student essay emotional intelligence

113 Emotional Intelligence Research Topics & Essay Examples

Emotional intelligence essays are an essential part of education for many professions that involve working with people, such as managers and teachers.

The concept is somewhat new, having been first introduced half a century ago and popularized at the end of the last century. As such, you have to approach the topic carefully and rely on the latest available evidence to avoid citing outdated ideas.

Furthermore, as with any psychology-related topic, you should exhibit general caution and avoid the numerous pitfalls associated with the study of the human mind. This article will help you understand what you should or should not do to write an excellent paper.

👍 Writing Tips for Projects on Emotional Intelligence

🏆 best topics on emotional intelligence & essay examples, 📝 simple & easy research topics on emotional intelligence, 💡 most interesting emotional intelligence topics to write about, ❓ research questions about emotional intelligence.

Remember that the purpose of psychology is to help people improve themselves, not to stratify society based on vague ideas. Emotional intelligence is not inherent and can be learned by most people, a concept your writing should reflect.

Be sure to discuss the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset, promoting the idea that anyone can adopt the latter and improve himself or herself. Discuss parts of the concept of emotional intelligence, such as patience, in-depth to make the idea easier to understand.

There is a variety of topics and emotional intelligence essay ideas you can utilize to create an engaging work and make your essay excellent and unique among the offerings of your peers.

As emotional intelligence is a skill set anyone may learn, you should avoid language that implies that it is an inherent trait, a quality that is often associated with its non-emotional counterpart.

Whenever you discuss the difference between people with developed communication skills and those whose abilities are somewhat lower, remember to do so in a positive context.

Someone is not inferior because his or her emotional intelligence is lower than another person’s.

However, he or she can benefit from undergoing appropriate training, especially if these skills are important in his or her work. As such, respect people’s individual approaches and offer suggestions instead of treating the theory as universal facts.

Here are some further tips for your work:

• Psychology relies on scenarios where a person’s behavior can be as free of outside factors as possible. Toddler observation and scholarly experiments with carefully selected conditions are excellent examples of such situations, and you should use them to ground your descriptions in reality.
• Be sure to adhere to academic guidelines, avoiding the use of first person, calls to action, and other additions that do not match the format. This approach is useful in general, as it applies to most essays and will be beneficial for future reports and similar submissions.
• Write an emotional intelligence essay introduction and conclusion at the end of your paper. They make your work easier to read by giving it structure and direction. The introduction should contain a description of the topic and a thesis statement, and the conclusion should sum up the main points.
• Try to set a central theme and address it in your essay instead of providing a general overview of the topic. There are many emotional intelligence essay questions that can be answered in considerable detail. As such, you should concentrate on one of them without getting distracted and sidetracked.

Come to IvyPanda for an emotional intelligence essay summary and sample sets as well as various titles that will help you begin your writing process!

• Emotional Intelligence To this end, Goleman states that EI is the combination of “emotional centers of the brain and the cognitive centers “.
• Concept of Emotional Intelligence: Arguments Emotional intelligence is the “subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and […]
• The Effect of Students Emotional Intelligence on Academic Performance The findings of the study will be used to assist students to see the importance of controlling their emotions and teachers to realize the need of integrating the components of EI into the curriculum and […]
• Leadership Behavior: Ratan Tata and Emotional Intelligence This shows that Ratan Tata, as a leader, was not eager to compete but rather searched for options to expand the market through acquiring businesses.
• Emotional Intelligence in the Organizational Behavior Context Low EI might cause the leader to be insensitive to the mood of the followers and this will lead to frustration and lower the output of the team.
• Emotional Intelligence and Its Impact on Success As for me, I would define emotional intelligence as the ability to react to the situation in a proper way, to find the appropriate way out of a situation, and to make a decision successful […]
• Cognitive Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence in Organisational Behavior The distinction between emotional intelligence and cognitive intelligence is evidenced in the psychometric tests of assessing cognitive ability and psychometric tests of intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace Emotional intelligence is a significant requirement for team work; there is a coherent link between successes attained in team work to the level of emotional intelligence held by the members of the team.
• Emotional Intelligence for Human Resource Management How can managers utilize and propagate the concept of EI to promote responsiveness and deliver their projects on time? Quality articles will be identified through the use of these keywords: emotional intelligence, resource management, and […]
• The Concept of Emotional Intelligence We have learned what emotional intelligence is; it is the way that we deal with our emotions and relate to others.
• Emotional Intelligence Impact on Organization’s Performance The theoretical framework of such review adds to the knowledge within the field of relational view and firm’s competitive advantage[3]. This in turn increases the level of social communication and collaboration.
• Emotional Intelligence and Substance Use: Correlations and Implications One of the articles deals with the association between drug and alcohol use and EI. The other article deals with the relationship between emotional intelligence and cocaine use.
• Emotional Intelligence among University Hospital Nurses Even though it is challenging to overestimate the importance of self-management and its competencies, University Hospital nurses state that this domain brings a few inefficiencies in the medical organization.
• Emotional Intelligence: Self-Awareness Importance Leaders with high self-awareness are more likely to understand their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as their impact on others, which helps them make better decisions, manage stress and conflict effectively, and lead with […]
• Emotional Intelligence: Bluevine Case Analysis These are crucial for the leadership, the staff, and the company as a whole as it strives to enhance its productivity.
• Fostering Effective Communication and Emotional Intelligence in Conflict Resolution The capacity to recognize, comprehend, and react to the sentiments of others is just as important as the capacity to articulate and control one’s own emotions.
• Measuring Emotional Intelligence in Job Selection As a result, managers must be aware of the peculiarities of different generations in the company, as demonstrated by Margie to Rebecca, and behave appropriately.
• Change Leadership and Emotional Intelligence By providing essential information about the arrangement of the theater production, as well as coordinating numerous communication processes within it and leading a diverse team of experts, “Theater 1310” has expanded the range of my […]
• The Importance of Emotional Intelligence and Personality in the Workplace In this paper, the authors investigate how emotional intelligence affects communication within management and contributes to the formation of effective and not-so-effective interactions.
• Areas of Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness is the initial step that forms emotional intelligence and allows other areas of the concept to participate in the process.
• Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Management Viewpoints on emotional intelligence as a trait and an ability have some conceptual differences, but both perspectives suppose that it is an essential element of business decision-making, as illustrated by the successful career of Warren […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Leadership Development I found the examples given very convincing and the logic behind the arguments solid and straightforward to follow. At the same time, I disagree that overvaluing one’s skills is connected to experience.
• The “Emotional Intelligence” Book by Goleman In his book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, Daniel Goleman explains this concept and the value of this feature.
• Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence Self-awareness is important in order for a person to be knowledgeable about his or her inner feelings and emotions by being aware of their presence and impact on the individual psyche.
• Discussion of Emotional Intelligence It is proved that EI is an indispensable part of risk management policy, as it is a complicated part of a leadership phenomenon liable for a vigilant and conscientious approach to a company team.
• Emotional Intelligence Coaching Emotional Intelligence Coaching does not focus of giving a person advice about the issues in their private life.
• Why Emotional Intelligence (EI) Training Will Help Your Organization to Prosper Emotional Intelligence comes from two words. Emotions refer to personal feelings arising from the state of the mind of a person.
• Clinical Experience: Emotional Intelligence The lack of clarity in the provided information may affect the accuracy of the diagnosis to a considerable extent. A fungal infection was suspected as the possible cause of the disease due to the rise […]
• Emotional Intelligence: Research and Rationale The authors study the effect that altruistic behavior has on the relationship between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being, which is usually explored in an isolated context.
• Nurses’ Emotional Intelligence and Patient Satisfaction There is little available literature that offers evidence of the impact of the emotional intelligence of nurses on the relationship between patients and nurses, as well as patient satisfaction.
• Emotional Intelligence and Conflict-Handling Styles in Nurses This is a research critique that explores the research problem, the context of the study problem within the existing knowledge, the relevancy of the study to nursing, and the purpose of the research “The relationship […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Nursing Study by Winship The researchers identified their source of stories from a recently published book with inspirational stories about nursing and written by nurses.
• Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership in the Healthcare Environment It is also the ability to distinguish the impact of emotions in the life of the individual. He pointed out that EQ enables the individual to adapt to the challenges of the social environment.
• Stress, Emotional Intelligence, and Job Performance Correlation in Nursing Complexity science is important to this study because it enables a person to understand the causes of stress within a system.
• Emotional Intelligence’s Support for Teamwork and Teambuilding in Nursing In instances where a nurse lacks the luxury to pick a team with which to work, understanding others allows the individual to conduct amicable relations for the sake of proper execution of tasks, the health […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Ethical Climates in Places of Work The purpose of this paper is to analyze the importance of having an ethical climate and employees exhibiting high emotional intelligence within a place of work.
• 12 Elements of the Emotional Intelligence The topic of emotional intelligence is of great interest to me; however, the most interesting part of the article was the one describing comprehensive 360-degree assessments.
• Emotional Intelligence and Social Life The subjects of the study will be selected randomly from several population groups based on the social status of the subjects and their living conditions.
• Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Empathy is ability of a person to feel for another individual, to put oneself emotionally in the shoes of others and relate with their feeling. To be successful in leadership, it is important for a […]
• Psychology: Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Emotional intelligence pertains to the ability to realize your own emotions and those of others, the inspiration of yourself and the management of emotions within and outside relationships.
• Emotional Intelligence: Term Definition He also urges society to rethink about the pattern of education that today’s children are going through and to make them alive to emotional intelligence by way of brainstorming in the daily grind so that […]
• Emotional and Traditional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence Quotient Emotional intelligence is often described as a capacity and ability, skill to assess and perceive and certain ability to manage personal emotions and emotions of others and group emotions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Solution Formation As a rule, EI is understood as the subject’s ability to effectively understand the emotional sphere of human life: to understand emotions and the psychological background of relationships and to use their emotions to solve […]
• Personal Emotional Intelligence Analysis The completion of the survey is a valuable experience as I used to think I could manage my emotions and understand my own and other people’s feelings.
• Emotional Intelligence Training and Organizational Prosperity One of the fundamental assumptions made in the process of preparing this presentation is that emotional communication is universal regardless of the culture.
• Organizational Behavior: Emotional Intelligence To assess the EI in a person that is likely to be promoted to a managerial position, it is best to take notice of how this person acts in stressful situations.
• Emotional Intelligence Assessment This is attributable to the fact that they are aware of our weaknesses and are in a better position to correct us accordingly.
• Inspiring Leadership: Social and Emotional Intelligence Finally, it’s prudent to note that the way one handles himself leads to outstanding individual performance and eventually success of an organization.
• Inspiring Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Sinek asserts that such leaders start with the ‘why’ and not the ‘what’ of business communication. Goleman believes that other people are the best assessors of one’s social intelligence.
• Public Health Leadership: Emotional Intelligence For example, the research by Ramchunder and Martins reveals that there is a significant positive correlation between EI and self-efficacy on the development of effective leadership, which can be applied to the public health sphere.
• Emotional Intelligence in Midwives’ Communication Communication is crucial because it helps the midwives to decide when it is appropriate to consult/ transfer the care of a pregnant woman to a relevant medical practitioner.
• Strengths and Emotional Intelligence in Management Emotional intelligence is more focused on different types of awareness and management that come with analysis and understanding of the actions of a person and their surroundings.
• Radiography Stereotypes and Emotional Intelligence The article explored the concept of EI as the means of improving communication and reducing the effects of sociocultural stereotypes on the quality of radiography.
• Emotional Intelligence and Effective Leadership In terms of the assessment of my personality, it portrays that a have to pay critical attention to the emotions and feelings of other individuals, as disregarding them will question my leadership and abilities to […]
• Emotional Intelligence Criticism by Steve Tobak The main idea of the article consists in the fact that the modern tendency of promoting EI is the result of the profit it generates, which is why its promoters tend to provide insufficient information […]
• Experiential Hospitality and Emotional Intelligence Such an image is even worse for an institution that is operating in the hospitality industry, where the capacity to anticipate and attend to the specific needs of clientele is the generalized hallmark of the […]
• Emotional Intelligence in Working Environment Emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor own and others’ emotions in order to discriminate among them and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in the UAE In this case, 45 middle and top managers of companies in the United Arab Emirates were asked to participate in the research to understand their level of emotional intelligence and its influence on the overall […]
• Emotional Intelligence Strong and Weak Competencies However, it is agreeable that I have been unable to use the competence to coach and mentor others. The coach indicated that it was hard for me to act and lead others in accordance with […]
• Social and Emotional Intelligence in Education My education philosophy is based on the ideas of pragmatism that had given birth to the learning theory of progressivism and the concepts of social and emotional intelligence.
• Emotional Intelligence in Social Workers As Poulin explains, listening is one of the basic tools for building a link between the patient and the social worker and, therefore, contributing to the development of emotional intelligence in the former.
• Emotional Intelligence’ Elements at the Workplace The vast majority of men and women in business who are very successful demonstrate a level of honesty and trust that is above average.
• Relevance of Emotional Intelligence in Modern Organisations One should control those emotions, and respond to other people’s emotions in the right way; all the latter processes make the ability model. Such a trait allows one to know how people’s emotions change in […]
• Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Concept The goal is to show how I applied various leadership styles to help them in achieving their full potential. To accomplish my tasks, the staff members coached us on various leadership styles that would help […]
• Emotional Intelligence – Psychology Emotional intelligence is defined as the processes that are involved in the recognition, the use, and management of ones own emotional state and also the emotional state of others to solve emotion-laden problems and to […]
• Emotional Intelligence as a Factor of Professional Success American business companies noticed this and started to pay greater attention to the emotional competence of their workers, hire special consultants and advisors to help the employees deal with the emotional intelligence issues, conduct training […]
• Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence This is based on the fact that emotional intelligence mostly comes from our environment and how we master the nature of occurrences in it.
• Emotional Intelligence, Burnout, and Job Insecurity In order to measure the place of EI as assessed by the 33-item self-report scale in the context of the big-five structure, scores on the 33-item scale were associated with the big-five personality aspects. In […]
• Emotional Intelligence’s Impact in the Workplace The aim of this reflection is to provide a solution on how Emotional Intelligence can be utilised to improve the workplace.
• Emotional Intelligence in Groups In their article, “Building the Emotional Intelligence of Groups”, Druskat and Wolff set out to discuss the concept of emotional intelligence and the role it plays in today’s organizational settings.
• Emotional Intelligence in HR The high scores recorded in the rise of IQ are because of the changing trend in evaluation taking a turn from strictly intellectual testing to testing of competence in the light of psychological statuses gauging […]
• How Emotional Intelligence Influences Leadership In order to be an effective leader, a broad understanding of emotions and their impacts on others is imperative for leaders.
• Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence in Different Areas The researchers claim that EI is “the ability to feel, understand, articulate, manage, and apply the power of emotions to interactions across lines of difference”.
• Emotional Intelligence in Teamwork and Mutual Cooperation From this argument it is right to claim that the virtues of emotional intelligence contribute greatly to the aspects of personality and other individualistic provisions.
• Emotional Intelligence and Servant Leadership This is why it can be said that a leader can achieve much if he is able to understand the importance of inner-maturity and awareness such as the need to become a servant leader.
• Emotional Intelligence and Gender in Leadership Many authors have done a lot of research on the subject, and have found that gender and emotional intelligence determine the leadership style in an organisation. This will precede a criticism of the model and […]
• The Need to Improve One’s Self-Awareness Personal improvement is needed in this area because of the frequent loss of confidence and self-esteem in the process of acting on my emotions.
• Cultivating Emotional Intelligence in the Work Place For a longer period of time, it has been believed that the success of a person at the place of work depends on the level of intelligence of that person known as intelligence quotient.
• The Concept of Emotional Intelligence: A Critical Analysis Organisational behaviour and the behaviour of individuals can be understood through the adoption and practice of emotional intelligence in organisations. Emotional intelligence has to resonate from the management of organisation and entail the training of […]
• The Development of Emotional Intelligence and Its Application According to them, EI is “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s […]
• Emotional Intelligence and Employee Performance Correlation The first dimension in the survey was the satisfaction of the organisation with employee performance while the second dimension used was the level of employee performance in the organisation.
• The Concept of Emotional Intelligence and Its Models Contemporary developments in neuroscience have led to issues of locating and measuring intelligence in the brain. In addition, people have various ways of demonstrating competencies in the core components of emotional intelligence.
• Understanding Leader Emotional Intelligence and Performance On the other hand, behavioral leadership focuses on the behavioral traits of a leader to stimulate certain behavioral responses by people who are led by the leader to develop quality, dedication to duty, and talent […]
• Does Emotional Intelligence Buffer the Effects of Acute Stress?
• On the Other Hand, Does Emotional Intelligence Have a “Dark Side”?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Help in Developing Consumer-Based Brand Equity Research Paper Samples?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Influence Employees, Customers, and Operational Efficiency?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Influence Job Satisfaction?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Mediate the Relation Between Mindfulness and Anxiety and Depression in Adolescents?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Moderate the Relationship Between Mental Health and Job Performance?
• Does Only Emotional Intelligence Matter?
• Does Perceived Emotional Intelligence and Optimism or Pessimism Predict Psychological Well-Being?
• Does Student Leadership Participation Enhance the Development of Emotional Intelligence?
• Do Managers Need Emotional Intelligence to Manage Successfully in the Workplace?
• How Can You Measure Your Current Emotional Intelligence?
• How Does Emotional Intelligence Help Children?
• How Can Emotional Intelligence Be an Effective Tool for Leaders?
• How Does Emotional Intelligence Contribute to Leadership?
• How Does Emotional Intelligence Help Build Effective Interpersonal Relationships?
• How Does Emotional Intelligence Influence Interpersonal Communication?
• How Can Managers Use Emotional Intelligence?
• How Might Action Learning Be Used to Develop the Emotional Intelligence of Public Administrators?
• What Are Social and Emotional Intelligence?
• What Is Some Emotional Intelligence?
• What Are the Implications of Emotional Intelligence for Leaders?
• Does Emotional Intelligence Play a Buffering Role in Adolescence?
• What Are the Relationships Between Traits of Emotional Intelligence and Personality?
• What Are the Links Between Self-Report Emotional Intelligence and Suicide Risk?
• What Are the Five Characteristics of Emotional Intelligence?
• What Are the Four Types of Emotional Intelligence?
• What Is an Excellent Example of Emotional Intelligence?
• What Makes a Person Emotionally Intelligent?
• Which Personality Type Is the Most Emotionally Intelligent?
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Emotional Intelligence — Emotional Intelligence Essay

