mental Health. https://www.uni-bamberg.de/fileadmin/perspsych/pressearchiv/Emotional_Intelligence_as_a_Factor_in_Mental_Health.pdf

Zhylin, M., Malysh, V., Mendelo, V., Potapiuk, L., & Halahan, V. (2024). The impact of emotional intelligence on coping strategies for psychological trauma. Environment and Social Psychology, 9(7), 6145. https://doi.org/10.59429/esp.v9i7.6145

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