Emotional intelligence (emotional intelligence) is not just the ability to control emotions, it involves understanding and managing all aspects of emotions. By understanding the psychological characteristics and practical skills of emotional intelligence, we can help you improve your emotional intelligence and better cope with the emotional challenges in life.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence (EQ, also called emotional intelligence) does not just refer to the ability to control emotions. More precisely, it refers to how a person recognizes, understands, regulates his or her emotions, and effectively processes emotional information when interacting with others. Emotion is not opposed to reason, and in many cases can help us better regulate our interactions with the surrounding environment. Emotions not only have a positive impact on concentration, memory, learning, social interaction, decision-making, etc., but can also guide us to make better judgments in complex social situations.
People with high emotional intelligence can manage emotions more effectively in complex situations. They can accurately identify the source of other people’s emotions, understand the connotation of emotions, and make rational responses on this basis.
What psychological traits do people with high emotional intelligence have?
According to the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso (MSC) model, the level of emotional intelligence can be measured through the following four aspects:
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Perceiving Emotions:
People with high emotional intelligence can accurately identify the expression of emotions in themselves and others, and can even perceive the existence of emotions through objects (such as works of art, photos, etc.). Emotional awareness is the foundation of emotional intelligence and can help people better understand the feelings and reactions of others. -
Facilitating Thoughts:
People with high emotional intelligence are able to use emotions to facilitate thinking. When they are in different emotional states, they can flexibly adjust their thinking and use their current emotions to help solve problems. For example, they may be able to think more innovatively when in a happy mood, and focus on task completion when in a nervous or stressful mood. -
Understanding Emotions:
Understanding emotions is one of the core competencies of emotional intelligence. This doesn’t just mean understanding where emotions come from, but also how emotions change and how they develop over time. For example, people with high emotional intelligence are able to discern sadness or disappointment that may be hidden behind anger, and understand the layers and complexity of emotional changes. -
Managing Emotions:
The level of emotional intelligence is often reflected in how to effectively manage your own emotions and the emotions of others. In high-pressure environments, people with high emotional intelligence are better able to control their own negative emotions and maintain a good atmosphere of interaction and cooperation by regulating the emotions of others.
Is emotional intelligence innate or cultivated?
The formation of emotional intelligence is affected by many factors, including innate personality tendencies and acquired learning and experience. While certain personality traits, such as extroversion, may be associated with higher emotional intelligence, that doesn’t mean people without these traits can’t improve their emotional intelligence. In fact, emotional intelligence can be improved through acquired learning and practice.
How to improve emotional intelligence?
In the process of improving your emotional intelligence, the following two methods are exercises worth trying:
1. Emotional awareness: Mood Meter
In order to improve our emotional awareness, we can identify our emotions by asking the following two simple questions:
- How high is the energy of this emotion?
- How pleasant is this emotion?
Through these two dimensions, we can divide emotions into four types:
- Pleasurable and high energy (e.g. joy, excitement)
- Unpleasant and high-energy (e.g., anger, anxiety)
- Pleasurable but low energy (e.g. calm, content)
- Unpleasant and low energy (e.g. melancholic, sad)
These categories can help us identify emotions more clearly and gradually improve our ability to self-regulate.
2. Understanding emotions: Explore the reasons behind emotions
When emotions arise, asking yourself ‘Why am I having these emotions?’ is a very important step. Through reflection and analysis, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of the root causes of our emotions. For example, we can ask ourselves:
- ‘What just happened to make me feel this way?’
- “Are there specific behaviors in my interactions with someone that triggered my emotions?”
- “Does this emotion remind me of a situation or a specific person from my past?”
Through these specific questions, we can more clearly understand the causes of emotions and adopt more appropriate coping strategies.
How to further test and assess your emotional intelligence?
If you want to understand your emotional intelligence level more systematically, you can evaluate it through some online tests. For example, the PsycTest official website ([www.psyctest.cn]) provides some free emotional intelligence testing tools. You can test your emotional intelligence via this link , or test your response to positive emotions here .
In addition, if you are interested in your own hostility or emotionality index, you can also use the hostility test and emotionality index test provided by PsycTest official website to evaluate your emotional performance.
Summarize
Emotional intelligence is not just as simple as emotional control. It is a multi-dimensional ability that covers emotion recognition, understanding, promotion of thinking and management. People with high emotional intelligence can better manage their own and other people’s emotions, improve decision-making skills, and enhance interpersonal relationships. Through constant self-awareness and reflection, each of us can improve our emotional intelligence and do better in our daily lives.
If you want to further improve your emotional intelligence, learn more about related content or conduct psychological assessments, you can visit the PsycTest official website for more practical resources.
Link to this article: https://m.psyctest.cn/article/egdQK5bQ/
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