Historically there is a gap regarding the role that emotion plays in dynamic personality-intelligence. Perhaps it is due to the fact that emotions are perceived as something incompatible with clear and effective thinking (emotion-reason tension). Emotion-reason tension This tension has been very present throughout the history of Western culture. It began in ancient Greece with the Stoic movement (the wise person is one who rejects all types of feelings or emotions as something too individualistic to be considered a guide to behavior).
This thought later permeated a large part of the Christian conception of the world, and this, in turn, Western thought. The first conciliatory step was taken at the end of the 18th century, when European romanticism began to emphasize how intuitive thinking (which includes emotions) could facilitate a comprehension about life that logic did not allow. This trend culminated in the 60s, when the anti-rationalist movements and the humanist movement in Psychology took place. Thus, the strong initial tension has faded over time. For Salovey and Mayer, emotions are organized responses that permeate the functioning of many psychological subsystems. Furthermore, these authors defend that the adaptive processing of information emotionally relevant is part of intelligence. In this context, they introduce their model of emotional intelligence, aimed at identifying and organizing the specific skills necessary to understand and experience emotions in an adaptive way.
The term emotional intelligence integrates, on the one hand, reason and emotion, and, on the other hand, it is an intelligence that everyone can have. There are two models of emotional intelligence; ability model and mixed models.
Ability model formulated by Salovey and Mayer, this model equates emotional intelligence with general intelligence. Both intelligences involve an ability to process information. Specifically, emotional intelligence is the result of the interaction of two basic mental operations; emotion and cognition. In this sense, emotional intelligence refers, in part, to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotional patterns, as well as to reason and solve problems from it. More specifically, emotional intelligence is conceived as the ability to perceive and express emotions, assimilate (incorporate) the emotion into thought, understand and reason with the emotion, and regulate the emotion, in oneself and in others. Through this definition, emotional intelligence is broken down into four skills. Skills that make up emotional intelligence Perception, evaluation and expression of emotions. It involves recognizing (through facial expressions, art objects, etc.), and receiving information from the emotional system.
emotional intelligence It cannot exist without this capacity. Assimilation into mental life of basic emotional experiences (emotional facilitation). Emotions are recognized and labeled (e.g., I feel happy) Understanding and reasoning with the emotion. Once recognized and labeled, an understanding of their meaning takes place. The individual who possesses this capacity has easier access to knowledge of himself and others. Management and regulation of emotion in oneself and others. The most complex, of a higher level, the result of all the previous ones. Only if there is a good emotional perception At first, one can manage changes in mood and understand emotions (e.g., after a state of anger, knowing how to calm down, or also being able to relieve another person’s anxiety). An important characteristic of emotional intelligence is its flexibility, which allows it to satisfy not only the demands of the situation, but also of various spheres of personality, and thus make different types of internal demands compatible. This fourth skill also involves understanding how emotions progress in the context of relationships with others.
Mixed models. Salovey and Mayer represent the conception of emotional intelligence as an ability, differentiating it from other attributes (persistence, empathy, etc.) considered by these authors as personality. Thus, it is easier to analyze the degree to which each factor (ability and personality) contributes to the behavior. On the contrary, other authors decided that the best way to consider emotional intelligence was to expand its definition to include all types of traits and attributes. Some authors are listed below. Goleman includes all aspects (motivation, emotional relationships, etc.) that allow us to outline a complete model of how the person functions in the world. He even states that the set of attributes that make up emotional intelligence reflects the character of the person. This author conceives all the features and personality attributes included as defining the construct in terms of competencies, which are defined as learned capabilities, based on emotional intelligence, that result in good performance at work. Bar’On characterizes emotional intelligence as a collection of non-cognitive abilities, competencies, and skills that influence the ability to be successful in coping with environmental demands and pressures. The measures developed from the Cooper and Shutte models present significant overlap with two broad measures of personality, positive and negative affectivity, and openness to experience. Given all these models, Salovey et al wonder if there is any adaptive attribute that is not considered emotional intelligence.
Assessment of mixed models of emotional intelligence. In view of the treatment that the construct “emotional intelligence” has received, Mayer and associates (proponents of the construct) have carried out a critical assessment of the mixed models. Nature of emotional intelligence. It is personality that covers broad areas of people’s mental lives, so proposing this construct (i. emotional) to evaluate aspects already discussed can cause confusion. Mixed models attempt to encompass in one entity (emotional intelligence) a series of aspects that predict success in life, ignoring the fact that, for example, personal resources such as optimism cannot be called intelligence for the mere fact of predicting that success. .
Mayer and associates conclude that the identification of new intelligences that contribute to predicting success in life, beyond what abstract intelligence does, is something necessary and desirable. Emotional intelligence (as a skill) identifies an area of skill critical to certain areas of human functioning. They also consider that emotional intelligence is the ability that is found among the emotions, so an emotional intelligence (mental) ability test is an appropriate instrument, which also increases to a certain degree the predictive power that general intelligence and some components of personality they have shown to have. The ideal is to construct separate measures of intelligence emotional (considered as ability) and personality, trying to avoid arbitrarily mixing a whole series of personality and emotional attributes, as occurs in mixed models.
This will allow us to analyze the separate contribution of each of these constructs. Neurological bases of emotional intelligence The functioning of the amygdala (in the limbic system) and its interrelation with the neocortex constitute the core of emotional intelligence. Therefore, the biological substrate of emotions is found in the most primitive brain structures from a phylogenetic point of view, compared to the structures on which rational functioning is based (neocortex). The connections between the amygdala and the neocortex constitute the core of the dynamic exchange between emotion and reasoning, which highlights the importance of feelings when making decisions. The ways in which these structures affect the decision-making process in life are varied, but in any case it is an indirect influence.
Other concepts associated with emotional intelligence. There are other similar concepts that complement emotional intelligence in some way. For example emotional creativity, emotional competence and constructive thinking.