Emotional Intelligence: New Ability or Eclectic Traits?

Some individuals have a greater capacity than others to carry out sophisticated information processing about emotions and emotion-relevant stimuli and to use this information as a guide to thinking and behavior. The authors have termed this set of abilities emotional intelligence (EI). Since the int...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American psychologist 2008-09, Vol.63 (6), p.503-517
Main Authors: Mayer, John D, Salovey, Peter, Caruso, David R
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Affectivity. Emotion
Biological and medical sciences
Cognitive Ability
Cognitive Processes
Correlation
Emotional Intelligence
Emotions
Feelings
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Intelligence
Knowledge
Measurement
Personality
Personality Traits
Personality. Affectivity
Prediction
Psychological Theory
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Researchers
Selfesteem
Social Cognition
Social psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Validity
Citations: Items that cite this one
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Summary:Some individuals have a greater capacity than others to carry out sophisticated information processing about emotions and emotion-relevant stimuli and to use this information as a guide to thinking and behavior. The authors have termed this set of abilities emotional intelligence (EI). Since the introduction of the concept, however, a schism has developed in which some researchers focus on EI as a distinct group of mental abilities, and other researchers instead study an eclectic mix of positive traits such as happiness, self-esteem, and optimism. Clarifying what EI is and is not can help the field by better distinguishing research that is truly pertinent to EI from research that is not. EI-conceptualized as an ability-is an important variable both conceptually and empirically, and it shows incremental validity for predicting socially relevant outcomes.
ISSN:0003-066X
1935-990X
DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.63.6.503