Emotional intelligence according to Salovey and Mayer

In recent years, emotional intelligence has jumped to the best positions in shop windows. More and more people are interested in studying it and how knowledge can help them be better emotional managers. However, few really know its origin. We can place its appearance in 1990, in a book in which Salovey and Mayer try to explain what emotional intelligence is and how it is articulated in our behaviors and minds.

Salovey is a professor at Yale University, while Mayer was a post-doctoral student at this time. They investigated together and published numerous articles on the subject. Despite this, many people attribute the concept to the best popularizer of it, Daniel Goleman: he popularized the concept of emotional intelligence according to Salovey and Mayer in 1996, after publishing a book called Emotional intelligence: why it is more important than IQ.

The concept of emotional intelligence is slightly different for Salovey and Mayer than for Goleman. Because of this, there has been some confusion regarding what his original theory was. In this article we will see exactly what it consists of for the two authors who shaped it.

What is emotional intelligence according to Salovey and Mayer?

According to the definition included in his first book, Emotional intelligence is the ability to process information about one’s own emotions and those of others. Additionally, it also includes the ability to use this information as a guide for thinking and behavior.

So, People with emotional intelligence pay attention to, use, understand and manage emotions. On the other hand, these abilities serve adaptive functions that provide advantages to themselves and others. To consider that a person has high emotional intelligence, these two authors talked about four basic skills:

Ability to perceive and express one’s own and others’ emotions correctly. Ability to use emotions in a way that facilitates thinking. Ability to understand emotions, emotional language, and emotional signs. Ability to manage emotions in order to achieve goals.

In this model of emotional intelligence, each of the fields is developed in four different phases. This process, however, It does not have to occur spontaneously. On the contrary, it usually requires a conscious effort from the person. Below we will look at the four phases in more detail.

1- Correct perception and expression of emotions

The first skill of emotional intelligence according to Salovey and Mayer is the identification of one’s own and others’ emotions. First of all, the person must be able to understand what they are feeling. This includes emotions, but also thoughts – both those derived from them and those that generate them. Later, in the second phase, the ability to do the same with foreign states is acquired. For example, other people’s feelings, or those expressed through art.

In the third phase, the person acquires the ability to express their emotions correctly. So too learn to convey your needs related to your feelings. In the fourth phase, finally, the ability to distinguish between correct and incorrect expressions of others’ emotions is achieved.

2- Emotional facilitation of thought

In the first phase, people direct their thinking to the most important information. Here, own feelings are still not taken into account. In the second stage, on the contrary, emotions begin to be perceived with sufficient intensity to be identifiable. Therefore, the person is able to use them to help make a decision.

According to Salovey and Meyer, in the third phase emotions would cause the person to fluctuate from one emotional state to another. Thus, you could consider different points of view on a topic. Finally, in the fourth stage, the person’s feelings would lead him to make more correct decisions and think more creatively.

3- Understanding emotions

First, you acquire the ability to distinguish one basic emotion from another, and to use the appropriate words to describe them. This skill is then taken a step further, allowing the person to place that feeling in their emotional state.

In the third phase, the person is able to interpret complex emotions. For example, a reaction that mixes disgust and fascination or fear and surprise. Finally, the ability to detect the transition between two emotions would also be acquired, such as from anger to shame or from surprise to joy.

4- Ability to manage emotions to achieve goals

First of all, this capacity requires the will not to limit the role that emotions actually have. This, which is easier to achieve with positive emotions, is much more difficult with negative ones. In this step we will go further, allowing ourselves to choose which feelings to identify with based on whether they are useful or not.

In the previous step, the person would acquire the ability to study emotions in relation to oneself and others. This would be done depending on how influential, reasonable or clear they are. And finally, the person would be able to manage one’s own and others’ emotions, moderating the negative ones and increasing the positive ones.

Emotional intelligence: a practical skill

The model of emotional intelligence according to Salovey and Mayer does not include, by any means, everything we know about emotional intelligence today. However, it returns us to the origin of the concept, to the bases, to what in its day was a true revolution. In addition, it was a good way to break down the elitism of the time, which placed those with academic ability as superior beings to those who performed worse in this area.

Perhaps the strongest point of this model is its simplicity and the fact that it has a graduation that makes it easy to understand. Thus, it is a great starting point for immerse ourselves in the wonderful world of emotions. That which, whether we like it or not, is ours.

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