Neuroscience
A new study shows that training in emotional intelligence (EI) - the ability to understand and manage one's own and other people's emotions - actually works. Delphine Nelis and colleagues said their finding has profound implications given the number of positive outcomes, including improved health and occupational success, that are known to be associated with having greater emotional intelligence (one recent study even linked EI to orgasm frequency in women!)
Nineteen students undertook the training, whilst 18 others formed a control group and carried on life as normal. The training - 4 weekly sessions lasting 2.5 hours each plus homework - was theoretically grounded and aimed to improve the understanding of emotions, identifying emotions, expressing and using emotions and managing emotions.
After training and at 6-month follow-up, the training students but not the control students showed improvements in aspects of "trait" emotional intelligence normally considered immutable, including improvement in emotion identification and emotion management (of self and others' emotions). Surprisingly perhaps, "emotional understanding" showed no improvement.
"Overall these results are promising," the researchers said, "as they suggest that, with a proper methodology relying on the latest scientific knowledge ... some facets of EI can be enhanced but not all."
Nelis and her colleagues said their findings could have potential application in health, educational and organisational settings but they acknowledged their study had a number of major limitations. These include the fact that the control group undertook no special activity, so any effects observed for the EI training could be caused by non-specific factors, such as the simple benefit that can come from taking part in group activities.
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Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., & Hansenne, M. (2009). Increasing emotional intelligence: (How) is it possible? Personality and Individual Differences, 47 (1), 36-41 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2009.01.046
Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
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Neuroscience
Training in emotional intelligence actually works
A new study shows that training in emotional intelligence (EI) - the ability to understand and manage one's own and other people's emotions - actually works. Delphine Nelis and colleagues said their finding has profound implications given the number of positive outcomes, including improved health and occupational success, that are known to be associated with having greater emotional intelligence (one recent study even linked EI to orgasm frequency in women!)Nineteen students undertook the training, whilst 18 others formed a control group and carried on life as normal. The training - 4 weekly sessions lasting 2.5 hours each plus homework - was theoretically grounded and aimed to improve the understanding of emotions, identifying emotions, expressing and using emotions and managing emotions.
After training and at 6-month follow-up, the training students but not the control students showed improvements in aspects of "trait" emotional intelligence normally considered immutable, including improvement in emotion identification and emotion management (of self and others' emotions). Surprisingly perhaps, "emotional understanding" showed no improvement.
"Overall these results are promising," the researchers said, "as they suggest that, with a proper methodology relying on the latest scientific knowledge ... some facets of EI can be enhanced but not all."
Nelis and her colleagues said their findings could have potential application in health, educational and organisational settings but they acknowledged their study had a number of major limitations. These include the fact that the control group undertook no special activity, so any effects observed for the EI training could be caused by non-specific factors, such as the simple benefit that can come from taking part in group activities.
_________________________________
Nelis, D., Quoidbach, J., Mikolajczak, M., & Hansenne, M. (2009). Increasing emotional intelligence: (How) is it possible? Personality and Individual Differences, 47 (1), 36-41 DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2009.01.046Post written by Christian Jarrett (@psych_writer) for the BPS Research Digest.
- High Emotional Intelligence Linked With More Delinquency Among Young Women (but Not Men)
If, as research suggests, the psychological trait of sensation seeking is the catalyst for youthful delinquency, might high emotional intelligence (EI; having empathy for other people's emotions and good control over one's own) act as a calming...
- What Is “cultural Iq” Training And Does It Really Work?
IQ was once the only game in town. Now it rubs shoulders with a gaggle of human ability measures such as Emotional Intelligence, Empathy Quotient, and Rationality Quotient. The increasingly interconnected and diverse world of work has magnified interest...
- Inside The Brains Of Men And Women Controlling Their Emotions
Women do seem to cry more readily than men, but is that because they are less able to control their emotions? According to Ute Habel and colleagues, research does suggest women are more 'emotional'. They cite the fact that women are more vulnerable...
- Of Cats And Basketball Players - How We're Better At Recognising The Emotions Of Those We Identify With
Just as we’re better at recognising people who share our ethnicity, we are also better at interpreting the emotional facial expressions of people from the same ethnic, national, or regional group as ourselves. Pascal Thibault and colleagues at the University...
- Brain Science Podcast
I've just discovered a new podcast about cognitive science called the Brain Science Podcast, created by an emergency physician, Dr. Ginger Campbell. The most recent episode is about Emotion; Campbell reviews the 2001 book Emotion : The Science of...