Emotional Intelligence Essay

• Categories: Emotional Intelligence

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Published: Mar 5, 2024

Words: 877 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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Why is emotional intelligence important for students?

Study tips Published 9 Jun, 2023  ·  7-minute read

Some skills aren’t taught in school, but that doesn’t stop them from being important. Emotional intelligence (EI) can give you an edge in your academics now and set you up for success in your future career.

But why is emotional intelligence important for students specifically? And what even is emotional intelligence anyway? We explore all this and more (including some tips for improving your EI) below.

What is emotional intelligence?

• Why is emotional intelligence important in high school?

Why is emotional intelligence important for students in university?

Why is emotional intelligence important in the workplace.

• How to develop emotional intelligence.

Simply put, emotional intelligence is your ability to manoeuvre and interact with your own emotions as well as those of other people. EI is commonly divided into four key abilities:

• perceiving and identifying emotions
• thinking and reasoning using emotions
• understanding emotions and how they change
• regulating and managing emotions (both yours and other people’s).

But emotional intelligence isn’t confined to these abilities. It’s a complex and fluid concept that’s sometimes hard to pin down.

You might not grasp what it’s all about until you see it in action. A teacher who explains a difficult theory with patience and helpful examples is displaying a high EI. A clever friend who falls apart in a group assignment because they can’t cooperate with the team is potentially struggling with a low EI.

Some other terms you might recognise that relate to EI include:

• emotional literacy and vocab (your ability to recognise and name emotions)
• empathy (your ability to relate to someone else’s emotions or step into their shoes)
• intrinsic motivation (your drive to achieve your goals – even when nobody else is pushing you).

Why is emotional intelligence important for you?

Emotional intelligence can influence many parts of your life, from academic grades to job performance. Here’s a look at why emotional intelligence is important in school, university and the workplace.

Why is emotional intelligence important for students in high school?

When you can understand and manage your emotions, you’re more likely to get good grades and ace tests. In fact, when it comes to academic performance, research has revealed emotional intelligence is almost as important as your cognitive intelligence and having a conscientious attitude.

This is because emotionally intelligent students are better equipped to deal with negative emotions that might disrupt learning.

For example, if you’ve got a high EI:

• you can quickly overcome exam stress and get on with answering the questions
• you can overcome boredom and maintain your concentration during dull topics (looking at you, trigonometry)
• you can avoid obsessing over a disappointing grade and instead focus on improving next time
• you can recognise if you’re experiencing anxiety about an assignment and seek help (rather than falling into the dreaded procrastination/panic spiral).

“It is not enough to be smart and hardworking. To have the added edge for success, students must also be able to understand and manage emotions.”

- Carolyn MacCann, Yixin Jiang and Luke E. R. Brown in Emotional Intelligence Predicts Academic Performance: A Meta-Analysis

Emotional intelligence is super helpful for subjects like English, history, drama and creative arts where you need to understand or even manipulate human emotions. Interpreting a novel or playing a role is much easier when you can quickly recognise a character’s motivations and feelings.

These aren’t the only ways a high EI can improve your grades though. Emotional intelligence can also help you build strong relationships with your teachers and classmates. From seeking extra help on a project to forming a study group , these connections can make a real difference to your academic results.

Obviously, good grades are still relevant once you get to uni. But this is also when the other benefits of having a high EI will start to pop up.

Research suggests going to university with a strong EI can lead to better mental, social and even physical health. Developing your emotional intelligence while you’re in school means you’ll be better prepared for the challenges of uni life .

For example, university students with a high EI are:

• likely to have lower levels of anxiety and depression
• more likely to be socially active and involved
• more likely to be in good shape and feel healthy .

As with high school, you’ll also have a better chance of building bonds with your professors and peers.

No surprises here – emotional intelligence continues to influence your success once you enter the workforce. This is especially true for jobs that involve emotional encounters (like working with clients, leading a team or dealing with conflicts).

And this doesn’t just apply to your early jobs. Even senior business leaders benefit from EI, and this is clearer than ever during a crisis . Using emotional intelligence is a critical skill for managing a team, especially when times are tough.

According to several studies, people with high EI:

• perform better in their jobs
• enjoy stronger personal relationships
• have better overall health and wellbeing .

From growing your social skills as a teenager to getting your dream job as an adult, emotional intelligence can give you an edge throughout life. This is why developing your EI now is so worthwhile – not just for your school grades, but for your future success.

So, the question is: Can you improve your emotional intelligence? (And how do you do it?)

How to develop emotional intelligence

Good news: the fact you’re actively thinking about your emotional intelligence and how you might raise it is actually a great signal that you’re already on your way. But EI is a spectrum, and there’s always room to improve.

The first step is to self-assess where your emotional intelligence is at already.

How to know if you have emotional intelligence

Have an honest think about yourself and your behaviour. It might help to restrict your thinking to the past month, fortnight or week.

Look at these key signs of high EI highlighted by Business Insider . See how many you can relate to or recognise in yourself.

• You’re curious about people and care about what they’re going through.
• You don’t get offended easily (you can poke fun at yourself).
• You can take criticism on board without making excuses or blaming others.
• You’re quick to forgive and you don’t hold grudges.
• You’re quick to apologise when you’ve made a mistake or wronged someone.
• You know when to disconnect and how to do so (like going offline and taking a hike).
• You’re a good listener .
• You’re open-minded and slow to judge.
• You can deal with toxic people without getting frustrated.
• You don’t sugar-coat the truth or shy away from tough conversations.

An online quiz (like this one from Mind Tools ) can help you measure your EI too.

How to raise your emotional intelligence

The attributes listed above are a great place to start. If there are any you realised don’t apply to you at all, work on these abilities.

Here are some other tips for how to develop emotional intelligence from Inc. and RocheMartin .

• Practise noticing how you feel and how you act in different situations.
• Start predicting how certain things will make you feel . Accept those emotions in advance.
• Keep a diary to improve your self-awareness. Focus your entries on how events made you feel and how you dealt with those emotions.
• When you’re overwhelmed by an emotion like anger or sadness, channel it into something creative or productive . The burst of energy might help you finish that big history project or write an inspired short story for English.
• Try to see failures as opportunities to learn rather than disappointments. Think about what you’ll do differently next time rather than dwelling on what you did wrong this time.
• Practise active-listening techniques until they become second nature to you. These include eye contact, asking specific questions, verbal affirmations, engaged body language and paraphrasing.
• Find ways to maintain a positive attitude throughout the day . This differs from person to person. It might mean starting the day with a 10-minute meditation or packing a particularly yummy lunch to look forward to.
• Respond constructively to conflicts rather than reacting emotionally. Try to see the problem and solution that lie beyond the anger or frustration.

Emotional intelligence isn’t something you switch on overnight. It’s an evolving skill that takes time and conscious effort to develop over the years. By thinking about it now, you’re giving yourself a great head-start on the journey to having a high EI.

Developing your EI doesn’t have to be a solo mission. Once you start at uni, you’ll have access to plenty of opportunities to work on your emotional capabilities. At UQ, for example, our Student Enrichment and Employability Development programs equip you with everything you need for a fulfilling career. This includes key components of emotional intelligence such as the ability to reflect on your experiences and learn from them.

Emotional intelligence is also a key attribute managers across all industries look for – discover what else employers want .

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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Emotional intelligence, belongingness, and mental health in college students.

• 1 Department of Psychology, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, United States
• 2 Department of Psychological Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, United States

Mental health problems are prevalent amongst today’s college students and psychosocial stress has been identified as a strong contributing factor. Conversely, research has documented that emotional intelligence (EQ) is a protective factor for depression, anxiety and stress (mental health problems). However, the underlying mechanism whereby EQ may support stronger mental health is currently not well understood. This study used regression analyses to examine the hypothesis that belongingness (inclusion, rejection) partially mediates the effects of EQ (attention, clarity, repair) on psychological well-being in a large sample ( N = 2,094) of undergraduate students. Results supported the mediation hypotheses for all three EQ components and highlighted that the effects of rejection on psychological well-being were particularly strong. In line with prior research, our results indicate that prevention and intervention efforts with college students could explicitly target EQ skills in an effort to reduce perceived rejection and promote student well-being.

Introduction

Mental health problems.

