CHAPTER-III

CHAPTER-III

THE LITERATURE REVIEW

The theory of Emotional Intelligence (EI) could not have come at a more opportune
time when the society is heading towards abysmal depths of intolerance and violence over
slightest provocation.

In 1997, John Gottman in his book, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child‟, spoke
about the marked difference in the psyche and approach of children to various issues. He
observed that children from the mid 1970‟s to late 1980‟s had become more sulky, irritable,
nervous, depressed and lonely. With both the parents working to meet the economic
demands, families becoming smaller, children were facing a lack of social life. They were
turning to television and computers for entertainment and interaction and time spent with
relatives and friends were on the downhill. Fifteen years later, we can see that the situation
has only regressed further.

Thus, the concept of harnessing and driving the crest of emotions towards a better life
holds promise to the future. Any theory, to sustain interest and to withstand the rigorous
demands of academic research needs to establish itself as distinct from and at the same time
have some correlation to the already proven existing theories of the same field.

A distinct research paradigm emerges when scientists deal with data in a systematic
fashion (Kuhn, 1970). The theory or the model is then subject to severe discussion, debates
and questioning which takes the concept to its maturity. Unless the theory holds itself good
against the Karl Popper‟s Test – that “the theory has the potential to explain things that other
theories cannot, or if it has the potential to explain things better than other competing
theories.”(Emmerling and Goleman, 2003), it cannot be accepted.

Does the theory of EI meet these standards? As a concept which holds promise for a
better society that is tolerant and empathetic towards the flaws and shortcomings of their
fellow humans, the theory of EI has the added responsibility of proving itself beyond doubt
not only to academicians but also to the non academic people.

As an emerging field, diverse definitions are proposed to define the concept and it
becomes imperative which EI are we going to discuss. Although the phrase emotional
intelligence has been in literature for a while even before Payne, (Leuner, 1966, as cited in
Petrides, 2011) the concept in its present form has its roots in Salovey and Mayer‟s construct
of 1990.

The concept was welcomed as new and if proven, a path breaking find. But, the
current popularity of the theory owes itself to Daniel Goleman‟s book „Emotional
Intelligence – Why it can matter more than IQ‟ (1995).

Following the popularity, innumerable constructs have been proposed (many not
based on empirical data – Goleman‟s book itself was not strictly based on researched and
tested data). Active research and interest in this field has led it to its current position where
the theory has forked into two different approaches – Mayer and Salovey‟s „ability‟ model
and Goleman and Bar-On‟s „mixed‟ models. Currently, Goleman‟s model is referred to as a
competency model and Bar-On‟s as a trait model.

Goleman’s Competency Model As observed earlier, Goleman‟s contribution to the

field of EI is phenomenal in the sense that he took the theory to a wider section of audience
and popularized it to such an extent that it made to the cover page of „Times‟
instantaneously. He sensationalized the topic with his book „Emotional Intelligence: Why it
can matter more than IQ‟ in 1995 with tall claims bordering on hyperbolic sometimes,
making sweeping statements like EI was the reason for “nearly 90% of the difference”
between star performers and average ones (Goleman, 1998).

Inspired by the findings of Salovey and Mayer, Goleman pursued research in

emotional intelligence and proposed a four branch model which was further classified into
twenty emotional competencies. He differed from Salovey and Mayer‟s model of EI in that
he added a few personality traits like trustworthiness, innovation, team player, etc. which has
also earned the criticism that it was „preposterously all encompassing‟ (Locke, 2005). He
believes that these emotional competencies are not innate talents but those that can be learnt
and developed. In turn, the potential to develop these emotional competencies depended on a
person‟s emotional intelligence which he believes is a latent, inborn talent. Emotional
intelligence and emotional competencies are like apples and apple sauces (Goleman, 2003).

While EI is natural, emotional competencies are the offshoot of EI. His four branch
model (2001) included:
a) Self-Awareness:

Emotional Self-awareness, Accurate Self-Assessment and Self-Confidence

b) Self-Management:

Self-Control, Trustworthiness, Conscientiousness, Adaptability, Achievement Drive

and Initiative

c) Social Awareness

Empathy, Social Orientation and Organizational Awareness

d) Relationship Management

Developing Others, Influence, Communication, Conflict Management, Leadership, Change

Catalyst, Building Bonds, Teamwork and Collaboration

Goleman (1998) was the first to apply the concept of EI to business through his article
in Harvard Business Review. He drew attention to the fact that effective leaders had high
degree of emotional intelligence.

