Abstract

According to David Wechsler, “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment.” But we all know of people who are academically very intelligent but actually prove unsuccessful in life. They have high intelligence quotient (IQ) but are very inept in skills related to social and interpersonal relationships.

It has been found that people with modest IQ scores but with high abilities in emotional intelligence lead to better success in life. Both IQ and EQ types of intelligence work together. IQ is more concerned with the rational, reasoning mind while EQ is more concerned with the working of the emotional mind.

Emotional Intelligence was first defined by Peter Salovey and John Mayer as, “the subset of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions”. The model proposed by Salovey and Mayer identified four different factors of emotional intelligence. But the concept of Emotional Intelligence was popularized by Daniel Goleman who said that emotional intelligence consists of five major parts.

Emotional intelligence enables students to have positive interactions with people around them. Youngsters who give importance to qualities such as initiative, empathy, adaptability, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships etc. are more likely to succeed in life. It is believed that enhancing the emotional intelligence of students will lead to reduction in aggression, better academic achievement and better relationships.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, youth of today, emotions, interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

[1] Lecturer, Amity Institute of Education, Amity University, Lucknow