High rates of mental health problems have been documented amongst college students (for a discussion see Auerbach et al., 2016 ; Xiao et al., 2017 ). For example, one study reported that 17% of surveyed students met diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder ( Selkie et al., 2015 ). Using the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) Mahmoud et al. (2012) found 29% of college students had elevated levels of depression, while 27% had elevated anxiety and 24% elevated stress. The elevated rates of depression, anxiety and stress (mental health problems) are also noted in national data such as those from the American College Health Association’s National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA; American College Health Association, 2019 ). In their survey of undergraduate students, ACHA reports 26% of students reported feeling so depressed in the past 30 days that it was difficult to function, while 43% of students reported feeling overwhelmed by anxiety in the same period of time ( American College Health Association, 2019 ). While recognizing that many factors contribute to the high rates of psychopathology of college students, past research indicates that psychosocial stress is associated with mental health problems (e.g., Dusselier et al., 2005 ; Drum et al., 2009 ). The transition to college is associated with the developmental challenge of changes to existing relationships ( Hurst et al., 2013 ) while college students also experience increased exploration in the context of declining social support systems ( Conley et al., 2014 ). Given the close link between psychosocial stress and student mental health, applied work has explicitly targeted psychosocial functioning of college students (e.g., Pratt et al., 2000 ; Conley et al., 2013 ).

Emotional Intelligence

In light of the increasing mental health problems and the influence of psychosocial factors for college students, it has become increasingly important to understand the role of emotional intelligence of college students as researchers and practitioners begin exploring opportunities for interventions. Emotional intelligence (EQ) includes “the abilities to accurately perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions” ( Mayer et al., 2004 , p. 197). The variability in EQ suggests that some individuals are better able to perceive, correctly identify, and regulate emotions than others ( Mayer and Salovey, 1997 ). Various strands of research suggest that higher levels of EQ are associated with various aspects of psychological well-being, including greater levels of subjective well-being ( Sánchez-Álvarez et al., 2015 ), life satisfaction ( Extremera and Fernández-Berrocal, 2005 ), and better mental health ( Martins et al., 2010 ; Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012 ). Further, research has also shown that different aspects of EQ are related to an individual’s ability to perform certain tasks, including academic ( Parker et al., 2004 ; Costa and Faria, 2015 ) and athletic achievement ( Perlini and Halverson, 2006 ). Focusing specifically on undergraduate students, higher levels of interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence have been linked to greater college retention ( Parker et al., 2006 ) and end-of-year GPA among first-year students ( Schutte et al., 1998 ; Parker et al., 2004 ).

Moving beyond emotional adaptation and individual competence, EQ also appears to be involved in the shaping of social functioning. In a study of undergraduate students, researchers found that participants’ EQ was related to their satisfaction with social relationships ( Lopes et al., 2003 ). Specifically, participants who reported having higher levels of emotion regulation abilities were more likely to also report having positive relationships with others, perceiving support from parents, and were less likely to have negative interactions with a friend ( Lopes et al., 2003 ). These results were largely supported by a second study in which an individual’s self-reported emotion regulation abilities were significantly correlated with self-reported positive interactions with friends ( Lopes et al., 2004 ). A noteworthy strength of this study is that the individual’s self-reported emotion regulation abilities were also significantly correlated with friends’ reports of interpersonal functioning ( Lopes et al., 2004 ). Research has demonstrated that higher scores of EQ are associated with more social acceptance and fewer experiences of rejection ( Kokkinos and Kipritsi, 2012 ), as well as larger and more fulfilling social support networks ( Ciarrochi et al., 2001 ). Taken together, these results support the view that the multiple aspects of EQ are associated with better social functioning. Stated differently, individuals who are better able to recognize and regulate their own emotions appear better able to establish and maintain healthy social relationships with peers and parents.

Sense of Belonging

An important aspect of social functioning is a sense of belonging. The role of perceived belongingness in psychological well-being has also been explored. The seminal work of Baumeister and Leary (1995) provides a valuable theoretical background for this notion. According to the Need to Belong Theory (NBT; Baumeister and Leary, 1995 ), human beings are motivated to establish a certain amount of stable and positive interpersonal relationships ( Baumeister and Leary, 1995 ). There is extensive evidence to support the NBT. There is a strong positive relation between an individual’s sense of interpersonal belonging and their ratings of happiness and subjective well-being ( McAdams and Bryant, 1987 ). While a lack of social bonds, or explicit feelings of social exclusion, contribute to feelings of anxiety ( Baumeister and Tice, 1990 ; Leary, 1990 ; Williamson et al., 2018 ), other mental health outcomes, including depression, loneliness, and social anxiety, are greatly reduced when college students experience a sense of belonging ( O’Keeffe, 2013 ; Stebleton et al., 2014 ; Raymond and Sheppard, 2018 ). The need to belong may be particularly pronounced in college students and appears to serve a protective function when satisfied. Yet, despite evidence that EQ is associated with higher quality social interactions with peers ( Brackett et al., 2004 ; Lopes et al., 2004 ), the relation between EQ and belongingness among college students is not well understood.

The Current Study

High rates of mental health problems are well documented in today’s college population. In an effort to support the well-being of undergraduate students, predictors of mental health problems need to be identified and fostered. In recognizing that psychosocial stressors are contributing to some of the psychological distress reported by college students, aspects of EQ and belongingness have emerged as correlates of mental health problems. To our knowledge, no study to date has examined the association between the different aspects of EQ, belongingness, and mental health in college students. Additionally, elucidating the effects of the EQ subscales (attention, clarity, repair) on mental health in college students could provide an opportunity to direct interventions that target specific emotional skills. Given that greater levels of each of the aspects of EQ have been associated with better interpersonal relationships, this study tested the hypothesis that belongingness (whether measured as level of acceptance, rejection, or both) mediates the effects of the EQ subscales (attention, clarity, repair) on psychological well-being.

Materials and Methods

The Middlebury Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved all study procedures. An ongoing longitudinal study, the College Student Mental Health Pathways study, is a study exploring social/emotional development and mental health outcomes among undergraduate college students. The present analysis utilizes data from wave two, collected in 2019. All students at two liberal arts colleges in the United States received an email inviting them to participate in a study about student stress and mental health. Students who clicked on the link in the email were directed to an informed consent page, approved by the primary author’s IRB. Students were able to consent after reading the consent form by selecting one of two radio buttons, ‘I consent to participate’ or ‘I do not consent to participate’. A total of 2,094 students completed wave two of the study, which resulted in a participation rate of 45.86%. At the completion of the survey, students could enter their contact information into a separate survey to participate in a raffle to win a gift card (values ranged from $25–100).

Demographics

Participants reported demographic information including gender, race/ethnicity, perceived socioeconomic status (SES), and sexual orientation. A majority of the sample identified as female (58.31%, n = 1,221), 38.73% ( n = 811) identified as male and 2.96% ( n = 62) non-binary. The majority of respondents identified as heterosexual, 79.04% ( n = 1,655), while 4.06% ( n = 85) identified as gay/lesbian, and 8.26% ( n = 173) identified as bisexual. Seventy-three percent ( n = 1,519) of the sample identified as White, followed by Asian 9.31% ( n = 195), Latinx 9.03% ( n = 189), and those identifying as mixed race or other 4.78% ( n = 100). Perceived SES status included 51.21% ( n = 1,060) of participants identifying as middle SES, 37.25% ( n = 771) as high SES, and 11.5% ( n = 239) as lower SES. The average age of the students was 19.94 ( SD = 1.33). Demographics are presented in Table 1 .

Table 1. Participant characteristics.

Depression, Anxiety, and Stress

The DASS-21 scale ( Henry and Crawford, 2005 ) was used to assess depression, anxiety, and stress. The scale can be utilized as a sum score or as three individual scales (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress). Participants were asked to respond to statements indicating how frequently in the past week they experienced any of the symptoms. Response sets and associated values for scoring were as follow: (0) did not apply to me at all, (1) applied to me to some degree, or some of the time, (2) applied to me a considerable degree or a good part of time, (3) applied to me very much or most of the time. Each scale contained seven items, with associated scores ranging from 0 to 21. Items in the measure include: “I found it difficult to work up the initiative to do things” (depression), “I felt I was close to panic” (anxiety) and “I found it hard to wind down” (stress). Due to the strong intercorrelations between depression, anxiety and stress (see Table 2 ), the composite DASS score was used to better capture the totality of the mental health experience. Cronbach’s alpha for the full scale was 0.93.

Table 2. Correlations and descriptive statistics for variables of interest.

Belongingness

The General Belongingness Scale (GBS; Malone et al., 2012 ) was used to measure experiences of belongingness. The GBS contains two subscales: Inclusion and Rejection. Each subscale contains six items and participants responded to each item using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Sample items include: “I feel accepted by others” (Inclusion) and “When I am with other people, I feel like a stranger” (Rejection). Inclusion and Rejection are potentially orthogonal; it is possible for a respondent to be high (or low) on both, reflecting the simultaneous experience of being included in some circumstances and rejected in others. Cronbach’s alphas were 0.92 for the Inclusion subscale and.89 for the Rejection subscale.

The Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS; Salovey et al., 1995 ) was used to measure three forms of emotional intelligence: attention to emotions (Attention), emotional clarity (Clarity) and repair of emotions (Repair). The TMMS includes 30 items, 13 for Attention, 11 for Clarity, and 6 for Repair. Participants were asked to use a five-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) to indicate their agreement with each item. Example items include: “I pay a lot of attention to how I feel” (Attention), “Sometimes I can’t tell what my feelings are” (Clarity), and “I try to think good thoughts no matter how badly I feel” (Repair). Cronbach’s alphas for the subscales were: 0.87 for Attention, 0.86 for Clarity, and 0.81 for Repair.

Statistical Procedures

Three parallel mediation models were independently estimated using the PROCESS macro ( Hayes, 2017 ), using pre-defined Model 4. Consistent with the original conceptualization of the TMMS as consisting of independent subscales (Attention, Clarity, and Repair), and with more recent factor analyses that found low levels of cross-loading amongst empirically observed factors ( Palmer et al., 2003 ), the models were estimated separately in order to illustrate the independent contributions of each subscale. Models were estimated both with and without demographic covariates. Covariates tested were gender identification, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and race/ethnicity, all dummy coded to allow for their inclusion in ordinary least squares regression modeling. The resulting models including covariates did not differ in significance, sign, or approximate coefficient value from the models that did not include covariates. For ease of interpretation the models represented do not show the covariates.

Bivariate correlations were estimated for variables of interest and are shown in Table 2 . Note that statistically significant (and meaningfully large) correlations were observed amongst most of the variables, with only the relationships between Attention and Stress having a p > 0.05, and only the relationships between Stress and Anxiety and the DASS Full Scale having an estimated p > 0.01. The correlations between the DASS Full Scale and the DASS subscales are presented for completeness, but should be interpreted with caution, since the full scale consists of the sum of the subscales, and thus the measures are not independent.

Tables 3 – 6 show differences in the variables of interest by gender ( Table 3 ), socioeconomic status ( Table 4 ), sexual orientation ( Table 5 ), and race/ethnicity ( Table 6 ). Significance was calculated using ANOVAs, and is marked with subscripts on all three tables at the p < 0.05 level.

Table 3. Gender differences in Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS) and General Belongingness Scale (GBS).

Table 4. Socioeconomic differences in Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), and General Belongingness Scale (GBS).

Table 5. Sexual orientation differences in Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), and General Belongingness Scale (GBS).

Table 6. Racial/ethnic differences in Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS), Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), and General Belongingness Scale (GBS).

Tables 7 – 9 show the results of a series of parallel mediation models conducted with PROCESS ( Hayes, 2017 ). These models tested whether the relationship between each of the three TMMS subscales (Attention, Clarity, and Repair) and the DASS Full Scale measure of mental health symptoms was mediated by either or both of the GBS scales (Inclusion and Rejection). Thus, Model 1 (see Figure 1 for an illustration and Table 7 for details) tests whether the relationship between Attention and the DASS Full Scale is mediated by Inclusion, Rejection or both; Table 8 and Figure 2 show the same model, but with Clarity; and Table 9 and Figure 3 show the same model, but with Repair. Both the unstandardized and fully standardized coefficients are presented for the total effect of each indirect path, for each model. As per Hayes (2017) , the fully standardized coefficients are reasonable measures of effect size, although some debate persists about how best to present effect sizes for more complex mediation models. The standardized coefficients for each indirect path represent the predicted change in DASS Full Scale (as measured in standard deviations) associated with a one standard deviation change in TMMS Attention, Clarity, or Repair (respectively).

Table 7. Parallel mediation model of TMMS Attention predicting DASS Full scale, mediated by GBS Inclusion and Rejection.

Table 8. Parallel mediation model of TMMS Clarity predicting DASS Full scale, mediated by GBS Inclusion and Rejection.

Table 9. Parallel mediation model of TMMS Repair predicting DASS Full scale, mediated by GBS Inclusion and Rejection.

Figure 1. GBS Inclusion and Rejection partially mediate the relationship between TMMS Attention and DASS Full scale. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

Figure 2. GBS Inclusion and Rejection partially mediate the relationship between TMMS Clarity and DASS Full scale. *p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

Figure 3. GBS Inclusion and Rejection partially mediate the relationship between TMMS Repair and DASS Full scale. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001.

