Supporting Learning Play and Development Outside
3. Understand how outdoor learning can support learning, play and development
3.3. Explain how to promote self-confidence and emotional literacy in outdoor
learning.
What Is Emotional Intelligence?
...There are many possible definitions of emotional intelligence, and many definitions can be found
on the Internet. Many of these definitions stem from the popularizations of emotional intelligence
found in the popular press and in popular books...
A clear and scientifically useful definition of emotional intelligence, however, is recognizable
because it takes the terms emotion and intelligence seriously. That is, the meaning of emotional
intelligence has something specific to do with the intelligent intersection of the emotions and
thoughts. For example:
Emotional intelligence represents an ability to validly reason with emotions and to use emotions
to enhance thought.
A more formal definition is...
We define EI as the capacity to reason about emotions, and of emotions to enhance thinking. It
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 so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth (p. 197 of this article).
Here is another definition my colleagues and I have employed:
Emotional intelligence refers to an ability to recognize the meanings of emotion and their
relationships, and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them. Emotional intelligence is
involved in the capacity to perceive emotions, assimilate emotion-related feelings, understand the
information of those emotions, and manage them. (p. 267 of this article).
Emotion. In this model, emotion refers to a feeling state (including physiological responses and
cognitions) that conveys information about relationships. For example, happiness is a feeling state
that also conveys information about relationships -- typically, that one would like to join with others.
Similarly, fear is a feeling state that corresponds to a relationship -- the urge to flee others.
Intelligence. In this model, intelligence refers to the capacity to reason validly about information.
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This use of the term emotional intelligence in this fashion is consistent with scientific literature in
the fields of intelligence, personality psychology, and emotions (for more, see the similar
discussion in this article).
For example:
Verbal intelligence concerns the mental ability to reason with and about verbal information, and of
verbal knowledge to enhance thought.
Spatial intelligence concerns the mental ability to reason with and about spatial information (i.e.,
the shape of objects and their orientation in space), and of spatial knowledge to enhance thought.
...and so on. References
1. Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D., & Salovey, P. (1999). Emotional intelligence meets traditional
standards for an intelligence. Intelligence, 27, 267-298.2. Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D.
R. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.). Handbook of Intelligence (pp.
396-420). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
The Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence
The four branch model of emotional intelligence describes four areas of capacities or skills that
collectively describe many of areas of emotional intelligence (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). More
specifically, this model defines emotional intelligence as involving the abilities to:
accurately perceive emotions in oneself and others
use emotions to facilitate thinking
understand emotional meanings, and
manage emotions
Background
By the late 1980's, psychologists, evolutionary biologists, psychiatrists, computer scientists, and
others, had identified a number of human capacities involved in identifying and understanding
emotions. These human
capacities -- involving emotional information processing -- had been examined in scores of
research articles.
One means of organizing the many research contributions was to divide them into different areas
according to the nature of the abilities they examined. In 1990, Salovey and I proposed that these
abilities made up a unitary emotional intelligence. We further suggested that emotional intelligence
(and the research that
pertained to it) could be divided into three broad areas (and further sub-areas), as shown in
Figure 1 of this article. After further reviews, we saw the need to add an additional area. The full
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four-branch model was published in 1997 in Figure 1.1 of this book chapter. What Are the Four
Branches?
1.
PERCEIVING EMOTION. The initial, most basic, area has to do with the nonverbal
reception and expression of emotion. Evolutionary biologists and psychologists have pointed out
that emotional expression evolved in animal species as a form of crucial social communication.
Facial expressions such as happiness,
sadness, anger, and fear, were universally recognizable in human beings. Emotions researchers,
evolutionary biologists, specialists in nonverbal behavior, and others, have made tremendous
inroads into understanding
how human beings recognize and express emotions. The capacity to accurately perceive emotions
in the face or voice of others provides a crucial starting point for more advanced understanding of
emotions.
2.
