Concept of EI

EI as a concept
EI became a major topic of enquiry in the 1980s and in the 1990s scientific
articles were published on the topic (Mayer and Salovey, 1993). The best
selling
trade-book
Emotional
Intelligence
(Goleman,
1995)
further
popularized it. Researchers in the field admit that EI is now used to cover too
many different traits and concepts (Mayer et al., 2008).Over this period two
broad theoretical approaches to EI have developed (Mayer et al., 2008): (1)
the specific abilities approach in which individual mental abilities are
considered of significance for EI and the (2) the integrative-model which
looks at EI as a global ability. The Specific-ability approaches focus on
particular skills individually like emotional perception and identification, Use
of emotional information in thinking, reasoning about emotions and
emotional management. On the other hand the main aspect of integrative
models is that they join the specific abilities to have an overall feel or
measure of EI. For instance the four branch model of EI (Mayer and Salovey,
1997) considers overall EI as joining abilities from four areas: (a) accurately
perceiving
emotion,
(b)
using
emotions
to
facilitate
thought,
(c)
understanding emotion, and (d) managing emotion.

From above it is apparent that both the approaches are largely in agreement
with what constitutes Emotional Intelligence; the divergence is only with
respect to viewing EI as a single global ability or as specific abilities.
EI, Personality and decision making
Many studies have been done to examine the relationship between EI and
bench mark personality traits such as the Big Five. Mayer and Salovey (1993)
predicted on the basis of their studies that EI should have the largest
correlation with openness. But a review of these studies reports the highest
correlation with Agreeableness (0.21-0.28) followed by Openness (0.17-0.18).
This appears to be intuitively true as well because Agreeableness reflects

friendliness and compassion while Openness is an indicator of intellectual
curiosity. Moreover an inverse correlation with Neuroticism (-0.9) has been
reported, which reflects a tendency to experience negative emotions (Mayer
et al. 2004).Recent studies have also demonstrated that extraverts are
better able to employ emotional information than introverts as they are
stimulated rather than overwhelmed by the emotional information (Rubin et
al., 2005).
But, few researchers like Fiori and Antanokis claim on the basis of recent
studies (2011) that popular measures of Emotional Intelligence like the
MSCEIT suffer from several limitations like low discriminant validity and
doubtable construct and incremental validity. They show that MSCEIT results
are largely predicted by personality dimension, general intelligence and
demographics (multiple correlation coefficients with MSCEIT branches up to
0.66).Such results raise an issue which is two-fold. Firstly, Is EI a significantly
different construct, when compared with other constructs like personality
trait and intelligence? Secondly, the conclusions made with respect to EIs
relationship to other psychological variables, on the basis of these EI tests
have to be taken with a pinch of salt.
Specific-ability based models point out the ways in which emotion facilitates
thinking and decision making. Emotions may help organize and prioritize
thinking and allow people to be better decision makers (Lyubomirsky et al.
2005). Mayer et al. (2008) support this line of opinion with the argument that
a person who responds to significant issues at an emotional level will
certainly attend to the crucial aspects of his life. On the other hand, if a
manager is constantly frustrated by his subordinates minor errors then he
may fail to address the more important issues (Parrott, 2002)
It has also been reports that certain specific emotions can trigger and foster
different types of thinking. For instance Lyubomirsky et al. (2005) reported
that positive emotions foster creativity. For effective decision making and
appropriate handling, correct appraisal of the situation is also important.
Some theorists have gone on to say that accurate appraisal is the hallmark
of emotionally intelligent people (Parrott, 2002).
With respect to the relation between EI and (group) decision making an
interesting study was carried out by Day and Carroll (2004). The participants
of the study had to determine the order in which employees would be laid off
during a downsizing process. This was to be first done individually and then
as a group. Those with high total scores on EI tests (MSCEIT) received higher
ratings specifically a significant correlation coefficient of 0.17 was noted
between individual performance and MSCEIT Perception scores.
Studies investigating the relationship between EI and managerial tasks like
fact finding, analyzing problems and decision making have demonstrated a
significant
correlation(r=
0.28)
between
Emotional
Perception
and
successful problem analysis(Matsumoto et. al., 2004).On others managerial

tasks like negotiation as well
the performance has been shown to be
positively correlated with EI. In a study conducted by Elfenbein et al. (2007)

it was seen that sellers with high emotional perception were able to
negotiate more money from the buyers. Not only perception but emotional
understanding has been shown to be an important correlate(r= 0.23) of good
performance on negotiation (Mueller and Curhan , 2007). A managers
decision making role always calls for leadership qualities as well. Recent
research (Walter et. al., 2010) supports the high relevance of emotional
intelligence for effective and successful leadership.
It needs to be pointed out here that self reported EI does not predict ability
assessment well. This has been confirmed by empirical research conducted
by Brackett et al. (2006).They developed a self judgment scale bases on the

Four Branch model (Mayer et al., 1997) and correlated it with MSCEITs
measure of the four areas. A correlation of only r= 0.19 was found between
the estimated values and their actual abilities for 275 participants. A
common
observation
is
that
participants
display
more
positive
self
judgments when the stakes are high (Grubb and McDaniel, 2007).
A logical question follows from this discussion on Emotional Intelligence.
Given its significance for a managerial role or life in general, Can one
develop himself on the Emotional Intelligence front? Recent research and
experimental studies seem to suggest that the answer to this question is in
the affirmative. For instance, Nelis et al. (2009) conducted an experiment in
which the experimental group received an empirically derived EI training
while the control group continued to live normally. Results showed a definite
increment in emotion identification and emotion management abilities in the
training group. Follow-up measures after 6 months showed that these
changes were persistent. No change was noticed in the control group. These
findings suggest that EI can be improved with training.

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EI as a concept

understanding emotion, and (d) managing emotion.

This appears to be intuitively true as well because Agreeableness reflects

successful problem analysis(Matsumoto et. al., 2004).On others managerial

the performance has been shown to be

positively correlated with EI. In a study conducted by Elfenbein et al. (2007)

by Brackett et al. (2006).They developed a self judgment scale bases on the

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