All three models accounted for a significant portion of the variance in the outcome measure; see Tables 7–9 and Figures 1–3 for coefficients and model fit information. The 95% CI for the indirect path between TMMS Repair and DASS Full Scale through GBS Inclusion included zero, which suggests that the strength of that pathway is not of meaningful or statistically significant size. Note that all models reflect partial mediation, and that a protective indirect effect of Attention (through Inclusion and Rejection) is partially suppressed by a deleterious direct effect of Attention of mental health burden. Note that the size of this sample may reduce the interpretability of NHST measures of significance, and that the size and sign of the coefficients are more meaningful.

This study sought to elucidate the association between EQ and adaptive functioning in college students. Specifically, the models tested whether sense of belongingness mediates the association between EQ and adaptation. We hypothesized that students with stronger EQ abilities would report higher levels of belongingness which, in turn, would be associated with better mental health. Conversely, we also expected that students with lower levels of EQ would be more likely to experience rejection which, in turn, would be linked to higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.

These results broadly supported our hypothesis: students with more EQ (as evidenced by higher scores on any or all of the subscales) experienced higher levels of belongingness (more inclusion and less rejection) which, in turn, was associated with lower overall mental health problems. The exception was the indirect pathway between TMMS Repair and DASS Full Scale through GBS Inclusion, which was not of meaningful size. While inclusion was found to be meaningful in predicting mental health, it was the experience of rejection that was the stronger predictor of mental health outcomes. Specifically, students with lower levels of EQ are experiencing higher levels of rejection, and it is rejection which has the most significant impact on the DASS full scale mental health outcome. These results implicitly support the modeling of inclusion and rejection as orthogonal scales, as per the GBS ( Malone et al., 2012 ). The effects of rejection on depression in adolescent populations is well established (for a review see Platt et al., 2013 ). Our findings extend the existing research by demonstrating that among emerging adults, the experience of rejection is associated with higher levels of mental health problems. The experience of being included does have a protective effect, but, since high levels of inclusion and rejection can be experienced by the same person, working to improve inclusion is unlikely to be sufficient to reduce mental health burdens: the reduction of experience of rejection is likely to have a larger impact.

Implications

These findings have implications for applied work. Results from our mediation analyses suggested a strong link between perceived rejection and mental health problems. Such results tentatively suggest that intervention efforts could target students who are experiencing feelings of rejection or isolation within their college community. Once identified, these students could be targeted with additional supports, such as short-term counseling, to support well-being. Taking a preventative approach, campus initiatives that support regular and healthy student interactions should continue to receive funding such that they can be maximally effective. A focus on increasing students’ sense of belonging should also seek to lower experiences of rejection. Given that each of the scales of EQ was independently related to sense of belongingness, targeting and strengthening emotional intelligence would also be a potential avenue for prevention and intervention efforts. However, further research is needed to further elucidate the association between EQ, belongingness, and mental health in college samples. Such research should address both the differences in impact between the EQ subscales and explore the extent to which Attention, Clarity, and Repair may vary in their malleability. If, as these results suggest, they are each independently linked to important mental health outcomes, then a targeted intervention would be most effective if it targeted the aspect of EQ most susceptible to intentional change.

Limitations

Our results should be interpreted in the context of the study’s limitations. First, the study was based on student self-report, which has inherent and well-documented limitations. A second weakness relates to the representativeness of our sample; participants were recruited from two small, competitive liberal arts colleges thereby potentially limiting generalizability of study findings. Similarly, there might be systematic differences between those students who decided to complete the survey and those who chose not to participate. Lastly, data was collected at one timepoint, which limits our ability to make strong inferences about causality. Future research should recruit samples that are more representative of the overall college student population and consider using multi-informant assessments (e.g., friends, parents) to corroborate the self-report data. Longitudinal data collection could also help establish the causal relationship between the three study variables. These limitations notwithstanding, our findings expand what is known about college student well-being by suggesting that EQ and a sense of belongingness are related to mental health symptoms of college students.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated for this study will not be made publicly available in order to maintain confidentiality of the study participants. Requests to access the datasets should be directed to the corresponding author.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by the Middlebury College Institutional Review Board. The patients/participants provided their electronic informed consent to participate in this study.

Author Contributions

RM and MS contributed conception, design, and database organization. RM, MS, and VP contributed equally to analyses, draft of the manuscript as well as revisions, and approved the submitted version.

Research reported in this publication was supported by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under grant number P20GM103449. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIGMS or NIH. Additional support was provided by the Middlebury College research leave program.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Williamson, T. J., Thomas, K. S., Eisenberger, N.I, and Stanton, A. L. (2018). Effects of social exclusion on cardiovascular and affective reactivity to a socially evaluative stressor. Int. J. Behav. Med. 25, 410–420. doi: 10.1007/s12529-018-9720-5

Xiao, H., Carney, D. M., Youn, S. J., Janis, R. A., Castonguay, L. G., Hayes, J. A., et al. (2017). Are we in crisis? Psychol. Serv. 14, 407–415. doi: 10.1037/ser0000130

Keywords : mental health, college students, emotional intelligence, belonging, depression, anxiety, stress, rejection

Citation: Moeller RW, Seehuus M and Peisch V (2020) Emotional Intelligence, Belongingness, and Mental Health in College Students. Front. Psychol. 11:93. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00093

Received: 22 September 2019; Accepted: 13 January 2020; Published: 31 January 2020.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2020 Moeller, Seehuus and Peisch. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Robert W. Moeller, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

How to Develop Emotional Intelligence in Students

Table of Contents

Introduction

As we navigate the 21st-century education landscape, a growing body of research underscores the importance of emotional intelligence (EQ) in student development. EQ—identifying, understanding, and managing emotions—is pivotal in academic success and future employability. This article provides insightful strategies for fostering EQ in students and provides information on How to Develop Emotional Intelligence in Students.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

EQ is a strong predictor of academic success. Students with high emotional intelligence demonstrate increased concentration, better problem-solving skills, and improved interpersonal relationships. Their enhanced self-awareness and self-regulation translate into more adaptive responses to stressors and better conflict-resolution skills.

Techniques to Develop Emotional Intelligence

• Mindfulness Training : Encouraging students to engage in mindfulness exercises can significantly impact their EQ. Mindfulness helps students stay present and attentive, increasing their awareness of emotions and how they respond to them.
• Modeling Emotional Intelligence: EQ is often learned through observation. Educators and parents who openly express their emotions, talk about feelings and demonstrate appropriate responses pave the way for students to develop emotional intelligence.
• Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) Curriculum : Implementing an SEL curriculum helps students understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Role of Educators in Emotional Intelligence Development

Educators play a critical role in nurturing students’ emotional intelligence. They are tasked with imparting academic knowledge and fostering an environment encouraging empathy, emotional expression, and understanding. By modeling emotional intelligence and incorporating it into the curriculum, educators can help students develop these vital skills.

Parental Involvement in Emotional Intelligence Development

Parents, too, have a significant role in shaping their child’s emotional intelligence. Parental involvement in EQ development involves expressing and discussing emotions openly, modeling appropriate emotional responses, and promoting empathy and understanding. A home environment that fosters EQ can substantially contribute to a child’s emotional and social development.

Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Future Success

Building emotional intelligence in students has long-term implications for their success. High EQ levels are associated with better job prospects, workplace performance, and overall life satisfaction. Therefore, prioritizing EQ development in our educational systems is in our best interest.

• Improved Academic Performance: Students with higher EQ are more likely to succeed academically because of their enhanced self-awareness, self-regulation, and problem-solving skills.
• Better Interpersonal Relationships: EQ helps students to develop empathy, leading to stronger relationships with their peers, teachers, and family members.
• Increased Self-Awareness: EQ allows students to recognize and understand their emotions, enabling them to manage stress and conflict more effectively.
• Future Success: High levels of EQ have been associated with better job prospects, superior workplace performance, and higher life satisfaction.
• Implementation Challenges: Incorporating EQ development into the curriculum may face resistance due to a heavy academic focus in many education systems.
• Time and Resource Intensive: Training teachers and parents to foster EQ development alongside academic education may require significant time and resources.
• Measuring Success: Unlike academic success, EQ development success may be harder to measure and quantify, potentially leading to difficulty in assessing program efficacy.
• Individual Differences: Not all students develop emotional intelligence simultaneously, which might result in discrepancies and the need for individualized attention.

Emotional intelligence is a key factor in students’ academic and future success. By adopting mindfulness practices, implementing SEL curriculum, and fostering an environment that values emotional awareness, we can significantly enhance EQ in students. Both educators and parents play vital roles in this process, paving the way for well-rounded, emotionally intelligent future leaders.

Developing emotional intelligence in students is an investment that yields lifelong returns—educational attainment, career success, and overall well-being. Let’s pledge to make EQ a central part of our education systems and in the process, nurture students who are not just academically brilliant but also emotionally smart.

What is Emotional Intelligence (EQ)?

Emotional Intelligence, often called EQ, is the ability to understand, use, and manage our emotions positively to relieve stress , communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.

How does Emotional Intelligence affect students’ academic performance?

Research shows that students with higher EQ tend to have better academic performance. They demonstrate increased concentration, improved problem-solving skills, and stronger interpersonal relationships.

How can parents help develop Emotional Intelligence in their children?

Parents can help develop EQ in their children by modeling emotional intelligence, discussing emotions openly, and promoting empathy and understanding at home.

Can Emotional Intelligence be taught in schools?

Yes, Emotional Intelligence can be taught in schools. Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculum, mindfulness exercises, and providing an environment that encourages emotional expression can foster EQ in students.

• Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., & Salovey, P. (2011). Emotional Intelligence: Implications for Personal, Social, Academic, and Workplace Success. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(1), 88-103.
• Crescentini, C., Capurso, V., Furlan, S., & Fabbro, F. (2016). Mindfulness-Oriented Meditation for Primary School Children: Effects on Attention and Psychological Well-Being. Frontiers in Psychology, 7.
• Jennings, P. A., & Greenberg, M. T. (2009). The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and Emotional Competence about Student and Classroom Outcomes. Review of Educational Research, 79(1), 491-525.
• Humphrey, N., Kalambouka, A., Wigelsworth, M., Lendrum, A., Deighton, J., & Wolpert, M. (2011). Measures of Social and Emotional Skills for Children and Young People: A Systematic Review. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 71(4), 617-637.
• Poropat, A. E. (2014). A meta-analysis of the five-factor model of personality and academic performance. Psychological Bulletin, 140(2), 322.

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Emotional Intelligence: How We Perceive, Evaluate, Express, and Control Emotions

Is EQ more important than IQ?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Shereen Lehman, MS, is a healthcare journalist and fact checker. She has co-authored two books for the popular Dummies Series (as Shereen Jegtvig).

Hinterhaus Productions / Getty Images 

• How Do I Know If I'm Emotionally Intelligent?
• How It's Measured

Why Is Emotional Intelligence Useful?

• Ways to Practice
• Tips for Improving

Emotional intelligence (AKA EI or EQ for "emotional quotient") is the ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, evaluate, and use emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively. This ability to express and control  emotions  is essential, but so is the ability to understand, interpret, and respond to the emotions of others. Some experts suggest that emotional intelligence is  more important than IQ  for success in life.

While being book-smart might help you pass tests, emotional intelligence prepares you for the real world by being aware of the feelings of others as well as your own feelings.

How Do I Know If I'm Emotionally Intelligent?

Some key signs and examples of emotional intelligence include:

• An ability to identify and describe what people are feeling
• An awareness of personal strengths and limitations
• Self-confidence and self-acceptance
• The ability to let go of mistakes
• An ability to accept and embrace change
• A strong sense of curiosity, particularly about other people
• Feelings of empathy and concern for others
• Showing sensitivity to the feelings of other people
• Accepting responsibility for mistakes
• The ability to manage emotions in difficult situations

How Is Emotional Intelligence Measured?

A number of different assessments have emerged to measure levels of emotional intelligence. Such tests generally fall into one of two types: self-report tests and ability tests.

Self-report tests are the most common because they are the easiest to administer and score. On such tests, respondents respond to questions or statements by rating their own behaviors. For example, on a statement such as "I often feel that I understand how others are feeling," a test-taker might describe the statement as disagree, somewhat disagree, agree, or strongly agree.

Ability tests, on the other hand, involve having people respond to situations and then assessing their skills. Such tests often require people to demonstrate their abilities, which are then rated by a third party.

If you are taking an emotional intelligence test administered by a mental health professional, here are two measures that might be used:

• Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) is an ability-based test that measures the four branches of Mayer and Salovey's EI model. Test-takers perform tasks designed to assess their ability to perceive, identify, understand, and manage emotions.
• Emotional and Social Competence Inventory (ESCI)   is based on an older instrument known as the Self-Assessment Questionnaire and involves having people who know the individual offer ratings of that person’s abilities in several different emotional competencies. The test is designed to evaluate the social and emotional abilities that help distinguish people as strong leaders.

There are also plenty of more informal online resources, many of them free, to investigate your emotional intelligence.

Try Our Free Emotional Intelligence Test

Our fast and free EQ test can help you determine whether or not your responses to certain situations in life indicate a high level of emotional intelligence:

What Are the 4 Components of Emotional Intelligence?

Researchers suggest that there are four different levels of emotional intelligence including emotional perception, the ability to reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotions, and the ability to manage emotions.  

