How would you define Emotional Intelligence?

Question

Does it have a purpose? Is it important for the teacher and for their pupils? Sorry guys...three questions in one..but all related! :o)
Thank You.

Answer 1

Emotional Intelligence is a skill that teachers aim to develop in their pupils, and strategies such as the SEAL project (social and emotional aspects of learning) now commonly used in primary schools are geared towards it. Basically, the idea is that children are able to identify their own feelings more accurately and are able to learn to respond in a more positive way to this. They also learn how to empathise with others, how to resolve conflict, understand the feelings of others and how to express themselves more effectively. There are a lot of areas covered in emotional intelligence and it encompasses a lot of skills that are vital in growing into a successful adult.
I also feel that it is important for the teacher to model emotional intelligence for the children - its all very well teaching children strategies for remaining calm etc but you can't then go mental if a child does something wrong - you need to practise what you preach!
If a classroom is well developed in terms of emotional intelligence, you will see that the pupils and teacher have a relationship of mutual respect and understanding, and it makes for a very peaceful working atmosphere.
Hope this helps!

Answer 2

There is an excellent book about Emotional Intelligence that I read about years ago. It talked about how IQ isn't the best predictor for success, rather "EI" had a lot to do with it. EI is more about how you handle situations, how you interact with people, etc. The link to the book at Amazon is below. Below that is a customer review for the book, FYI.

http://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Intelligence-10th-Anniversary-Matter/dp/055338371X/sr=8-1/qid=1165077055/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-5526990-2959823?ie=UTF8&s=books


in the right direction, but not fully convincing, November 26, 2006
Reviewer: Alan Pita "Alan Pita" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
I'm about halfway through reading this book.
FYI, I'm not a psych major or an academic.
Generally, I think this guy is really "on the right
track" - I am willing to buy into his ideas at first,
but I don't find his arguments quite as satisfying
as they need to be ... he seems often to make
indirect use of others' research to support his
own distinct hypotheses - and often says the
connection is "obvious". Not very rigorous.

that being said, I do think EI and EQ are really
"onto something important", something that
is largely missing from our public education
system, and something worth pursuing. If this
is the most rigorous treatment to date, then
what we must do is fund more research to
prove the claims in this book by more direct
methods.

Answer 3

Emotional Intelligence is being aware of other people and knowing how to behave towards them. I'm sur we have all come across indiiduals who, although being academically highly qualified, have difficulties relating to others - these people could be said to be lacking in emotional intelligence.

Answer 4

I am not even sure that it is useful to separate intelligence into discrete categories like "emotional" or "logical" or "whatever." Real intelligence is the combination of all of our sources of knowledge and ways of thinking that we can muster at any one moment.

My couple pennies....

Answer 5

As some politically correct phrase dreamed up by a chancer who wanted to appear clever. Do you have any evidence to the contrary, sir?