Table Of ContentWhat We Know about Emotional Intelligence
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
How It Affects Learning, Work, Relationships, and Our Mental Health
Moshe Zeidner, Gerald Matthews, and Richard D. Roberts
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Zeidner, Moshe.
What we know about emotional intelligence : how it affects learning, work,
relationships, and our mental health / Moshe Zeidner, Gerald Matthews, and
Richard D. Roberts.
p. cm.
“A Bradford book.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-262-01260-7 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-262-25501-1
(el) 1. Emotional intelligence. I. Matthews,
Gerald. II. Roberts, Richard D. III. Title.
BF576.Z45 2009
152.4—dc22
2008038272
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
to Omer and Yair Zeidner, with admiration and love
to Diana Ciupka
to Cristina Aicher, Matthew D. Roberts, and Lionel R. Benevides
Contents
Foreword by James Averill ix
Preface xi
Acknowledgments xvii
I INTRODUCING … EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
1 Emotional Intelligence: Mapping out the Terrain 3
II EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: A NEW
CONSTRUCT?
2 Measure for Emotional Intelligence Measures 37
3 The Intelligence in Emotional Intelligence 67
4 The Personality in Emotional Intelligence 103
III EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE OBSERVED
5 Developing Emotional Intelligence: From Birth to Earth 141
6 How Social Is Emotional Intelligence? 169
7 Grace under Pressure: Emotional Intelligence, Stress, 203
and Coping
IV EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN ACTION
8 Schooling Emotional Intelligence 225
9 Work and Emotional Intelligence 253
10 Emotional Intelligence and the Toxic Work Environment 283
11 Emotional Intelligence in the Clinic 305
V EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ... REVISITED
12 Emotional Intelligence: Known, Unknown, and Future 341
Directions
Glossary of Terms 375
References 389
Illustration Credits 425
Index 427
Foreword
Sir Henry Cavendish (1731–1810) was a brilliant scientist; emotionally,
however, he was a dud. Among other things, he was deathly afraid of meeting
strangers. On one occasion at a meeting, he was introduced with fanfare to a
visiting scientist. Dumbfounded, Cavendish stood with his head bowed; then,
spying an opening in the crowd, he hastily fled to his carriage. Women,
especially, posed a problem. Cavendish had his house constructed so that he
would not meet any female servant; if by chance one should cross his path, she
was dismissed immediately.
Cavendish illustrates one kind of emotional ineptitude—a person who feels
deeply but inappropriately. Another kind is illustrated by the psychopath who is
adroit at manipulating the emotions of others, and yet who is unable to
experience emotions himself, whether it be empathy with the suffering of his
victims or fear of punishment for causing their plight. This is not to imply that
everyone who is unable to experience emotion is a psychopath. To take a
fictional example with whom many people sympathize, Mr. Spock of the
television series Star Trek lacks emotion; yet he is a valued colleague on the
starship Enterprise. Of course, Mr. Spock is not entirely human: His father was a
Vulcan, an inhabitant of another planetary system. For better or worse, our
emotions, as much as our intelligence, are a sign of our humanity.
About 2,300 years ago Aristotle observed that emotions “may be felt both too
much and too little, and in both cases not well; but to feel them at the right times,
with reference to the right objects, towards the right people, with the right
motive, and in the right way, is what is both intermediate and best, and this is
characteristic of virtue” (Nicomachean Ethics 1106b20). More than of virtue, this
is a good description of emotional intelligence.
As the quote by Aristotle illustrates, emotional intelligence has long been
recognized as an important human characteristic; only within the past two
decades, however, has it become the subject of concerted scientific investigation.