• Perceiving emotions : The first step in understanding emotions is to perceive them accurately. In many cases, this might involve understanding nonverbal signals such as body language and facial expressions.
• Reasoning with emotions : The next step involves using emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity. Emotions help prioritize what we pay attention and react to; we respond emotionally to things that garner our attention.
• Understanding emotions :   The emotions that we perceive can carry a wide variety of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the observer must interpret the cause of the person's anger and what it could mean. For example, if your boss is acting angry, it might mean that they are dissatisfied with your work, or it could be because they got a speeding ticket on their way to work that morning or that they've been fighting with their partner.
• Managing emotions : The ability to manage emotions effectively is a crucial part of emotional intelligence and the highest level. Regulating emotions and responding appropriately as well as responding to the emotions of others are all important aspects of emotional management.

Recognizing emotions - yours and theirs - can help you understand where others are coming from, the decisions they make, and how your own feelings can affect other people.

The four branches of this model are arranged by complexity with the more basic processes at the lower levels and the more advanced processes at the higher levels. For example, the lowest levels involve perceiving and expressing emotion, while higher levels require greater conscious involvement and involve regulating emotions.

Interest in teaching and learning social and emotional intelligence has grown in recent years. Social and emotional learning (SEL) programs have become a standard part of the curriculum for many schools.

The goal of these initiatives is not only to improve health and well-being but also to help students succeed academically and prevent bullying. There are many examples of how emotional intelligence can play a role in daily life.

Thinking Before Reacting

Emotionally intelligent people know that emotions can be powerful, but also temporary. When a highly charged emotional event happens, such as becoming angry with a co-worker, the emotionally intelligent response would be to take some time before responding.

This allows everyone to calm their emotions and think more rationally about all the factors surrounding the argument.

Greater Self-Awareness

Emotionally intelligent people are not only good at thinking about how other people might feel but they are also adept at understanding their own feelings. Self-awareness allows people to consider the many different factors that contribute to their emotions.

Empathy for Others

A large part of emotional intelligence is being able to think about and empathize with how other people are feeling. This often involves considering how you would respond if you were in the same situation.

People who have strong emotional intelligence are able to consider the perspectives, experiences, and emotions of other people and use this information to explain why people behave the way that they do.

How You Can Practice Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence can be used in many different ways in your daily life. Some different ways to practice emotional intelligence include:

• Being able to accept criticism and responsibility
• Being able to move on after making a mistake
• Being able to say no when you need to
• Being able to share your feelings with others
• Being able to solve problems in ways that work for everyone
• Having empathy for other people
• Having great listening skills
• Knowing why you do the things you do
• Not being judgemental of others

Emotional intelligence is essential for good interpersonal communication. Some experts believe that this ability is more important in determining life success than IQ alone. Fortunately, there are things that you can do to strengthen your own social and emotional intelligence.

Understanding emotions can be the key to better relationships, improved well-being, and stronger communication skills. 

Press Play for Advice On How to Be Less Judgmental

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Are There Downsides to Emotional Intelligence?

Having lower emotional intelligence skills can lead to a number of potential pitfalls that can affect multiple areas of life including work and relationships. People who have fewer emotional skills tend to get in more arguments, have lower quality relationships, and have poor emotional coping skills.

Being low on emotional intelligence can have a number of drawbacks, but having a very high level of emotional skills can also come with challenges. For example:

• Research suggests that people with high emotional intelligence may actually be less creative and innovative.
• Highly emotionally intelligent people may have a hard time delivering negative feedback for fear of hurting other people's feelings.
• Research has found that high EQ can sometimes be used for manipulative and deceptive purposes.

Can I Boost My Emotional Intelligence?

While some people might come by their emotional skills naturally, some evidence suggests that this is an ability you can develop and improve. For example, a 2019 randomized controlled trial found that emotional intelligence training could improve emotional abilities in workplace settings.

Being emotionally intelligent is important, but what steps can you take to improve your own social and emotional skills? Here are some tips.

If you want to understand what other people are feeling, the first step is to pay attention. Take the time to listen to what people are trying to tell you, both verbally and non-verbally. Body language can carry a great deal of meaning. When you sense that someone is feeling a certain way, consider the different factors that might be contributing to that emotion.

Picking up on emotions is critical, but we also need to be able to put ourselves into someone else's shoes in order to truly understand their point of view. Practice empathizing with other people. Imagine how you would feel in their situation. Such activities can help us build an emotional understanding of a specific situation as well as develop stronger emotional skills in the long-term.

The ability to reason with emotions is an important part of emotional intelligence. Consider how your own emotions influence your decisions and behaviors. When you are thinking about how other people respond, assess the role that their emotions play.

Why is this person feeling this way? Are there any unseen factors that might be contributing to these feelings? How to your emotions differ from theirs? As you explore such questions, you may find that it becomes easier to understand the role that emotions play in how people think and behave.

Drigas AS, Papoutsi C. A new layered model on emotional intelligence . Behav Sci (Basel). 2018;8(5):45. doi:10.3390/bs8050045

Salovey P, Mayer J. Emotional Intelligence . Imagination, Cognition, and Personality.  1990;9(3):185-211.

Feist GJ. A meta-analysis of personality in scientific and artistic creativity . Pers Soc Psychol Rev . 1998;2(4):290-309. doi:10.1207/s15327957pspr0204_5

Côté S, Decelles KA, Mccarthy JM, Van kleef GA, Hideg I. The Jekyll and Hyde of emotional intelligence: emotion-regulation knowledge facilitates both prosocial and interpersonally deviant behavior . Psychol Sci . 2011;22(8):1073-80. doi:10.1177/0956797611416251

Gilar-Corbi R, Pozo-Rico T, Sánchez B, Castejón JL. Can emotional intelligence be improved? A randomized experimental study of a business-oriented EI training program for senior managers . PLoS One . 2019;14(10):e0224254. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0224254

By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Emotional intelligence: The key to academic success and well-being for teachers and students

Key takeaways.

• Teachers with high emotional intelligence can create a positive learning environment and better connect with their students.
• Students with high emotional intelligence can manage stress and anxiety, communicate effectively, and achieve academic success.
• Integrating social-emotional learning and emotional intelligence practices in the classroom can foster emotional intelligence development.

Teachers with high   emotional intelligence   are better equipped to create a positive learning environment, manage classroom behavior, and connect with their students. Students with high emotional intelligence are better equipped to manage stress and anxiety, communicate effectively with peers and teachers, and achieve academic success.

In this article, we will explore the concept of emotional intelligence, its benefits in education, and strategies for enhancing EI skills in both   teachers and students .

Understanding Emotional Intelligence

What is emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify, understand, and manage one's own emotions effectively while recognizing and empathizing with others' emotions. It involves self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills, all of which contribute to a person's overall emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence: What it is, why it matters, and how to measure it

Read article

Emotional Intelligence Skills

Developing   emotional intelligence skills   involves enhancing the following:

• Self-Awareness:   Recognizing and understanding your emotions, strengths, and weaknesses.
• Self-Regulation:   Managing your emotions effectively and being able to adapt to changing situations.
• Motivation:   Being able to set goals, maintain optimism, and bounce back from failures.
• Empathy :   Recognizing and understanding others' emotions while being able to put yourself in their shoes.
• Social Skills:   Communicating effectively, building relationships, and resolving conflicts.

Developing Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence development   involves practicing certain skills regularly. You can train yourself by:

• Practicing Self-Awareness:   Focus on identifying and understanding your emotions and learn how to manage them effectively.
• Developing Self-Regulation:   Learn how to control impulsive behaviors, manage stress, and adapt to changing situations.
• Becoming Motivated:   Set goals, maintain optimism, and learn to bounce back from failures.
• Cultivating Empathy :   Listen carefully to others, try to understand their perspectives, and practice being non-judgmental.
• Becoming Socially Skilled:   Practice effective communication, build relationships and resolve conflicts healthily.

Overall, emotional intelligence skills are essential for achieving academic success and overall well-being. By practicing these skills regularly, you can enhance your ability to manage emotions, communicate effectively, and build meaningful relationships with others.

Benefits of Emotional Intelligence in Education

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a crucial component for success in any area of life, and education is no exception. EI skills, such as self-awareness, empathy, and self-regulation, have been found to play a significant role in academic achievement and overall well-being.

Research shows that students with high emotional intelligence are better equipped to handle stress, manage their emotions, and navigate social situations effectively. They are also more likely to have positive relationships with their peers and teachers, which creates a supportive and encouraging learning environment.

Moreover,   emotional intelligence in education   is not just beneficial for students - it also has advantages for teachers. Teachers with high emotional intelligence can better manage classroom dynamics, communicate effectively with students and parents, and establish positive relationships with their students.

Overall, the   benefits of emotional intelligence   in education are significant and far-reaching. Developing emotional intelligence skills in both teachers and students can lead to higher academic achievement, improved well-being, and stronger connections within the classroom community.

Enhancing Teacher-Student Relationships through Emotional Intelligence

Developing emotional intelligence skills is essential for building positive and supportive relationships between teachers and students. Emotional intelligence enables educators to understand and empathize with their students, creating a safe and inclusive classroom environment that fosters learning and growth.

Improving Communication

Effective communication is a cornerstone of any successful relationship. Emotional intelligence skills aid in clear and concise communication between educators and learners. Teachers with emotional intelligence expertise can convey their expectations, feedback, and concerns in a respectful and constructive manner, leading to better outcomes for both parties.

Building Empathy and Understanding

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Emotional intelligence skills build empathy and understanding between teachers and students , leading to a deeper appreciation of diverse perspectives and experiences. Teachers who understand their students' emotions and needs can tailor their teaching methods to address those needs.

Fostering Trust and Mutual Respect

Trust and mutual respect are essential for building strong and supportive teacher-student relationships. Emotional intelligence skills enable educators to create a safe and nurturing environment where students feel valued and respected. Teachers who demonstrate emotional intelligence can inspire and motivate their students, improving academic outcomes and overall well-being.

Overall, enhancing teacher-student relationships through emotional intelligence is critical for creating a positive and inclusive learning environment that fosters growth and development. By prioritizing emotional intelligence development, educators can optimize academic success and promote overall well-being.

Integrating Social-Emotional Learning in the Classroom

If you want to enhance your students' emotional intelligence, incorporating   social-emotional learning   (SEL) techniques in your teaching practice can be an effective strategy. SEL is an educational approach that aims to develop students' social and emotional skills, helping them manage emotions, build positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.

Identify Your Students' Emotional Needs

The first step to integrating SEL in your classroom is identifying your students' emotional needs. This can be accomplished by observing their behavior and identifying patterns of emotions. Encourage them to express their feelings and provide a safe and supportive environment for them to do so.

Use SEL Activities and Exercises

Integrating SEL activities and exercises into your lesson plans can be a fun and engaging way to develop students' emotional intelligence. You can use role-playing, mindfulness exercises, and reflection activities to help students identify and manage their emotions more effectively.

Promote Collaborative Learning and Teamwork

Encouraging collaborative learning and teamwork can also foster social and emotional development in students. Working together on group projects and assignments can help develop interpersonal skills and create a sense of belonging and community in the classroom.

Provide Positive Feedback and Encouragement

Finally, providing positive feedback and encouragement can be an effective way to reinforce emotional intelligence development in students. Praise their efforts and progress, and provide constructive feedback to help them improve.

• Integrating SEL in your teaching practice can enhance your students' emotional intelligence.
• Identify your students' emotional needs to create a supportive environment.
• Use SEL activities and exercises in your lesson plans to make learning fun and engaging.
• Promote collaborative learning and teamwork to create a sense of community and belonging.
• Provide positive feedback and encouragement to reinforce emotional intelligence development in students.

The Importance of SEL in the Secondary Classroom

Cultivating Emotional Intelligence Skills in Students

Now that you understand the importance of emotional intelligence, it's time to explore some practical techniques to cultivate these skills in your students.

1. Self-Reflection Exercises

Encourage your students to reflect on their emotions and the reasons underlying them. This can be done through writing exercises, journaling, or group discussions. By understanding their emotions better, students can learn to regulate them and react in a more constructive way.

2. Mindfulness and Meditation

Incorporate mindfulness and meditation practices in your classroom to help students cultivate their awareness of their emotions and surroundings. Guided meditations and breathing exercises can help calm their minds and reduce stress levels, leading to improved emotional regulation and overall well-being.

3. Role-Playing Scenarios

Simulating real-life situations in the classroom can help students develop empathy and better communication skills. Role-playing exercises, such as conflict resolution scenarios or group discussions on controversial topics, can teach students how to express their opinions while respecting others' views.

4. Emotional Vocabulary Building

Encourage your students to expand their emotional vocabulary by introducing new emotions and discussing their various nuances. This can help them better identify and communicate their feelings, improving emotional regulation and effective communication.

5. Collaborative Projects

Assign collaborative projects that require students to work together, engage in active listening, and communicate their ideas effectively. This can help them develop skills such as teamwork, leadership, and conflict resolution, all while enhancing their emotional intelligence.

6. Model Emotional Intelligence

As a teacher, you play a critical role in modeling emotional intelligence for your students. Practice active listening, empathetic communication, and constructive conflict resolution in your interactions with them. Your behavior serves as a powerful example to your students and can positively influence their emotional intelligence development.

By incorporating these techniques into your classroom, you can help your students cultivate their emotional intelligence skills, leading to improved academic outcomes and overall well-being.

Remember, emotional intelligence aids in   improving teacher-student relationships , fostering resilience and enhancing communication, empathy, and understanding between educators and learners. And that's not all.   Emotional intelligence in education   improves academic performance and creates a positive learning environment.

Author: Melody Reyes

Posted: 05 Dec 2023

Estimated time to read: 8 mins

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What Is the Purpose of a College Essay in Demonstrating Emotional Intelligence?

