Emotional Intelligence For Dummies®

Foreword

When you boil it down, emotional intelligence is the idea that emotions are useful; they are important sources of information. Emotions help us solve problems, and they guide our social interactions. And, importantly, some people harness the wisdom of emotions better than others.

So, who are these emotionally intelligent people? They are individuals you know, and you might be one yourself. If you are the kind of person who is skilled at reading emotions in another person's face or interpreting your feelings, if you are a person who can put your feelings into words, if you are a person who manages your emotions effectively and helps others to do the same, and if you are a person who uses your emotions to think clearly about something or as clues to what might be going on in social situations, well then, you are likely someone who is emotionally intelligent. And, if you are not so sure whether you are this kind of person, perhaps this book will help you to learn these skills.

In 1990, when John D. Mayer and I published the first scientific article describing a theory of emotional intelligence in the journal Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, we weren't sure anyone would find the idea that people differ in their abilities to identify emotions, understand these feelings, manage emotions, and use them to guide thinking and action all that interesting or persuasive. We were wrong. Today, in the spring of 2009, while writing this foreword, I typed the phrase emotional intelligence ...