Also in that time, the topic has captured the popular imagination. The authors of
this primer—Zeidner, Matthews, and Roberts—note that a search on Google
yields more than 3 million hits under the heading “emotional intelligence,” of
which they estimate fewer than 1,000 are to scientific publications. The authors
are rightly troubled by the way the popular literature has far outpaced scientific
research. Also problematic, though in a more favorable way, is the sheer number
of scientific publications. If a person were to read one scientific article a day,
taking off only Sundays and holidays, it would require more than three years to
cover the extant literature. And by the end of three years there would perhaps be
another thousand articles to be read. Fortunately for anyone seriously interested
in the topic, that need not be a concern. Zeidner, Roberts, and Matthews have
proved themselves more than equal to the task. Each is an accomplished
researcher in his own right, and together they provide an excellent summary of
what is—and is not—known about emotional intelligence. How can emotional
intelligence be measured? Is there more than one kind of emotional intelligence,
just as there is more than one kind of emotional ineptitude? How is emotional
intelligence related to cognitive intelligence (IQ)? What are the real-world
consequences of emotional intelligence? Can emotional intelligence be taught?
These and other questions are addressed in a manner that is authoritative,
objective, and yet accessible to the interested reader.
But why should the reader be interested? Zeidner, Matthews, and Roberts
speculate that one reason for the popular interest in emotional intelligence is the
egalitarian ideal. Those who are poor in words and numbers (the traditional
components of IQ) may still succeed emotionally. That, at least, is the hype
behind workshops on emotional intelligence, which have become a growth
industry. In this volume the reader will find a critical yet constructive review of
the evidence behind the hype.
There is another, more subtle reason why the reader should be interested.
Throughout Western history, a deep divide has existed between reason and
emotion, action and passion. In the words of Blaise Pascal—the great
seventeenth-century mathematician and sometime mystic—“the heart has its
reasons, which reason does not know” (Pensées IV, p. 277). The concept of
emotional intelligence bridges that divide, allowing intelligence to be viewed
from the perspective of emotion and emotion from the perspective of
intelligence, and our understanding of each is enriched in the process.
James R. Averill
Preface
In this book we aim to present the state of the art of an emerging science of
emotional intelligence. In so doing, we examine the foundations of knowledge,
research, assessment methods, applications, and (wherever possible) accepted
standards upon which understanding of the construct has, and can be further,
developed. The research presented in the various chapters of this book is
grounded both in our own work and in the writings of scores of researchers
tackling the issues of emotional intelligence, emotion, intelligence, and/or
personality around the globe. We trust that you find such a synthesis amenable.
Over what is close to two decades, emotional intelligence—or EI, as you will
frequently hear it referred to—has emerged as one of the most high-powered
modern psychological constructs. In these two letters are embedded competence
in perceiving and communicating emotions, understanding the emotions of self
and others, and effectively regulating emotions. The EI concept has prospered
partly because of a cultural “zeitgeist” that emphasizes the positive role of the
emotions and the more empathic side of the human psyche. The relatively new
discipline of “positive psychology” reinforces this concern by placing great
importance on having a rich and fulfilling life. Conversely, far too many people
misunderstand their own emotional reactions, fail to control emotional outbursts,
or act stupidly under various pressures—with deleterious consequences for self,
others, and society. A culture-driven concern with emotions is complemented by
increasing efforts at a scientifically meaningful assessment of individual
differences in “soft skills.” Across various applied disciplines, covering the
home, work, and school, the challenge is to develop reliable and valid tests
especially of one of these skills—a person’s emotional intelligence—and to
develop interventions that may remediate those that are low in EI effectively
enough to affect learning and broader social development.
With this societal thrust, almost since its inception into the scientific literature,
emotional intelligence has received widespread public attention. This interest
subsumes Daniel Goleman’s (1995) book on the topic, which appeared on the
New York Times Best-Sellers List, a Time Magazine (Gibbs 1996) article devoted
to detailed exposition of the topic, and numerous mentions in mass media,
virtually every day. There are besides a plethora of trade texts dealing with self-
help and management practices, assessment, and other practical applications
related to EI, “EQ,” the “hot intelligences,” and related concepts. Popular
interest notwithstanding, scientific investigation of a clearly identified construct