A sound technical knowledge and a good IQ were „threshold capabilities‟ (Goleman

1998) which were „entry level requirements‟. On the other hand, good interpersonal, social
and team building skills, help a person develop a good rapport with his colleagues, higher
officials and subordinates which is vital for a person‟s success. If IQ got a person a good job,
it was EI which would help him retain it and be successful in his workplace (Emmerling and
Goleman, 2003; Cherniss et. al. 1998; Boyatzis and Oosten, 2002). Based on the emotional
intelligence competencies and a measure of competencies of managers, executives, and
leaders – a Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) – already developed by Richard Boyatzis
(1994), Goleman developed his Emotional Competency Inventory (ECI) – a multi rater
instrument that provides self, manager, direct report, and peer ratings on a series of
behavioral indicators of emotional intelligence (Stys and Brown, 2004).

Forty percent of the new instrument was from the earlier questionnaire SAQ which
was validated against the performance of hundreds of managers, executives and leaders in
North America (Boyatzis et. al., 2000). Aiming to develop an instrument that can be applied
across all occupations and life settings, the ECI improved upon the SAQ. Competencies
which were not addressed by the SRQ were added and focused on with new test items. Based
on the samples collected from 596 people who were managers and sales persons, reliability
and intercorrelation of the items were analyzed and the ECI was revised and rewritten in
1999.

The revised version asks the respondents to describe themselves and others on each
item on a scale of 1 to 6 with each step progressively labeled beginning with “… the behavior
is only slightly characteristic of the individual…” to the highest response “… the behavior is
highly characteristic if this individual…” (Boyatzis et. al. 2000).

A study conducted on 358 managers across the Johnson and Johnson Consumer &
Personal Care Group assessed if there were any specific leadership skills that distinguished
between high and average performers and came out with significant results that found a
strong relationship between superior performing and emotional competence (Cavallo &
Brienza, 2004).

The ECI is complete and effective in the sense, it incorporates a person‟s self
assessment and others‟ assessment of him/her giving a 360° perspective, but, it also raises a
serious question of reliability. How far can a person‟s assessment of himself be accepted is
debatable, given the condition that he might be giving an answer based on his presumptions
regarding his emotional competencies.

An overconfident person might think that he is emotionally competent whereas a

person with low self esteem might under estimate his competencies. As Grubb and McDaniel
(2007) observe, the mixed models are vulnerable to faking as they include „non cognitive
dimensions‟ and use self-report measures. Also, it is opined that the content of ECI overlap
with at least four of the Big Five personality dimensions and other psychological concepts in
motivation and leadership (Matthews et. al., 2002; Van Rooy &Viswesvaran, 2004, as cited
in Conte, 2005).

As very few „peer reviewed assessments of the reliability and validity of ECI have been
undertaken and published‟ (Conte, 2005), it is best to leave the validity of the construct to
future research and study.

1. Vibhor Jain and Sonia Gupta (2014) in their study tried to find influence of various
facets of emotional quotient on efficiency of processes in private banks. Researches exhibit
that employees with higher Emotional quotient perform far better. These employees are good
team players as an executive or subordinator any other person in the organization. This itself
produces more satisfaction for these people in their employment.

2. Ashraf, Ahmad, Shaikh O.A., Bhatti, S.R. (2014) in their research noted that emotional
intelligence and Job fulfillment are connected ideas in the present high competition market
which has piqued the interest of many researchers. Although emotional quotient and job
fulfillment highly impacts the family and work lives of employees, there is not much in terms
of study on the interrelation of these two concepts in the field of human capital development.
The paper concentrated on the association between Emotional Quotient and Job Fulfillment.
It studies how demographics like marital status, academics, age, work experience impact job
fulfillment and emotional quotient. Facts and figures were gathered hundred people from
Southern Sui Gas Company (SSGC), Technology Communication Services (TCS), Karachi
Water and Sewerage Board (KWS and B), and TUV Pakistan utilizing Bar On EQ-I scale.
Statistical tools, like correlation, ANOVA, multiple regressions used to reach the findings.
The study thus was justified when it finally concluded that there is noticeable connection
between job fulfillment and emotional quotient along with marital status and work
experience.

3. Davar, S. C., Singh, Narender (2014) in a research in India found that, until recently, the
people and private enterprises mostly controlled the service industry. After the Indian
government introduced many reforms and liberalization policies for the financial industry,
private sector too got interested and involved in the growth and execution of many services.
This had led to tremendous competition in insurance and banking industry. This has resulted
in higher stress level in employees. In the present scenario, the service industry is highly
dependent on quality human resource, thus it is imperative that we give the deserved
importance to emotional quotient along with management of human capital. Many of the
basic functions of the industry including that of hiring, retention and development sides need
to be restructured. The researchers reiterated the theory of Goleman that emotional Quotient
is twice as important as Intelligence Quotient (IQ).

