Empirical Research on Emotional Intelligence

The concept of emotional intelligence has recently received considerable attention in various books, magazines and journals. Each new discussion of the concept, however, seems to employ a different definition. We discuss the model of emotional intelligence (EI) developed by Salovey and Mayer (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Their model consists of the following four branches of emotional intelligence: perception, appraisal, and expression of emotion; emotional facilitation of thinking; understanding, analyzing and employing emotional knowledge; and reflective regulation of emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth. Research related to the four branches is reviewed. Finally, we analyze two studies about relations between EI and psychological adjustment in everyday life. The first study examines the impact of EI on the emotional adjustment of 250 highschool students, and the second study explores the influence of the EI on the depressive state of 217 women during pregnancy. In summary, EI predicted psychological adjustment in different contexts and it appears to hold significant promise as means to better understand how dispositional variables relate to stress, coping, and adaptation.