Emotional Intelligence

The Mayer and Salovey Model of Emotional Intelligence

Mayer and Salovey's model of EI consists of four branches or abilities (i.e., the perception, use, understanding, and regulation of emotion), each of which corresponds to a distinct set of skills. Before emotions can be understood or regulated, they must be interpreted accurately. Thus, the first and most fundamental branch of EI, perceiving emotion, includes the abilities to identify, distinguish, and express emotions. Emotions are revealed in artwork, vocal intonations, facial expressions, gestures, and one's own physiological sensations, as well as in numerous other channels. Each of these modes of expression demands keen perception to process and understand them well.

Researchers have long known that emotions alter cognitive processes. The second branch of EI, using emotion, involves the practical application of this knowledge: the ability to generate emotions in oneself and in others, resulting in different cognitive states. People tend to be more creative, optimistic, and big-picture-oriented when they are happy, for example, and more pessimistic and detail-oriented when they are sad or angry.

The third branch of EI, understanding emotion, refers to both crystallized knowledge of emotions as well as to the ability to predict how one's emotional state will evolve as a situation changes. The former subset of understanding emotion includes one's emotion vocabulary, that is, knowledge of emotion-related words, as well as awareness of the adaptive value of emotions. Emotion researchers have posited, for example, that anger helps individuals focus on an obstacle impeding their progress to a goal and energizes them so that they can overcome that obstacle, whereas fear encourages them to flee when met with a situation that seems too dangerous to confront. Another part of understanding emotion, predicting future emotional states based on individuals' current emotions and the surrounding events, demands knowledge of how emotions progress and give way to other emotions. If a situation that elicits irritation continues to stymie an individual, for example, eventually that irritation will turn into anger.

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