Abstract

The idea of emotional intelligence (EI) has been the subject of much debate and misunderstanding. There are three things that have bothered me the most. First, there are numerous competing definitions and models of emotional intelligence. In order to resolve this, I suggest that we first make a distinction between definitions and models before settling on a single definition that appears to be supported by the majority of theorists. I also suggest that we make a clearer distinction between emotional intelligence (EI) and the associated idea of emotional and social competence (ESC). The second matter that has caused concern is the validity of the current measures. After going over the studies on the psychometric characteristics of a number of widely used tests, I come to the conclusion that all of them have intrinsic limitations, even though many of them have some support. In addition to creating new measurements that are more context-sensitive, we also need to rely more on alternative measurement techniques that have been around for a while. The importance of Emotional Intelligence (EI) for outcomes like job performance or leadership effectiveness is the third point of disagreement. Unknown to the critics of the past, recent research indicates that emotional intelligence (EI) and performance are positively correlated. But in many cases, some ESCs are probably better at predicting performance than EI. Additionally, in some types of situations, including those involving social contact or high levels of stress, EI is probably going to be more crucial.