After School Africa

April 22, 2024

When applying to colleges, students are often faced with the daunting task of writing essays highlighting their academic achievements, personal growth, and emotional depth. These essays transcend mere formalities. They are a critical aspect of the admissions process, revealing the applicant’s personality and their potential impact on the college community.

A particularly impactful way these narratives can resonate with admissions officers is through the demonstration of emotional intelligence (EI). A college admission essay service can help sculpt a narrative that effectively conveys this intelligence, but understanding its intrinsic value is key. This essay provides insight into an applicant’s academic prowess and reveals their capacity to understand, use, and manage emotions in a way that enhances their interpersonal communications and decision-making.

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Table of Contents

Understanding Emotional Intelligence

What is emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence encompasses the capacity to recognize and manage one’s own emotions, as well as those of others. In the context of a college essay, demonstrating emotional intelligence involves reflecting on personal experiences with a level of self-awareness and empathy that shows maturity and depth of character. It’s about using those emotional insights to connect more deeply with the reader, illustrating personal growth and the ability to thrive in emotionally complex situations.

Why Is Emotional Intelligence Important in College Essays?

Highlighting emotional intelligence in essays reveals to admissions officers that the student is capable of introspection and growth from experiences. It suggests that the student will be able to navigate the social and emotional landscapes of college life, which is crucial for personal and academic success. Essays that effectively highlight emotional intelligence showcase a student’s ability to connect with and make significant contributions to the college community. Demonstrating such qualities helps differentiate the applicant in a competitive admissions environment, highlighting their potential as a well-rounded, emotionally aware individual.

Demonstrating Emotional Intelligence in College Essays

How to showcase emotional intelligence.

To effectively display emotional intelligence in a college essay, students should focus on specific experiences where they faced challenges, conflicts, or transitions and describe how they managed their emotions and those of others involved. It involves crafting a narrative that delves deeper, illustrating how emotional depth has shaped personal growth. This approach not only enhances the narrative but also solidifies the student’s capacity for critical reflection and emotional management under stress.

The Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Admissions

How important are college essays in the context of demonstrating emotional intelligence? Quite significant. College essays provide a platform through which the qualitative elements of a student’s application can shine. In an academic environment increasingly attentive to the well-being and emotional maturity of its students, showcasing emotional intelligence can make a compelling case for one’s admission, distinguishing them from a pool of academically qualified candidates.

How important is the college essay in shaping a college’s perception of you? It can be the deciding factor. Admissions officers look for students who are intellectually capable and emotionally intelligent, as they are more likely to contribute positively to campus life and culture. Effectively showcasing this quality in an essay can profoundly sway the admissions decision in the applicant’s favor. Essays are a powerful tool for conveying personal virtues that transcripts do not show.

What is the point of a college essay if not to communicate who you are beyond your grades? It’s about telling your story in a way that resonates on an emotional level, proving that you’re ready to tackle the personal and academic challenges of college. This critical narrative highlights the student’s potential to adapt and flourish in the college environment. Essays serve as a unique space to express the complexities of your experiences and visions.

Who reads college essays? Trained admissions officers and sometimes faculty members are all keen to understand who you are as a person. Your ability to convey emotional intelligence through your writing can set you apart from other applicants, showcasing a readiness to handle both academic and emotional challenges effectively. They evaluate your potential to enrich the campus community through your perspectives and personal growth.

Incorporating emotional intelligence into your college essay is not just about impressing the admissions committee. It’s about demonstrating that you have the maturity and insight to reflect on your experiences thoughtfully. This boosts your chances of admission and prepares you for the interpersonal dynamics of college life. Showcasing emotional intelligence in your essay illustrates that you are not just academically capable but also emotionally ready to take on the challenges of higher education. Essays serve as a crucial bridge in your application, linking your past achievements with your future goals.

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Exploring The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Academic Stress Among Students

This research explored the relationship between total-trait emotional intelligence and academic stress among college students at a small, private college. Student total-trait emotional intelligence (TTEI) and university stress scores were significantly correlated. Measures of TTEI and USS are useful for student intervention to impact issues such as attrition. To increase retention, small private colleges benefit significantly from knowing students’ level of academic stress and emotional intelligence. Identifying specific factors and mitigating the adverse effects of these factors allows small colleges the opportunity to provide additional services for students.

Related Papers

Beatrice A D R I A N A Balgiu

The trait emotional intelligence (TEI) is considered to be different from the ability emotional intelligence, being conceptualized as a constellation of emotional self-perceptions and behavioral dispositions consistent with the subjective nature of emotions. The study of the relationship between TEI and stress, as well as the relationship between TEI and two of the essential consequences of stress, i.e. anxiety and depression, has revealed contradicting results. Our article aimed to study the relationship between TEI and perceived stress, anxiety and depression in the in the case of a sample of students from the technical field. The correlational analysis showed a significant negative association between TEI and perceived stress, as well as between TEI and anxiety and depression. The Emotionality and Sociability components of the TEI structure seem to have the highest influence in stress resistance. The results suggest that individuals with highly developed TEI withstand stress better than those with lower scores. The regression analysis showed that the TEI global score was as a significant predictor of perceived stress and depression for this group of students. In these circumstances, we consider that TEI is a useful construct, able to capture inter-individual differences in stress, anxiety and depression.

Advances in Psychology, Mental Health, and Behavioral Studies

Dr Poornima Rajendran

In this chapter, the authors reviewed the dimensions/subscales of emotional intelligence and deliberated its significance associated in enhancing emotional competencies, thereby overcoming academic stress in students. The present review makes the reader understand and rationalize the significance of emotional intelligence for students to develop their emotional competencies to empower themselves and combat academic stress and enhance their academic performance.

IJIP Journal

The study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and stress on college students. An incidental cum purposive sample of 100 undergraduate college students of Patna town, was selected for data collection. Emotional intelligence scale by Dr. Meena Jain and Dr. Madhu Jain and Singh Personal Stress Source Inventory by Arun Kumar Singh, Ashish kumar Singh and Arpana Singh were used and appropriate statistical analysis was done. Results indicate that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress in both male and female students. Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the capability of individuals to recognize their own, and other people's emotions, to discern between feelings and label them appropriately, to use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and to manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt environments or achieve one's goal. For most people, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) is more important than one's Intelligence (IQ) in attaining success in their lives and career. As individual's success and the success of the profession today depends on the ability to read others people's signals and react appropriately to them. Therefore, each of the individual must develop the mature emotional intelligence skills required to better understand, empathize and negotiate with other people, particularly as the economy has become more global, otherwise will elude individual in their lives and career.

Dr. K . Arockiaraj

Emotions play crucial role in the success and happiness of any human being. Concept of Emotional Intelligence grabs an important place in any behaviour modification trainings given to the employees of any company. Training college students on Emotional Intelligence will certainly empower them to successfully accomplish the tasks, establish effective relationship, excel in leadership and handle problems in different dimensions. This paper highlights the perceived Emotional Intelligence of 520 college students of Sacred Heart College, Tirupattur, Vellore Dist., TN and it has been tested for its association and differences by their course of education, domicile, gender, parents’ occupation and socio-economic status. It was found that the majority of the students lack in Emotional Intelligence, there are significant differences found in the Emotional Intelligence by the course of education, gender, academic achievement and socio-economic status. This paper will be an eye opener for the educational institutions, parents and teachers to create sufficient space and exposure for the students to be Emotionally Intelligent.

Subburaj Alagarsamy

The future development of the country is in students hands. Because students and young people going to rule the country in future. Now a day's students are facing very high level academic stress. Every year about 25,000 students between 18-20 years commit suicides because of examination and other academic stress. It's time to understand the major academic stressors and how to manage these stressors. This study reveals the major academic stressors and how to manage the academic stress by using emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to identify emotions to evaluate and create them so as to support thought to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, to contemplatively regulate emotions, so as to promote intellectual and emotional growth. This study is based engineering students in south Tamilnadu, concentrated on 6 districts and researcher collected 510 samples from engineering college students. Structured questionnaire includes Students Academic Stress Scale (SASS) and Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS). Study concludes that emotional intelligence is a key to managing academic stress and creating pleasant environment for the students and supports them to present their best.

Zarina M Saad

Canyon Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies (CJIS)

Dr. Lori J Cooper

Emotional Intelligence (EI) encompasses self-perceptions that include lower-level personality characteristics (Cooper & Petrides, 2010). Awareness of self-perceptions could arguably afford individuals more control over how they think and feel or regulate emotions, which in turn could result in improved Academic Achievement (AA). The first step in examining this relationship was to establish that EI and AA are related. For this study, an examination was conducted exploring whether a correlation existed between EI and AA, in 253 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory Psychology course at a private Christian university in the Southwestern United States. Findings include a significant, but low positive correlation between EI and AA in individuals who could recognize and regulate their emotions (r = .22, p = <.001), EI and GPA (r = .19, p = .002), as well as EI and self-reported end of course grade (r =.19, p =.002). The identified links between these variables have strong implications for educational efforts that may strengthen the foundation and opportunity for EI awareness in an academic setting.

Dominique Renteria

Ijbmm Journal

ERIC Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Emotional Intelligence, Student Experience, Undergraduate Students, Business School Although there is an emerging body of literature demonstrating a relationship between Emotional Intelligence and academic success (i.e., GPA) and much speculation as to how Emotional Intelligence impacts academic performance, there are no studies to date, which examine students' experiences of this phenomenon in-depth. There is a need to understand the experience of students with regard to how Emotional Intelligence impacts academic achievement from the students' perspective. This dissertation presents a qualitative study based on the perceptions and lived experiences of eight undergraduate business students with respect to emotional intelligence and how it impacts perceived success.If Emotional Intelligence contributes to improved academic achievement, a greater understanding of the relationship between EI and student success, particularly within the realms of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management would benefit universities in both admissions decisions and interventions to improve student success, thereby increasing overall student retention. The knowledge gained from this research contributes to existing literature regarding how EI impacts students' perceived success in an undergraduate business program. The goal of this research project was to gather rich descriptions and a depth of understanding of the students' experiences of EI as it relates to perceived success. The most prevalent themes identified by respondents were relationship management, self-awareness, self-management, and social awareness. The eight students who participated in this study emphasized and recognized that EI was an important factor in their decision-making process for academic success. Results of this research indicated that there was a strong, positive connection between EI and academic success and that the development of EI was influenced by identifiable factors. Emotions play a key role in decision making, and this research reinforced the awareness that emotional stability and EI are crucial components for academic success.

isara solutions

International Res Jour Managt Socio Human

supported that performance and results of the students depends on how well they are able to manage emotions and mind. So the study is mainly concerned with analysis of the Emotional Intelligence of students and its relation with academic performance. The objective of the study is to find the level of Emotional Intelligence of the students; to find the difference in EI levels of students with respect to their demographic like: gender, age and residential area and relation of Emotional Intelligence (EI) of students with their academic achievement. Data of 100 students from MDU, rohtak was collected randomly using EI tool developed by Prof. Roquiya Zainuddin and Dr. Anjum Ahmed and then analyzed using t-test, ANOVA and Karl pearson's correlation. In analysis, a negative and insignificant relationship is found between EI and Academic achievements. Majority of the students are having average level of EI and EI has no significant relation with age, Gender or residential area.

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Emotional Intelligence Skills and How to Develop Them

Whether you know it as emotional quotient (EQ), emotional intelligence (EI), or you’re familiar with the idea of “soft skills” more broadly, emotional intelIigence plays an important role in our daily lives.

Emotional intelligence underpins our professional relationships, interpersonal communications, and ability to motivate ourselves.

If you’ve ever held yourself back when you’ve felt like lashing out, you’re already familiar with one way EI works. Like other aspects of the self, it’s not tangible, but even though we can’t see emotional intelligence, we can certainly feel its impact.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free . These science-based exercises will not only enhance your ability to understand and work with your emotions but will also give you the tools to foster the emotional intelligence of your clients, students, or employees.

This Article Contains:

• What Are Emotional Intelligence Skills?

Real-Life Examples of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence, social skills, and you, how to develop emotional intelligence skills, emotional intelligence skills assessment, 3 exercises to develop ei skills, great tedx talks and youtube videos, a take-home message, what are emotional intelligence skills.

Emotional intelligence is:

“a type of intelligence that involves the ability to process emotional information and use it in reasoning and other cognitive activities.”

American Psychological Association, 2018

EI is relevant in both our professional and personal relationships, as well as the relationships we have with ourselves. We’ll look at the dynamics of how EI plays a big role in interpersonal skills.

“Emotional intelligence” was coined by two American psychologists, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, in 1997, and from their definition, we can get a great idea of what emotional intelligence skills are all about:

“The emotionally intelligent person is skilled in four areas: identifying emotions, using emotions, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions.”

Emotional intelligence is at play throughout our everyday lives (Schutte et al., 2001):

• EI helps us manage our emotions by allowing us to dismiss, ignore, or regulate our unproductive emotions in instances when they’re just not helpful. For example, there’s little value in yelling at a bus driver because your commute has been slowed down by bad traffic.
• Our EI abilities are what allow us to notice and understand how others are feeling. They play a big role in defining who we are by shaping our relationships with others around us.
• Our emotional intelligence skills are believed to be huge contributors to our overall success in life, due to their influence on our ability to self-manage and motivate.

We’ll use workplace examples and also consider how EI looks in personal relationships.

