The 5 elements of emotional intelligence

We can define Emotional Intelligence thanks to the studies of Daniel Goleman, who describes it as an ability to understand, recognize and manage both our own emotions and the emotions of others the rest. Not only that, but we can also list many other elements of Emotional Intelligence, these include capacities such as connecting and managing our emotions, motivating ourselves, overcoming frustration, improving our relationship with the rest... If you want to know more about The 5 elements of Emotional IntelligenceWe invite you to continue reading this Psychology-Online article.

Index

1. Emotional intelligence according to Daniel Goleman
2. The 5 components of emotional intelligence according to Goleman
3. Emotional Self Awareness
4. Emotional Self-regulation
5. Motivation
6. Empathy
7. Social skills

We better understand Emotional Intelligence thanks to Daniel Goleman. This American psychologist approached the concept to the entire population, despite the fact that emotional intelligence had already been described previously. He gained worldwide fame by writing an essay that, to this day, has become a

Goleman defines Emotional Intelligence as a way of understanding intelligence beyond logical and rational thinking. He defines it through five components or principles of Emotional Intelligence. These allow us to better resolve the conflicts that appear in our lives, better understand the people around us, be more effective in new situations..., in short, the Emotional Intelligence consists of a series of components that help us to carry our day to day in a better way and that have little to do with the concept of intelligence. traditional.

As we have commented previously, there are some components or principles that define how Emotional Intelligence acts in our lives. These are the following:

• Emotional Self Awareness
• Emotional Self-regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy
• Social skills

This first component is also named as emotional self-knowledge, that is, having the ability to recognize and understand one's own emotions and the mood. It is an intellectual process and thanks to it, we can establish a relationship between what we feel, how we express it and how others experience it. We focus within ourselves to understand each other a little better.

Thanks to emotional self-awareness, we can identify the specific emotional states that we live throughout the day to also be able to analyze the effect that these states produce on the environment, and that is that emotions also interfere in social relationships.

For example, while on a day when you are happy, you really enjoy the plans with your best friends, it is possible that in an angry moment, you tend to distance yourself and see the negative side of the rest. Emotions, in a way, change the look of the world around you.

Also known as emotional self-control, it involves ability to control impulses and emotions in an assertive and correct way to avoid living at the mercy of the most primal instincts. A low emotional self-regulation can lead to many conflicts, fights and altercations with those around us. This, in the long run, can produce a very negative personal image and remove us from our closest friends and relationships.

Thanks to emotional self-control, we can regulate our emotional responses reacting appropriately to the events that life brings us, so that we can better adapt to the environment around us.

It is about learning to think about things before speaking, being able to rationalize the emotion to prevent it from overwhelming us and transform into anxiety or acquire our own resources to learn to manage our behaviors and emotions ourselves themselves.

Motivation is the third component of Emotional Intelligence. This is a psychological process that comprises the ability to direct our emotional states towards a certain goal or objective, always with a positive focus and with a lot of energy. Thanks to motivation, we can also recover more easily from life's setbacks, find solutions quickly and get back on track towards our goals, being more persistent and emphatic.

For example, if our goal is to get a good job, we may not get it the first time, but thanks to the motivation, we will never forget what our goal is and we will continue looking for the best way to reach the goal wanted.

Lack of motivation translates into boredom, tiredness, routine understood in a negative way, sadness... Instead, having a reason to fight becomes an engine to live.

The fourth element of Emotional Intelligence is empathy. When we talk about empathy, we refer to the famous capacity of put ourselves in the place of the other, to recognize the emotions and feelings of others. In some extreme cases, even living those emotions.

Thanks to this ability, we are able to understand and internalize the emotions of others from the emotional expression that these show us. We raise awareness, then, in the feelings and emotions of those around us, we see our environment from another perspective instead of focusing on ourselves. Knowing how another person feels by understanding their gestures is a skill that favors mutual understanding and it allows us to have more and better interpersonal relationships.

For example, if someone cries next to us, we can understand that he is suffering some kind of pain, be it physical or emotional. In addition to knowing what happens to him, if we have developed the capacity to empathize, we can feel that pain as our own.

Finally, we find the last of the 5 elements of emotional intelligence: social skills.

We understand social skills as the set of capacities that allow us to give adequate responses to the environment and to better relate to the people around us. They are the key to good personal and professional development. Thanks to them, we can communicate more assertively, making our needs known so that those around us better understand how we feel.

An example of good social skills are those people who remain calm and know how to express their opinions and emotions in a calm way, avoiding conflict with a potentially dangerous event, such as an argument or a debate.

We should not confuse social skills with the fact of manipulating people, in these there is no room for lies or for extortion or psychological abuse.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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