Emotional Intelligence: What Psychology Research Describes About the Concept
Emotional intelligence (EI) is a concept that has generated substantial research and popular interest since the 1990s. This summary pulls from psychology research, mental health resources, and published studies to describe what EI is, what the major models propose, and what the evidence shows about its relationship to outcomes.
This article does not claim personal experience with emotional intelligence. The information below reflects what published psychological research and resources describe.
Major Models
The research on emotional intelligence has developed along two main lines, with several influential models:
Ability model (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso): This model treats EI as a form of intelligence, specifically the ability to reason about emotions. Reviews consistently note this model uses ability-based testing similar to IQ tests, measuring how well people can perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions.
Trait model (Petrides-Furnham): Reviews note this model treats EI as a personality trait or self-perceived ability, measured through self-report questionnaires. This is the most commonly measured model in research.
Mixed models (Bar-On, Goleman): Reviews note these models combine ability, personality, motivation, and social components. Daniel Goleman’s popularization in the 1990s brought widespread attention to EI but has been critiqued within academic psychology for being less precise than the ability or trait models.
The APA’s resources note that the different models measure related but distinct constructs, and that research findings depend on which model is being examined.
The Ability Model
The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso model proposes four branches:
Perceiving emotions: The ability to detect and identify emotions in faces, voices, and other stimuli. Reviews consistently note that this is foundational for the other branches.
Using emotions: The ability to harness emotions to facilitate thinking and action. Reviews note that emotions provide information that can guide attention, memory, and judgment.
Understanding emotions: The ability to comprehend emotional language, transitions, and the complex meanings of emotional experiences.
Managing emotions: The ability to regulate emotions in oneself and others, including staying open to feelings when helpful and managing them when not.
Reviews consistently note that the ability model has the strongest theoretical foundation among EI models and has been linked to various outcomes including social functioning and mental health.
What the Research Shows
Published research on emotional intelligence includes:
Academic and workplace performance: Reviews consistently note mixed findings. Some studies find EI predicts performance beyond cognitive ability and personality; others find it adds little beyond established predictors.
Mental health: Reviews note consistent findings that higher EI (particularly the ability model) is associated with better mental health outcomes and resilience.
Relationship quality: Reviews consistently note that EI is associated with better relationship outcomes, including satisfaction and conflict management.
Leadership effectiveness: Reviews note that EI has been linked to leadership effectiveness in some studies, though the effects vary by context and measure.
Decision-making: Reviews note that EI shows some associations with decision quality, particularly in emotional or ambiguous contexts.
Common Criticisms
The published research has identified several criticisms of EI research:
Conceptual overlap: Reviews consistently note that EI overlaps with established constructs including personality, intelligence, and emotional regulation, raising questions about what EI adds.
Measurement issues: Reviews note that self-report EI measures (the trait model) are subject to the same limitations as other self-report measures, including social desirability bias.
Inconsistent findings: Reviews note that across studies and measures, findings are sometimes inconsistent, making it difficult to draw strong conclusions.
Popular vs. scientific EI: Reviews consistently note that Goleman’s popularization has sometimes diverged from the more rigorous academic formulations, leading to confusion about what EI actually is.
What the Evidence Supports
Reviews consistently identify several specific findings with reasonable evidence:
- EI and mental health: Reviews note consistent associations between higher EI (particularly measured by ability tests) and better mental health outcomes.
- EI and social functioning: Reviews consistently note that EI is associated with better relationship and social outcomes across multiple studies.
- EI and emotion regulation: Reviews note that EI overlaps substantially with the well-studied construct of emotion regulation, with EI measures adding some incremental value in some studies.
What the Evidence Does Not Support
There are claims about EI that outrun the evidence:
- That EI predicts success in all domains. Reviews consistently note that the predictive validity of EI is more limited than popular accounts suggest.
- That EI is a single unified construct. Reviews note that different models measure different things and findings don’t always converge.
- That EI can be developed quickly. Reviews consistently note that EI development, like other skill development, takes sustained practice over time.
Common Approaches to Development
Mental health and educational resources consistently describe several approaches to EI development:
Emotion-focused training: Reviews consistently note that learning to identify, label, and understand emotions is a foundation for further EI development. Approaches include emotion vocabulary expansion and emotion awareness practices.
Mindfulness practices: Reviews note that mindfulness supports EI development by improving awareness of present-moment emotional experience.
Emotion regulation skills: Reviews consistently note that specific techniques for managing difficult emotions (cognitive reappraisal, problem-solving) are core EI skills that can be developed.
Social skills training: Reviews note that EI development often includes communication, conflict resolution, and empathy-building components.
Reflective practices: Reviews consistently note that regular reflection on emotional experiences (journaling, discussion, therapy) supports EI development.
Use in Specific Contexts
Reviews consistently identify several contexts where EI has been studied and applied:
Education: Reviews note that EI has been integrated into some school curricula, with mixed but generally positive results on student outcomes.
Workplace: Reviews consistently note that EI training is common in corporate settings, though the research on transfer to actual workplace outcomes is mixed.
Healthcare: Reviews note that EI is increasingly recognized as important for healthcare provider-patient relationships and team functioning.
Therapy: Reviews consistently note that EI components are addressed in many evidence-based therapies, including CBT, ACT, and emotion-focused therapy.
Limitations
Some limitations in the published research on EI:
- Most studies are cross-sectional; longitudinal predictive claims are limited.
- Self-report measures predominate in some research traditions.
- Cultural variations in what constitutes emotional intelligence are not always well represented in the predominantly Western research base.
- Individual variation in development rate and outcomes is substantial.
Considerations for Personal Development
Mental health resources consistently note several considerations for personal EI development:
Identifying starting point: Reviews consistently note that understanding which EI components are strengths and which need development is a useful first step.
Sustained practice: Reviews consistently note that EI development, like other skill development, requires sustained practice over time rather than quick interventions.
Practical application: Reviews note that applying EI skills in daily situations is more effective than abstract learning alone.
Integration with other practices: Reviews note that EI development often works well alongside other personal development practices including mindfulness, therapy, and reflection.
Sources and Further Reading
- The APA’s resources on emotional intelligence.
- Published emotional intelligence research, indexed in PubMed Central.
- Mental Health America’s resources on emotional well-being.
These references are publicly verifiable, and the claims in this article are drawn from this kind of public material. No claim is based on personal experience with emotional intelligence.