Listening to others

Jane works at an advertising agency, and things can get a little hectic during the brainstorming process. Everyone struggles to get their opinion heard, thinking they have the best idea. Quite often, this leads to a lot of raised voices. When Jane’s college Bob presents a campaign idea, it’s difficult for him to get his point across without another team member talking over him, which demonstrates very little respect and can lead to hurt feelings.

Before the next meeting, Jane calmly suggests that people listen quietly to one another when other’s are presenting. With this simple request, Jane is demonstrating strong emotional intelligence. Specifically, she’s perceiving that Bob is feeling disrespected and she’s attempting to manage emotions in the room. Both recognition and effective handling of the team’s emotions are at play.

When everyone starts to listen to one another, per Jane’s suggestion, it’s much simpler to reach a constructive decision together.

Facilitating thought

Daniel is a parking inspector, and this means that sometimes people return to their cars to find him printing out a ticket. Over the years, he’s learned that an authoritative, “only doing my job” attitude tends to provoke negative reactions from drivers. Often, these lead to complaints about his performance.

When drivers catch Daniel printing out a ticket, he now starts their interaction with a smile. He asks how they’re doing and then starts a chat about the weather. By detecting and attending to their emotions, then adapting his communication strategy using higher-level mental processes, he’s managed to reduce the complaints against him by 90%. He’s also successfully managed others’ emotions despite their potentially irrational behavior.

Understanding others’ perspectives

Lisa has gone over to Debby’s house to return a dress she borrowed. She even brings a slice of cake because she knows that Debby has had a very stressful week at work. Debby’s in an unpleasant mood because she’s exhausted and doesn’t invite Lisa inside. Instead, she is snappy and closes the door on her friend as soon as she can. Lisa is upset, thinking “How horrible” as she walks home.

During the walk, Lisa reflects on the situation and takes a moment to think about Debby, who has been busy with incredibly long hours, working until 9 pm each day at the office. She dismisses her earlier thoughts and recognizes that Debby has just been tired and a little worn out. By putting herself in her friend’s shoes and looking at the emotional situation objectively, she’s been able to make a rational decision about how to react.

Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients understand and use emotions advantageously.

Download 3 Free Emotional Intelligence Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

As the above examples illustrate, emotional intelligence, social skills, and communication skills are inextricably linked.

Being aware of our emotions and handling our feelings can be critical in determining success in many aspects of life (Bar-On, 2006, 2013). Unsurprisingly, relationships, emotional intelligence, and social skills play a huge role in our happiness and family relationships (Gottman et al., 1998).

When it comes to EI skills, the ability to perceive and manage emotions helps us cope with conflict. It does this by allowing us to anticipate how others are feeling and adapt our responses so we can resolve them in a mutually beneficial way.

Interestingly, academics have noted a specific positive linkage between EI and increased relationship satisfaction (Malouff et al., 2014). And this has made it possible for us to develop actionable strategies to improve our relationships by growing our emotional intelligence skills. Here are some examples of how we can do this.

1. Work on your self-awareness

Mindfulness is key with this exercise, which is surprisingly easy. Start by simply taking a little time to think about your reactions to daily events. A few quiet moments at the end of the day are perfect for reflecting on what happened to you and how you felt. Corporate psychologist Dr. Patricia Thompson (2018) suggests not to stop here, either.

She stresses that it’s important to take this reflection a little further by spending some time considering your own strengths, triggers, values, and opportunities that you see to develop further (Thompson, 2018). This EI exercise is built on Mayer and Salovey’s (1997) concept of perceiving emotions—it starts with you!

2. Reframe your perception of self-management

Executive coach Roger Reece (2018) advises that conflicts with others can often be problems that relate to our frame of reference. As an example, reframing is what we do when we switch from a glass-half-empty to a glass-half-full perspective, in a sense. When developing our EI, we take this internal process and apply it to our interactions with others. Here’s Reece’s (2018) description of how it works:

“By reframing conflict with a co-worker as an opportunity to build better teamwork with that person, you can find the motivation to initiate a conversation rather than avoid the conflict as unworkable. During a difficult conversation, you can reframe the way you see the other person – not as an enemy, but rather a potential new ally.”

The concept of reframing is a popular one with EI practitioners and works well if you are looking for a long-term way to deal with unavoidable interpersonal conflicts. As an example, imagine that someone is criticizing an idea you have come up with. Now imagine reframing the situation: “ How useful these suggestions are, I can use them to improve my idea. ”

3. Become aware of your emotional triggers

Another approach Reece (2018) suggests for learning to manage our own emotions is to identify the triggers that set them off in the first place. This involves trying to isolate, anticipate, and control the aspects of our interactions with others that set us off.

A common example is what Reece calls the offense trigger . It describes most people’s tendency to become offended by others’ body language, tone of voice, etc. during arguments. The opposite is considering what their intended message might actually be; maybe they’re just trying to help.

We’ve included a really great exercise on identifying your triggers in one of the worksheets below. The underpinning motivation for identifying our triggers is to be able to control our maladaptive emotional responses to them. If we know that someone’s tendency to speak frankly tends to set us off, for example, we can adapt our behaviors accordingly when we interact with them.

Being less defensive and aggressive if an interaction is unavoidable, for example, can help us reach a constructive conclusion when we engage.

4. Recognize and celebrate your positive emotions

This practice is as simple as taking the time to do things that make you experience positive emotions. This isn’t about taking a tropical vacation each weekend. It’s more about intentionally engaging in intrinsically rewarding activities like being kind, recalling past happy memories, and expressing our gratitude when we interact with others (Thompson, 2018).

This exercise is based on the idea that experiencing more positive emotions puts you in a better and more resilient position when negative things occur. We’re better equipped, in this respect, by taking conscious steps to celebrate the things that evoke positive feelings in ourselves.

While many different organizations and practitioners use varying emotional intelligence skills assessments, the best known is probably the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (Mayer et al., 2002).

Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test

The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) uses a whopping 141 items to measure four emotional intelligence skills mentioned above. It also gives you area scores for Experiential EI and Strategic EI and one total EI score, as the picture below shows (Brackett & Salovey, 2006).

Some example questions are shown below (Mayer et al., 2002; Price & Walle, 2018):

1. Identifying emotions

2. Using emotions

What mood(s) might be helpful to feel when meeting in-laws for the very first time?

3. Understanding emotions

Tom felt anxious and became a bit stressed when he thought about all the work he needed to do. When his supervisor brought him an additional project, he felt ____. (Select the best choice.)

• Overwhelmed
• Self-conscious

4. Managing Emotions

Angie just returned from vacation. She was feeling peaceful and content. On a scale of one to five, how well would each action preserve her mood?

Action 1: She started to make a list of things at home that she needed to do. Very ineffective..1…..2…..3…..4…..5..Very effective

Action 2: She began thinking about where and when she would go on her next vacation. Very ineffective..1…..2…..3…..4…..5..Very effective

Action 3: She decided it was best to ignore the feeling since it wouldn’t last anyway. Very ineffective..1…..2…..3…..4…..5..Very effective

You can learn more about the full version of the MSCEIT here .

The Harvard Business Review EI Assessment

This emotional intelligence test is much shorter, comprising only 25 items, which you can do here (McKee, 2015). Because the answers are all on the same five-point Likert scale, the test is easy to complete. Here are some sample items (not in the original order):

1) I can describe my feelings in detail, beyond just “happy,” “sad,” “angry,” and so on.

• Most of the time

2) I focus on opportunities rather than obstacles.

3) I see people as good and well intentioned.

4) I use strong emotions, such as anger, fear, and joy, appropriately and for the good of others.

5) I readily understand others’ viewpoints, even when they are different from my own.

6) My curiosity about others drives me to listen attentively to them.

7) I adapt easily when a situation is uncertain or ever-changing.

On the HBR website itself, you can submit your answers online, and even ask others to respond to the same test while thinking about you.

Developing your emotional intelligence skills doesn’t have to be difficult. Whether you prefer to learn from books, exercises, or videos, there’s something for everyone.

The important thing is to find what works for you, as you’ll quickly discover that this makes it much easier to continue the great work over time.

Perceiving, understanding, and managing emotions

This exercise is for everyone. You’ll note that a lot of emotional intelligence exercises are based on reflection. Whether it’s a reflection on your own experiences, your interactions with others, or part of a longer, ongoing journaling exercise, reflection and EI often go hand in hand.

The exercise starts with recalling a recent occasion when something unexpected occurred and caused you to feel certain emotions.

Think about:

• The people who were there.
• What happened.
• The emotions you felt.
• The emotions you presently feel as you recall and reflect on the event.

Note down your reflections in answer to the following questions:

• What did you first become aware of, in yourself, as you remembered the situation?
• What physical sensations did you notice?
• How would you describe the first emotion you felt as you remembered this experience?
• When did you become aware of the emotion? (both during the situation itself and during the process of remembering)
• What signals alerted you that this was the emotion you were experiencing?
• What triggered this particular emotion for you?

This exercise is part of an Emotional Intelligence Skills eBook from The Myers-Briggs Company .

Understanding triggers

The exercise above gave an in-depth look at how we can perceive emotions in response to a certain event. The Therapist Aid’s (2017) Understanding Triggers worksheet starts by identifying unwanted emotional responses (anger, frustration, jealousy, etc.) and helps us work on strategies. It can be used to better understand potentially maladaptive coping mechanisms.

A trigger is “ a stimulus – such as a person, place, situation, or thing – that contributes to an unwanted emotional or behavioral response ” (Therapist Aid, 2017).

We start by identifying the problem: something that our unwanted responses are contributing to. Maybe it’s snapping at others in the workplace or reacting badly to negative feedback.

Describe the problem your triggers are contributing to. What’s the worst-case scenario if you are exposed to your triggers?

We then explore these by sorting them into trigger categories. We think about each of the six categories below and ask ourselves if any of these trigger the unwanted emotional response:

• Emotional state

Ideally, we start to identify our triggers and avoid them where possible. This step makes it easier for us to then fill out the following table, which is adapted from the original exercise (Therapist Aid, 2017):

Avoiding unnecessary triggers and learning to better handle those that are just part of life are also welcome ways to cut down on stress.

Self-Management Activity

This self-management activity looks at how to better manage our own behavioral reactions to the emotions we feel. Sometimes it’s natural to feel really angry – traffic jams come instantly to mind!

There are two super-simple steps to this activity. In the first, think back to a time you felt angry, and list your reactions and behaviors in response to the following statement:

The last time I was angry, I…

For the second activity, describe some healthy management skills and behaviors. These are how you’d prefer to react to similar situations in the future. Some suggestions of healthy management skills include:

• Breathing deeply
• Going for a walk
• Taking a break
• Taking a shower
• Thinking before you speak
• Distracting yourself
• Writing about it

17 Exercises To Develop Emotional Intelligence

These 17 Emotional Intelligence Exercises [PDF] will help others strengthen their relationships, lower stress, and enhance their wellbeing through improved EQ.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

If you’re a different kind of visual learner, we recommend you find out more about emotional intelligence, social skills, and communication skills from some of these videos:

The Power of Emotional Intelligence

A TEDx talk by Travis Bradberry, who gives some great examples to answer the question “What are emotional intelligence skills?”

Daniel Goleman Introduces Emotional Intelligence

A short, concise, but informative video from Daniel Goleman, the journalist and psychologist who helped to popularize the EI concept .

Emotional Intelligence: From Theory to Everyday Practice

An interesting one from Yale University, looking at emotional intelligence abilities in everyday life.

Emotional Intelligence: How Good Leaders Become Great

From the UC Davis Executive Leadership Program, this talk also considers emotional intelligence and coaching skills for leaders .

In this article, we’ve considered several approaches to defining emotional intelligence and how we can start to develop our own EI skills through activities and mindfulness. We’ve looked at the many ways that emotional intelligence, social skills, and communication are all related to hopefully give you an idea of how EI can:

• Improve your relationship satisfaction
• Help you understand and manage your own emotions
• Make you more successful at dealing with everyday frustrations
• Help you work toward more mutually beneficial resolutions to conflict
• Get you through those traffic jams without pulling your hair out!

Do you have great quotes or mental techniques for developing your emotional intelligence skills? Have you found a great approach that works for you? If so, we are keen for you to share your thoughts with us.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Emotional Intelligence Exercises for free .

• American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Emotional intelligence, In APA Dictionary of Psychology . Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/emotional-intelligence.
• Bar-On, R. (2006). The Bar-On model of emotional-social intelligence (ESI). Psicothema, 18(S),13-25.
• Bar-On, R. (2013). Theoretical foundations, background and development of the Bar-On model of emotional intelligence. Retrieved from http://www.reuvenbaron.org/wp/theoretical-foundations-background-and-development-of-the-bar-on-model-of-emotional-intelligence/
• Brackett, M. A., & Salovey, P. (2006). Measuring emotional intelligence with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Psicothema, 18(S), 34-41.
• Gottman, J. M., Coan, J., Carrere, S., & Swanson, C. (1998). Predicting marital happiness and stability from newlywed interactions. Journal of Marriage and the Family , 60(1), 5–22.
• Malouff, J. M., Schutte, N. S., & Thorsteinsson, E. B. (2014). Trait emotional intelligence and romantic relationship satisfaction: A meta-analysis. The American Journal of Family Therapy , 42(1), 53-66.
• Mayer, J., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is Emotional Intelligence? In P. Salovey and D. Sluyter (Eds). Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence . New York: Basic Books.
• Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. (2002). Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test manual . Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.
• McKee, A. (2015, June 5). Quiz yourself: Do you lead with emotional intelligence ? Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/06/quiz-yourself-do-you-lead-with-emotional-intelligence
• Price, C., & Walle, E. (Eds.) (2018). Emotion researcher: ISRE’s sourcebook for research on emotion and affect . International Society for Research on Emotion. Retrieved from http://emotionresearcher.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Emotion-Researcher-March-2018.pdf
• Reece, R. (2018). Emotional Intelligence & Conflict Management . Retrieved from http://emotionalintelligenceworkshops.com/emotional-intelligence-conflict-management.htm
• Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Bobik, C., Coston, T. D., Greeson, C., Jedlicka, C., & Wendorf, G. (2001). Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations. The Journal of social psychology, 141(4), 523-536.
• Therapist Aid. (2017). Triggers . Retrieved from https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/triggers/
• Thompson, P. (2018). 9 Tips To Increase Your Emotional Intelligence For Stronger Relationships . Retrieved from https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-17573/9-tips-to-increase-your-emotional-intelligence-for-stronger-relationships.html.

