The 8 types of emotional intelligence (and their characteristics)

Humans are social beings by nature, whether we like to admit it or not. Aristotle, in his work La Politica (4th century BC). C), postulated the following idea: from all this it is evident that the city is one of the natural things, and that man is by nature a social animal, and that the insocial by nature and not by chance is either an inferior being or a superior being man. Whether we like it or not, we require others to be, since the form of socialization is one of the parts that define us as individual entities.

It is estimated that an average person, over 60 years of life, knows almost 5,000 different people. On a smaller time scale, it should be noted that human beings articulate an average of 14,000 words every 24 hours, 7,000 in men and 20,000 in women. With these data, we only want to show how established our society is in the knowledge of the rest and the communication between different entities.

Knowing how to speak and listen is a good start to having healthy social relationships and reaching group goals, but not the only requirement. Then,

we explore ideas of personal growth, self-recognition, empathy and much moreWell, we will tell you all about the 8 types of emotional intelligence and their characteristics.

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What is emotional intelligence?

Emotional intelligence (EI, for its translation into English Emotional Intelligence) is defined as the ability of individuals to recognize their emotions and those of others, to discern between different feelings, categorize them correctly and use information of an emotional nature to act on consequence with the concrete situation that is developing.

According to Peter Salovey (one of the leading pioneers of emotional intelligence and health promotion research) IE can be defined as “the ability to monitor one's own emotions and those of others, discriminate between emotions and be able to categorize them and, consequently, use emotional information and thus guide actions and own thoughts.

The aforementioned social psychologist and other professionals in the field (John Mayer, David Goleman and Konstantin Vasily Petrides) have proposed three models to explain emotional intelligence. We begin by describing them and later dissect the different components of IE.

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How is emotional intelligence classified?

It should be noted that, although three main models of emotional intelligence are known, they are not mutually exclusive. Despite the terminological discrepancies that have flooded the discussion of IE in the psychological field for years, it is of great interest to describe these models. Go for it.

1. Skill models

These models base the construct of emotional intelligence on the abilities to process emotional information. As a difference with other slopes, this does not take into account the components of the individual personality.

Skill-based models are based on the use of emotions as tools in understanding and navigating a social environment. The ability to perceive and use emotional information translates into a series of adaptive behaviors. In summary, IE is defended as a tool to perceive, evaluate, express, manage and self-regulate emotions in an intelligent way in a given situation.

2. Trait models

These models (based on the trait theory or Trait theory, which assumes the existence of characteristics stable in the structure of the personality of individuals) defend that emotional intelligence is "A constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lowest levels of the personality". Put more simply, IE consists of understanding and perception of one's own emotions and, consequently, the use of personality traits to investigate the fields of intelligence emotional.

As a difference with the previous current, in this one IE is conceived as the abilities perceived by oneself (self report), unlike the objective skills presented in the model of the skills. It may seem confusing, but in short, this time the ability is really what the person perceives of it, or what is the same, it is impossible to separate it from the individual personality.

3. Mixed models

The mixed model, postulated by Daniel Goleman (American psychologist, journalist and writer) in his book Emotional Intelligence (1995) is the most famous when it comes to defining intelligence emotional. This time, IE is divided into 5 personality traits, whose particularities we will tell you below.

3.1 Self-awareness (self-awareness)

At this point (and to facilitate later explanations), it is necessary to emphasize that consciousness and consciousness are not quite the same. A dog is conscious when it is awake, as it perceives the environment, knows that it exists and is able to respond accordingly. When an animal falls unconscious, it loses consciousness.

On the other hand, consciousness is somewhat more complex to define. Human beings are aware, but we take a step further on the psychological scale, because our actions also have a certain load depending on our own ethics and morals. Thus, a person is conscious when he has not lost consciousness, but he also shows conscience by acting in the way that he believes ethical and acceptable, according to her values.

For emotional intelligence to develop correctly, every person must present self-awareness. By being able to recognize our own feelings and emotions, we can learn to apply them in a specific area in the most effective way possible.

3.2 Self-regulation (self-management)

This term is quite self-explanatory, as it refers to the ability to control impulses and temperamental roughness. For this, it is necessary to define a series of goals and objectives before each interaction: am I going to achieve something by getting angry? What does the other person expect from this exchange? Is it helpful to show dislike at this particular moment? Self-regulation is not necessarily based on not feeling negative things, but on knowing how to channel them and let them come out in the healthiest and most constructive way possible.

3.3 Motivation (Motivation)

Motivation is necessary for building momentum to implement a desired means or action, or to stop doing so. Being persistent, having will, being animated and being energetic is essential to have an adequate and constant emotional intelligence in space and time.

3.4 Empathy (Self-awareness)

Empathy is defined as the ability of a person to perceive other people's feelings, emotions and thoughts with a mechanism based on the knowledge of the other as similar. By putting yourself in the shoes of the person you are interacting with, it is easier to understand why he is acting the way he does and to modulate the situation in search of a common goal.

In any case, be careful: putting yourself in the place of the other does not mean manipulating them to obtain your own good, pretending that you understand what is happening. Empathy seeks an emotional bridge between both parties to reach a mutually positive common goal, so it is not a one-way psychological mechanism.

3.5 Social skills (Relationship management)

At this last point, the individual's ability to generate positive responses in the environment is quantified, but without falling into emotional control mechanisms. With all the above traits, a person must be able to "read" the environment and act accordingly to what is required or expected of it. What is socially acceptable at one time may not be at another.

Resume

In summary, emotional intelligence is a unique concept, but it can be divided into three different models, depending on the weight given to each factor (personality VS abilities, for example). In any case, in all cases we are referring to a social construct that allows the individual to develops in the best possible way in a specific environment and elicits a positive response from the rest.

As a last note, it should be noted that we are not born with emotional intelligence. This develops over time and, depending on the environment and the social opportunities that the person has had, it can be conspicuous by its absence. Fortunately, psychological help will teach the patient to put themselves in the shoes of others and act accordingly to what is socially accepted.