Emotional Intelligence

 

Emotional intelligence was introduced in the 1990’s. The most famous book about the subject, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, was written by Daniel Goleman, the science writer for the New York Times.

What Is Emotional Intelligence?

It is a group of personal and social competencies.

It has been defined by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer, the leading researchers on the subject as, “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”.

What Are The Emotional Intelligence Skills

Emotional intelligence covers skills in four important areas:

  1. Self-awareness. Self-awareness includes being aware of your own feelings in the present and also your emotional patterns on an ongoing basis.
  2. Self-management. Self-management refers to your ability to use the information that your emotions provide in a positive and constructive way.
  3. social awareness. Social awareness is your ability to be aware of and understand the feelings of another person.
  4. relationship management. Relationship management refers to your ability to manage your relationships using your skills at understanding yourself and others.

Why Emotional Intelligence Is Important For Sensitive People

Emotional intelligence is an exceptionally important skill because of the interdependent nature of our world. The better you are able to handle social differences and your own feelings the greater the success you can have. For highly sensitive people who suffer from overwhelm and overstimulation, handling their own emotions can be a challenge.

However, highly sensitive people have an advantage in the empathy department, and because of their sensitivity and deep processing talents can bring a lot of humanity and wisdom to bear in a social situation. It also means being able to navigate values and other differences well. Highly sensitive people can, because of their empathy and depth, find imaginative ways to create common ground with others.

Emotional intelligence also means being able to take care of yourself. It means being able to identify emotional vampires and other draining individuals and prevent their taking advantage.

Emotional intelligence is an important learning subject that anyone can benefit from but from which HSPs, in particular, have much to gain.