Improving the definition, measurement and application of emotional intelligence

Abstract

Our purpose in this chapter is to explore emotional intelligence (EI) as a potentially useful scientific construct that can help explain human behavior in a wide range of settings and perhaps lead to valid application in the workplace. Our focus is on what might be done in the future rather than on a critique or defense of what has been done in the past, as other chapters in this volume have addressed these issues. We adopt the point of view that the notion of EI has potential, but that the jury is out and has just started deliberating. There is a great deal of both conceptual and empirical work that needs to be done before we can either claim EI is an important advance or conclude that it is nothing more than a repackaging of older established constructs. Some of that work has been published, but more is still needed to convince the field that EI has sufficient value to justify continued serious research on this new construct.