USING EMOTIONS TO FACILITATE THOUGHT. The second area appeared every bit as
basic as the first. This was the capacity of the emotions to enter into and guide the cognitive
system and promote
thinking. For example, cognitive scientists pointed out that emotions prioritize thinking. In other
words:
something we respond to emotionally, is something that grabs our attention. Having a good system
of
emotional input, therefore, should helped direct thinking toward matters that are truly important. As
a second
example, a number of researchers have suggested that emotions are important for certain kinds of
creativity to emerge. For example, both mood swings, and positive moods, have been implicated in
the capacity to carry out creative thought.
3.
UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS. Emotions convey information: Happiness usually indicates
a desire to join with other people; anger indicates a desire to attack or harm others; fear indicates
a desire to escape, and so forth. Each emotion conveys its own pattern of possible messages, and
actions associated with those
messages. A message of anger, for example, may mean that the individual feels treated unfairly.
The anger,
in turn, might be associated with specific sets of possible actions: peacemaking, attacking,
retribution and revenge-seeking, or withdrawal to seek calmness. Understanding emotional
messages and the actions associated with them is one important aspect of this area of skill.
Once a person can identify such messages and potential actions, the capacity to reason with and
about those emotional messages and actions becomes of importance as well. Fully understanding
emotions, in other words, involves the comprehension of the meaning of emotions, coupled with
the capacity to reason about those meanings. It is central to this group of emotionally intelligent
skills.
(For a more advanced discussion of emotional information, see the section, "Similarities and
Differences Between Emotional and Cognitive Information" in this article).
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4.
MANAGING EMOTIONS. Finally, emotions often can be managed. A person needs to
understand emotions convey information. To the extent that it is under voluntary control, a person
may want to remain open emotional signals so long as they are not too painful, and block out
those that are overwhelming. In
between, within the person's emotional comfort zone, it becomes possible to regulate and manage
one's own and others' emotions so as to promote one's own and others' personal and social goals.
The means and methods for emotional self-regulation has become a topic of increasing research
in this decade.
Other Comments on the Four Branch Model
The term, "branch," came into use in reference to the figures that presented the precursor
and present models. Figures in both papers (1990 & 1997)contained lines that branched off
from a central point. So, the term branch, conveys no specific scientific meaning; calling the
model a "four-area model" would have worked as well.
The branches are arranged from the areas most specifically related to the emotions-area
(perceiving emotions) to the areas most general to personality (managing emotions).
Within each branch, skills can be identified that are early-developing (e.g., in childhood), and
skills that await greater maturity.
This four-branch model represents what today has become called the ability model of emotional
intelligence.
The first formal model of emotional intelligence -- the 1990 model -- was the one Daniel Goleman
relied on in his popularization of the field -- although his representation of the model was quite a bit
broader and more expansive than our original (Goleman, 1995, p. 43).
Dr. Goleman's book is a lively, entertaining journalistic account that covers many interesting
studies. His enlargement of our model, however, had the unfortunate effect, of suggesting to some
that nearly every
human style or capacity that was not IQ itself was a part of emotional intelligence. These included
motives, social skills, all forms of self-regulation, and warmth, among many other attributes. The
problem with this idea is that those different psychological qualities are separate and independent
from one another -- both
conceptually and empirically (e.g., they do not correlate). Moreover, most of them have little to do
directly
and specifically either with emotion or intelligence. Lumping them together created considerable
conceptual confusion. Today, such models are called "mixed models," as they mix many attributes
unrelated to emotion, intelligence, or emotional intelligence, in with the emotional intelligence
concept.
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emotional intelligence theory (EQ - Emotional Quotient)
Emotional Intelligence - EQ - is a relatively recent behavioural model, rising to prominence with
Daniel Goleman's 1995 Book called 'Emotional Intelligence'. The early Emotional Intelligence
theory was originally developed during the 1970's and 80's by the work and writings of
psychologists Howard Gardner (Harvard), Peter Salovey (Yale) and John Mayer (New Hampshire).