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Article feedback

What our readers think.

great conversations about emotional intelligence

This was a great course, i will take this again. a reminder to control emotions

Any thoughts on helping a pre teen develop stronger EI? Possibly books or activities specific for that age group. Modeling behaviors/ trying to talk with my 12 year old isn’t working and they aren’t self motivated to get better. Thanks!

We have a dedicated post containing exercises and activities about emotional intelligence for children. You can find that here . Here’s another post of ours about teaching emotional intelligence to teens. Regarding books, you may find Gottman’s ‘Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child’ or Shapiro’s ‘How to Raise a Child with High EQ’ useful.

Hope this helps!

– Nicole | Community Manager

my thoughts on emotional intelligence is everyone is different. even in each household each family member may have some of the same feelings, but as we grow in our good and bad moments, we may have a twist or turn that fix how we control our emotional state. we hold it in, we try to show there is good in everything, on and on.

WOW i like this article so interesting. i have learned much about my EI.thanks so much. hope to do more exercise to improve my emotional intelligence.

Thanks Janet for your comment! Hope it helps!

Merci beaucoup , c’était un excellent article.

Thanks Sonia, glad you enjoyed!

This was a GREAT article. I know it was made as a general statement but from my PERSONAL experience and from what I have seen around me, having high emotional intelligence did not in fact translate into more success in life. Most of my peers with high emotional intelligence are not doing so well (financially speaking), nor have they climbed up the ladder in their places of employment. I happen to be the exception, but I believe it is, at the very least, 80% luck-based. I am sure having high emotional intelligence contributed to where I am today but I believe it is way way way overstated.

Hi Eric, thanks so much for your feedback and continuing the conversation 🙂

Hiya Eric, Thanks so much for your input. I agree that a lot of different factors play a role in success, and that there’s no way one concept in isolation can ‘predict’ success. At the same time, any attempt to define success is to open another can of worms completely, in my opinion! Food for thought, at the very least 🙂 You may find our article on Emotional Intelligence books interesting, and I personally would love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read any of them! https://positivepsychology.com/best-emotional-intelligence-books/ Cath

Thanks for sharing information about emotional tactics

Thank you Veelead for reading! Do feel free to let us know if any of the exercises have been of use to you. If you enjoy practical tactics and exercises, you might also like this book by Gill Hasson, too: Emotional Intelligence Pocketbook: Little Exercises for an Intuitive Life. Best, Cath

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Help Children Build Resilience to Face Life’s Challenges

Stories can operate as a tool for developing empathy and emotional intelligence..

Posted May 20, 2024 | Reviewed by Monica Vilhauer

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The pandemic is often viewed as the root cause for the sharp decline in adolescent mental health. But experts have been sounding the alarm about a growing mental health crisis for years. The suffering we see in children has been exacerbated by many factors – isolation, societal division, economic stress , and violent conflicts. In a way, children have become the canaries in the coal mine who mirror adult behavior and stress, and their actions are indicative of the challenges our world is facing.

In my decades as a pediatrician and professor of child psychiatry and development, I have witnessed the power that stories have to help children develop important life skills to deal with some of life’s biggest challenges. When we think of literacy as a tool to build resilience , the connection may not be immediately clear. But while writing The Educator’s Guide to Child & Family Resilience , I looked closely at the many ways mental health and literacy are intertwined. When we facilitate a conversation about a character’s emotions in a favorite children’s book, or encourage students to make more independent choices at home, we foster resilience and literacy seamlessly. This can happen within the home, in the classroom, and on a societal level.

Again and again, research has affirmed the effectiveness of storytelling and reading as a vehicle to improve student health, mental fortitude, motivation , and positive self-esteem . The more opportunities children have to learn about the world through reading, the more opportunities they have to grow and flourish. By exposing young people to quality books with characters who confront powerful emotions, we help them develop resilience and self-confidence . As children read about the lives of others, they naturally cultivate self-awareness, emotional depth, and compassion for the struggles of others, as well as a deeper capacity for problem-solving and critical thinking ( Reading for Life ).

Literature can also be a model for positive social relationships for kids and serve as a springboard for powerful discussions about how to develop and emulate these connections with others. Research from the American Psychological Association has found that one of the primary factors for resilience is having caring, supportive relationships, whether they be with our family or our closest friends. By demonstrating kindness, showing love, and fostering meaningful conversations, we can help children create and maintain close-knit relationships. A simple, low-risk way for parents and caregivers to give kids a chance to engage in critical discussions at home is by starting a “family book club” and reading a book together. In the classroom, educators can host Socratic seminars or literature circles, prompting students to debate, reflect, and connect with others through the text at hand. These interactions aid in the construction of strong communication skills and other executive functions , and help prevent loneliness and isolation. My wise co-author, Dr. Michele Myers, shares ideas on how to further these aims on the Scholastic Mental Health Resource .

When we teach children how to be resilient, we encourage them to be curious. The more curiosity a child has about a certain topic or story, the more likely they are to remember the information they have learned ( Psychological Science ). This phenomenon ultimately increases a child’s motivation to take action and create a more positive self-image . When children are able to pursue their own interests — their own curiosities — they are more likely to accomplish reading milestones. Research finds that 92% of kids are more likely to finish reading a book that they picked out themselves. Providing access to books that match a child’s interests opens doors for communication, personal discovery, and heightened engagement. When families, teachers, and communities take the time to foster curiosity, and allow children to pursue their passions, children benefit mentally and emotionally.

Literature and storytelling encourage student well-being, which is critical to their mental health. At a time when division and fragmentation are growing, literacy provides a clear path to building resilience. To help children process the world around them, protect their physical and mental health, and increase academic motivation, educators and families can and should work together to connect literacy and overall health from an early age and beyond.

Linda C. Mayes, M.D., Arnold Gesell Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, and Director of the Yale Child Study Center.

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Can Artificial Intelligence Grade Student Essays?

Grading papers is hard work. “I hate it,” a teacher friend confessed to me. And that’s a major reason why middle and high school teachers don’t assign more writing to their students. Even an efficient high school English teacher who can read and evaluate an essay in 20 minutes would spend 3,000 minutes, or 50 hours, grading if she’s teaching six classes of 25 students each. There aren’t enough hours in the day.

Could ChatGPT relieve teachers of some of the burden of grading papers? Early research is finding that the new artificial intelligence of large language models, also known as generative AI, is approaching the accuracy of a human in scoring essays and is likely to become even better soon. But we still don’t know whether offloading essay grading to ChatGPT will ultimately improve or harm student writing.

Tamara Tate, a researcher at University California, Irvine, and an associate director of her university’s Digital Learning Lab, is studying how teachers might use ChatGPT to improve writing instruction. Most recently, Tate and her seven-member research team, which includes writing expert Steve Graham at Arizona State University, compared how ChatGPT stacked up against humans in scoring 1,800 history and English essays written by middle and high school students.

Tate said ChatGPT was “roughly speaking, probably as good as an average busy teacher” and “certainly as good as an overburdened below-average teacher.” But, she said, ChatGPT isn’t yet accurate enough to be used on a high-stakes test or on an essay that would affect a final grade in a class.

Tate presented her study on ChatGPT essay scoring at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia in April. (The paper is under peer review for publication and is still undergoing revision.)

Most remarkably, the researchers obtained these fairly decent essay scores from ChatGPT without training it first with sample essays. That means it is possible for any teacher to use it to grade any essay instantly with minimal expense and effort. “Teachers might have more bandwidth to assign more writing,” said Tate. “You have to be careful how you say that because you never want to take teachers out of the loop.”

Writing instruction could ultimately suffer, Tate warned, if teachers delegate too much grading to ChatGPT. Seeing students’ incremental progress and common mistakes remain important for deciding what to teach next, she said. For example, seeing loads of run-on sentences in your students’ papers might prompt a lesson on how to break them up. But if you don’t see them, you might not think to teach it.

In the study, Tate and her research team calculated that ChatGPT’s essay scores were in “fair” to “moderate” agreement with those of well-trained human evaluators. In one batch of 943 essays, ChatGPT was within a point of the human grader 89 percent of the time. On a six-point grading scale that researchers used in the study, ChatGPT often gave an essay a 2 when an expert human evaluator thought it was really a 1. But this level of agreement – within one point – dropped to 83 percent of the time in another batch of 344 English papers and slid even farther to 76 percent of the time in a third batch of 493 history essays.  That means there were more instances where ChatGPT gave an essay a 4, for example, when a teacher marked it a 6. And that’s why Tate says these ChatGPT grades should only be used for low-stakes purposes in a classroom, such as a preliminary grade on a first draft.

Still, this level of accuracy was impressive because even teachers disagree on how to score an essay and one-point discrepancies are common. Exact agreement, which only happens half the time between human raters, was worse for AI, which matched the human score exactly only about 40 percent of the time. Humans were far more likely to give a top grade of a 6 or a bottom grade of a 1. ChatGPT tended to cluster grades more in the middle, between 2 and 5.

Tate set up ChatGPT for a tough challenge, competing against teachers and experts with PhDs who had received three hours of training in how to properly evaluate essays. “Teachers generally receive very little training in secondary school writing and they’re not going to be this accurate,” said Tate. “This is a gold-standard human evaluator we have here.”

The raters had been paid to score these 1,800 essays as part of three earlier studies on student writing. Researchers fed these same student essays – ungraded –  into ChatGPT and asked ChatGPT to score them cold. ChatGPT hadn’t been given any graded examples to calibrate its scores. All the researchers did was copy and paste an excerpt of the same scoring guidelines that the humans used, called a grading rubric, into ChatGPT and told it to “pretend” it was a teacher and score the essays on a scale of 1 to 6.

Older robo graders

Earlier versions of automated essay graders have had higher rates of accuracy. But they were expensive and time-consuming to create because scientists had to train the computer with hundreds of human-graded essays for each essay question. That’s economically feasible only in limited situations, such as for a standardized test, where thousands of students answer the same essay question.

Earlier robo graders could also be gamed, once a student understood the features that the computer system was grading for. In some cases, nonsense essays received high marks if fancy vocabulary words were sprinkled in them. ChatGPT isn’t grading for particular hallmarks, but is analyzing patterns in massive datasets of language. Tate says she hasn’t yet seen ChatGPT give a high score to a nonsense essay.

Tate expects ChatGPT’s grading accuracy to improve rapidly as new versions are released. Already, the research team has detected that the newer 4.0 version, which requires a paid subscription, is scoring more accurately than the free 3.5 version. Tate suspects that small tweaks to the grading instructions, or prompts, given to ChatGPT could improve existing versions. She is interested in testing whether ChatGPT’s scoring could become more reliable if a teacher trained it with just a few, perhaps five, sample essays that she has already graded. “Your average teacher might be willing to do that,” said Tate.

Many ed tech startups, and even well-known vendors of educational materials, are now marketing new AI essay robo graders to schools. Many of them are powered under the hood by ChatGPT or another large language model and I learned from this study that accuracy rates can be reported in ways that can make the new AI graders seem more accurate than they are. Tate’s team calculated that, on a population level, there was no difference between human and AI scores. ChatGPT can already reliably tell you the average essay score in a school or, say, in the state of California.

Questions for AI vendors

At this point, it is not as accurate in scoring an individual student. And a teacher wants to know exactly how each student is doing. Tate advises teachers and school leaders who are considering using an AI essay grader to ask specific questions about accuracy rates on the student level:  What is the rate of exact agreement between the AI grader and a human rater on each essay? How often are they within one-point of each other?

The next step in Tate’s research is to study whether student writing improves after having an essay graded by ChatGPT. She’d like teachers to try using ChatGPT to score a first draft and then see if it encourages revisions, which are critical for improving writing. Tate thinks teachers could make it “almost like a game: how do I get my score up?”

Of course, it’s unclear if grades alone, without concrete feedback or suggestions for improvement, will motivate students to make revisions. Students may be discouraged by a low score from ChatGPT and give up. Many students might ignore a machine grade and only want to deal with a human they know. Still, Tate says some students are too scared to show their writing to a teacher until it’s in decent shape, and seeing their score improve on ChatGPT might be just the kind of positive feedback they need.

“We know that a lot of students aren’t doing any revision,” said Tate. “If we can get them to look at their paper again, that is already a win.”

That does give me hope, but I’m also worried that kids will just ask ChatGPT to write the whole essay for them in the first place.

Published: May 20, 2024

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