Handbook for Developing Emotional and Social Intelligence: Best Practices, Case Studies, and Strategies

6.3. THE EMOTIONAL AND SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE LANDSCAPE

What follows is a brief introduction to the field of emotional intelligence (EI). It is a young field with the usual controversies of a new theory (see Murphy, 2006), for example, lack of a standard definition of EI. For the purpose of this paper EI is defined as:

A person's innate ability to perceive and manage his/her own emotions in a manner that results in successful interactions with the environment and, if others are present, to also perceive and manage their emotions in a manner that results in successful interpersonal interactions. (Thompson, 2006, p. 14)

My experience in studying human abilities, physical or mental, shows that very few people are operating at their full ability ...