Emotional Intelligence is increasingly relevant to organizational development and developing
people, because the EQ principles provide a new way to understand and assess people's
behaviours, management styles, attitudes, interpersonal skills, and potential. Emotional Intelligence
is an important consideration in human resources planning, job profiling, recruitment interviewing
and selection, management development, customer relations and customer service, and more.
Emotional Intelligence links strongly with concepts of love and spirituality: bringing compassion and
humanity to work, and also to 'Multiple Intelligence' theory which illustrates and measures the
range of capabilities people possess, and the fact that everybody has a value.
The EQ concept argues that IQ, or conventional intelligence, is too narrow; that there are wider
areas of emotional intelligence that dictate and enable how successful we are. Success requires
more than IQ (Intelligence Quotient), which has tended to be the traditional measure of intelligence,
ignoring eseential behavioural and character elements. We've all met people who are academically
brilliant and yet are socially and inter-personally inept. And we know that despite possessing a high
IQ rating, success does not automatically follow.
emotional intelligence - two aspects
This is the essential premise of EQ: to be successful requires the effective awareness, control and
management of one's own emotions, and those of other people. EQ embraces two aspects of
intelligence:
Understanding yourself, your goals, intentions, responses, behaviour and all.
Understanding others, and their feelings.
emotional intelligence - the five domains
Goleman identified the five 'domains' of EQ as:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Knowing your emotions.
Managing your own emotions.
Motivating yourself.
Recognising and understanding other people's emotions.
Managing relationships, ie., managing the emotions of others.
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Emotional Intelligence embraces and draws from numerous other branches of behavioural,
emotional and communications theories, such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming),
Transactional Analysis, and empathy. By developing our Emotional Intelligence in these areas and
the five EQ domains we can become more productive and successful at what we do, and help
others to be more productive and successful too. The process and outcomes of Emotional
Intelligence development also contain many elements known to reduce stress for individuals and
organizations, by decreasing conflict, improving relationships and understanding, and increasing
stability, continuity and harmony.
Daniel Goleman - blogs
When Emotional Intelligence Does Not Matter More Than IQ
Published March 24th, 2008 in Emotional intelligence, Social and emotional learning.
The sub-title of my 1995 book Emotional Intelligence reads, “Why It Can Matter More Than IQ.”
That subtitle, unfortunately, has led to misinterpretations of what I actually say – or at least it
seems to among people who read no further than the subtitle. I’m appalled at how many people
misread my work and make the preposterous claim, for instance, that “EQ accounts for 80 percent
of success.”
I was reminded of this again when browsing comments on a journal article that fails to find much of
a correlation between teenagers’ level of emotional intelligence and their academic
accomplishments (Australian Journal of Psychology, May 2008). For me, there’s no surprise here.
But for those misguided people who think I claim emotional intelligence matters more than IQ for
academic achievement, it would be a “Gotcha!” moment.
But I never made that claim – it’s absurd. My argument is that emotional and social skills give
people advantages in realms where such abilities make the most difference, like love and
leadership. EI trumps IQ in “soft” domains, where intellect matters relatively little for success. That
said, another such arena where EI matters more than IQ is in performance at work, when
comparing people with roughly the same educational backgrounds (like MBAs or accountants) –
which is exactly what goes on in human resource departments of companies every day.
intelligence. They simply could not win over, or sometimes even just get along with, their board of
directors, or their direct reports, or others on whom their own success depended.
Some Big News About Learning
Published February 15th, 2008 in Emotional intelligence, Social and emotional learning.
Here’s a sneak preview of some headlines that you’ll see in the next few months: teaching kids to
be more emotionally and socially competent boosts their academic achievement. More precisely,
when schools offer students programs in social and emotional learning, their achievement scores
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gain around 11 percentile points. In the era of No Child Left Behind, where schools are rated on
how well their students score on these tests, that’s a huge advantage for individual students and
schools alike. And the gains are biggest in “at risk” kids, the bottom ten percent who are most likely
to fail in their education.
http://www.eiconsortium.org/about_us.htm
http://www.unh.edu/emotional_intelligence/index.html
http://www.emotionaliq.org/
www.danielgoleman.info/
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