4. Spyros and Papathanasiou (2014) performed a research on employees in the Greek

banking industry to analyze the idea of emotional quotient and job fulfillment. They analyzed
the influence of gender, academics, work experience and age on emotional intelligence. For
the sake of achieving the prime goal, quantitative study was developed with questionnaire
that had closed –ended queries. Statistical tools viz Cronbach’s Alpha, Kolmogorov –
Smirnov’s test of normality, Spearman’s rho correlation and the simple linear regression
model were put to use. The results from the study made it clear that that marital status,
gender, position in organization and age influence the levels of emotional quotient in the
employees of banking sector. It was also concluded in the study that emotional quotient
exerts control on the routine lives of employees and has a vital role to play in job fulfillment.

5. Rosete, D. and Ciarrochi, J. (2005) exploited a cross-sectional analysis to scrutinize the

association amid tests of EI, cognitive reasoning and leadership effectiveness. Testing was
done for a sample of 117 employees working as senior executives out of which 57 were
males and 60 were females. On exposing the data to regression analyses it was observed that
intermediate to large association exists between ability EI scales and achieving business
outcomes. The outcome of test was smooth when reasoning ability, self-reported EI, and self-
reported personality were controlled. Self-reported EI also was linked to business outcomes,
but was no longer significant when controlling for personality. These results worked as
indicators to help in designing the human resource development programmers’ to improve the
effectiveness of the employees.

6. Nisha Agarwal and Nidhi Chaudhary (2013) opined that emotional quotient does not
depend on gender, schooling, and age and experience of the teachers of higher secondary
school. The emotional quotient scale by Hyde and Pethe (2001) was put to use for data
gathering of 100 faculty members using stratified haphazard sampling method. Independent t-
test was applied for data mining. The study suggested that it was important to develop
emotional intelligence in the teachers and this would help them develop the same in their
students.

7. R. Veerappan, Rev. Fr. Angelo Joseph, D. Vinoth Vijay, L. Mary Ezhilarasi, K.

Keethana, (2013) tried to analyze the need for emotional quotient and self-informed
awareness of bank employees in Vellore district. Across the globe, the researchers have
begun to pay attention to the new trend of enhancing the Emotional Life Balance of
employees. The main challenge for the employees is to make a fruitful work life balance. To
fulfill this goal, banking institutions have to develop effective policies on Emotional
Intelligence, and motivate their employees to follow them. It will result in increased
productivity, commitment to organization and efficiency of the employees. It can also
enhance the rate of retention of employees.
8. Shobhna Gupta (2013), tried to research that which industry gave more job fulfillment to
its employee, private sector or public sector banks. This analysis had several important
factors in its base. The initial information for the research was gathered using questionnaires
while data was also taken from books and journal. The study concluded that stress level of
the employee could be brought down if their salary was according to their work profile. The
institutions should also engage in stress releasing mechanisms like Music and Yoga. Good
performers should be properly rewarded. Satisfied employees would be an asset for the
company as they would be more committed and more motivated which would be in favour of
the organization.

9. Zakieh Shooshtarian, (2013), explored the influence of emotional quotient on work

fulfillment, performance and commitment in Iran’s Fars Province Industries. In the recent
years, Emotional Quotient has become more popular and one of the most concentrated areas
in the field of psychology and management for the purposes of researches. Overall, 350
respondents were considered in a random manner from Fars Province industries as subjects.
The questionnaires were presented to them for answering. The results of the research
exclusively demonstrated that there was a constructive connection between job fulfillment
and emotional quotient of the employee.

10. U.W.M.R. Sampath Kappagoda, (2013) performed a research on Banks of Srilanka

with the objective of finding the rate of emotional quotient among their employees. Overall
100 managers were picked from which 50 each from private sector and public sector bank. It
was noted that emotional quotient played a key role in the success of the organization but the
managers had to be trained for it. The study also exhibited that most of the subjects were
emotionally intelligent. The conclusions drawn from the research also clarified that there was
positive connectivity of gender, academic qualification, work experience and age with
emotional intelligence.

11. Jijo George, Abi Ealias (2012), explored the relationship between emotional quotient
and work satisfaction. They observed that the thought of influence of emotional intelligence
and work fulfillment were getting increasingly popular in studies of work environment. The
study also observed that people with higher emotional quotient were more satisfied from their
work and family life. The research also analysed the relationship of demographic elements
like job title, work tenure and marital status which influenced a person’s work fulfillment and
emotional quotient. Based on the results of the study, the researcher advised organization to
train employees for emotional intelligence which would help in bringing out the best out of
them while also establishing a positive relationship between the company and the employees
aspirations. It was also advised that for the purposes of hiring, promotions and appraisal, a
separate test of emotional intelligence also be conducted.

