Ch. 3 Understanding Emotional Intelligence

Marshmallow Study: Impulse controlled:

- Assertive - Cope with frustration - Work better under pressure - Self-reliant, confident - Trustworthy - Dependable - Delay gratification - Academically competent - Respond to reason - Concentrate - Eager to Learn - Follow through on plans - SAT: 610 verbal, 652 math

EI skills can be enhanced in a first-year seminar:

- College students enrolled in a 1st-year seminar who demonstrated good EI skills were more likely to do better in college than students who did not exhibit those behaviors. - Students who had good EI skills also raised their scores on a measure of emotional intelligence.

Studies link strong emotional intelligence skills to college success:

- Emotionally intelligent students get higher grades. - Student who can't manage their emotions struggle academically: Dr. Richard Kadison: if not doing well emotionally, they are not going to reach their academic potential. - Student who can delay gratification tend to do better overall: "Marshmallow Study: Stanford University.

General Mood and Effective Performance

- Having a positive attitude really does improve your chances of doing well. 1. Optimism: Looking for the "bright side" of any problem or difficulty and being confident that things will work out for the best. 2. Happiness: Being satisfied with yourself, with others, and with your situation in general. - If you feel good about yourself and manage you emotions, you can expect to get along with others and enjoy a happy, successful life.

Marshmallow Study: Impulsive

- Indecisive - Overreact to frustration - Overwhelmed by stress - Lower self-image - Stubborn - Impulsive - Don't delay gratification - Poorer students - Prone to jealousy and envy - Provoke arguments - Sharp temper - Give up in face of failure - SAT: 524 verbal, 528 math

Interpersonal Skills

- People with extensive support networks are generally happier and tend to enjoy longer, healthier lives. 1. Empathy: Understand another person's situation or POV. 2. Social Responsibility: Personal link w/ a group or community and cooperating with other member in working toward shared goals. 3. Interpersonal relationships: Healthy and mutually beneficial relationships and making a persistent effort to maintain them.

Reuven Bar-On

- Professor at the University of Texas, Austin - World-renowned EI expert - Developed a model that demonstrates how these categories of emotional intelligence directly affect general mood and lead to effective performance.

Intrapersonal Skills

- Relates to how well you know and like yourself, as well as how effectively you can do the things you need to do to stay happy. 1. Emotional self-awareness: Knowing how and why you feel the way you do. 2. Assertiveness: Standing up for yourself when you need to without being too aggressive. 3. Independence: Making important decisions on your own without having to get everyone's opinion. 4. Self-Regard: Liking yourself in spite of your flaws. 5. Self- Actualization: Being satisfied and comfortable with what you have achieved in school, work, and your personal life.

Adaptability

- The ability to adjust your thinking and behavior when faced with new or unexpected situations. Helps you cope and ensures that you'll do well in life. 1. Reality Testing: Ensuring that your feelings are appropriate by checking them against external, objective criteria. 2. Flexibility: Adapting and adjusting your emotions, viewpoints, and actions as situations change. 3. Problem solving: Approaching challenges step by step and not giving up in the face of obstacles.

Key aspect of education:

- The ability to understand and get along with people is vital for success in school, work, and life. - Ability to manage time well and get things done.

Improving your EI:

1. Identify the strengths and weaknesses 2. Set realistic goals 3. Formulate a plan 4. Check your progress on a regular basis

Stress Management

1. Stress Tolerance: Recognizing the causes of stress and responding in appropriate ways. 2. Impulse Control: Thinking carefully about potential consequences.

Emotional Intelligence consists of two general abilities:

1. Understanding emotions involves the capacity to monitor and label feelings accurately. Determine why you feel the way you do. Also involves how others might feel in a given situation. Emotions contain information, and the ability to understand and thin about that information plays an important role in behavior. 2. Managing emotions builds on the belief that feeling can be modified, even improved. Stay open to your feelings, learn from them, and use them to take appropriate actions. Other times, it is better to disengage from an emotion and return to it later.

Emotional Intelligence

Ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions.

Developing an awareness of emotions:

Allows you to use your feelings to enhance your thinking.

Particularly in the first year of college, ...

Many students who are intellectually capable of succeeding have difficulty establishing positive relationships with others, dealign with pressure, or making wise decisions.

Emotions are tied to _____

Physical and psychological well-being.

Emotional Quotient Inventory

Provides a detailed assessment of your emotional skills and a graphic representation of where you stand in comparison with other students.

University of Pennsylvania

The best athletes do well in part because they're extremely optimistic

Stressful Situations

social skills and stress-management skills can learned to be improved.