Evolution of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence has an effect on important life outcomes such as forming satisfying personal relationships and achieving success at work.People differ in emotional intelligence for different kinds of emotions and they are better able toharness their emotional intelligence in social or other situations.

2000 years ago, Plato

He said “All learning has an emotional base.” There was a common thought that emotions stand in the way of success that it should be controlled and suppressed. The study to prove or disprove the importance of feelings started from this age.

Survival of the fittest

Charles Darwin worked specifically on evolution. According to him, it was not the strongest of the species or the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change survives the odd. He also said that whilst humankind is responsive and adaptive to change, feelings and emotions always makes an influence.

Social Intelligence

E.L. Thorndike, a psychologist, described social intelligence, as “the ability to understand and manage men and womento act wisely in human relations.

Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow described his hierarchy of needs. The “higher order needs” are emotional needs. He suggests intimacy, friendship,family, self-esteem and self-actualisation are higher level driving forces behind our actions, once we have our safety and physiological needs met.

Multiple Intelligence

Howard Gardner gave “The Theory of Multiple Intelligences” where he described several different intelligences that form the foundation for most of the models created on Emotional Intelligence.

• Interpersonal intelligence – the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people.
• Intrapersonal intelligence – the capacity to understand yourself, to appreciate feelings, fears and motivations.

Reuven Bar-On

Bar-On’s definition of Emotional Intelligence is “Emotional Intelligence is an array of non-cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.”The Bar-On EQ-i is one of the many Emotional Intelligence assessments available on the market

Branch model

John Mayer and Peter Salovey developed a scientific measure of the difference between people’s ability in the area of emotions. They found that some people were better than others in

• Identifying their own feelings
• Identifying the feelings of others
• Solving problems involving emotional issues.

Daniel Goleman and Emotional Intelligence

Goleman introduced Emotional Intelligence to the general public. He described how to promote and leverage Emotional Intelligence in organisations. And he wrote about more business focused look at Emotional Intelligence.Goleman is considered one of the leaders in the field of Emotional Intelligence.