12. Khalili, Ashkan (2012), remarked that the topic of emotional quotient has become quite
common for those who are in education industry and business leaders owing to its wide range
influence. It has become obvious that for organization effectiveness, proper self-assessment
along with strategies for conflict resolution is necessary. The paper presents a wide overview
of this emerging field of study and its relevance in present scenario along with its analysis on
the basis of past empirical researches.

13. Ernest H. O'Boyle Jr., Ronald H. Humphrey, Jeffrey M. Pollack, Thomas H.

Hawver, Paul A. Story, (2011) performed a meta analytic research and concluded that
Emotional Quotient gives validity to the 5 factor model and cognitive ability. They adopted
survey approach to gather information of 250 employees from insurance industry, co-
operative institutions and private and public sector banking institutions of Haryana. This
study was divided into three categories. The conclusions of the study showed that there was
direct proportionality in these studies. However, there are many studies which do not approve
the directly proportional relationship between Emotional Quotient and Job Performance. The
reason could be the poor methodology applied by these studies.

14. Puja Kaura (2011) in her research paper tried to analyse the relationship between service
standard and emotional quotient. The data was gathered from two private and two
nationalised banks using a questionnaire. The employees were in the age range of 21 years to
45 years. The research showed that the data of public sector banks and private sector banks
were at variance with each other. There was significant connection between emotional
quotient and service standard of private banks. The constraining factor of the research was
that it was performed on a limited age range and the connection between personality
characteristics and emotional quotient were not considered. The researcher advised that for
further observations, research should be performed in the fields where service standard is of
high importance.

15. Sayed El Khouly, Abdulazim Ghoniem, Mohsen Ghadami, Mohhamad Ibrahim

(2011) in their research explored the influence of emotional quotient and gender on job
fulfillment among the government employees in Egypt. One to one sessions were conducted
with the employees for gathering the data. The conclusions from the study showed that
subjects with higher emotional quotient felt more fulfilled with their present job. It was also
exhibited by the results that gender too influenced work satisfaction. The researcher in his
study concluded that both, emotional quotient and gender determined work satisfaction
among the employees. The researcher also suggested that training in the field of emotional
intelligence may be fruitful for the organization.

16. Mosammod Mahamuda Parvin (2011) performed a research on Pharmaceutical

industry since it is plays a vital role in a county’s economic development. The study took into
account the levels of work satisfaction of different companies of the industry. The research
considers productivity and fulfillment levels of the employees. Many earlier studies also
exhibited that emotional quotient and work fulfillment have direct correlation. Thus, there
was a need to boost the emotional quotient of employees if the company wanted them to
perform at their best. If emotional quotient constraints are not managed properly, they will
negatively influence organizational output, social and self awareness and personal
management.

18. Rahim, Hussain, Saddam (2010) observed the influence of demographic elements like
academics, work tenure, gender and marital status on the quality of emotional quotient which
further leads to individual male and female employee’s performance in the organization. The
studies concluded that women were better in terms of emotional quotient as compared to the
men segment. Also, there was inverse association between the EI and the ages of men and
women. Better academics also reflect improvement in EI while job fulfillment is also a factor
to determine their outputs.

19. Cary Cherniss, (2010): As per Cary Cherniss EI has created some confusion as a result
of many conflicting definitions and models and hence he proposed that a single and the most
consented definition should be adopted. The second issue which he suggested was regarding
the need to develop new more sensitive measures of EI over the existing ones.

20. Nurul Ain Hidayah Abas, (2010) conducted a study on the employees of Human
Resources Division at XYZ University in Malaysia, to understand the relationship between
emotional intelligence and conflict management styles. It aims to check the relationship of
emotional intelligence of the supervisory level employees as assessed by themselves and by
their subordinates. The researcher also tried to observe if there was any association in
supervisor’s emotional intelligence and the way the conflicts were managed by the
subordinate staff. The survey data was analyzed using statistical tools. The consequences
clearly point out that emotional intelligence of Supervisors in Human Resources Division at
XYZ University was highest in empathy and motivation, but it showed that the self-
regulation was very less. Recommendations by the researcher were that training and social
activities may be organized so that supervisors and subordinates can work as a team. To
enhance job performance of both supervisors and subordinates the significance of emotional
intelligence rather than IQ needs to be highlighted.

21. Deepa, R. (2009): Emotional intelligence is aptitude to deal with one’s own emotions and
also of other persons and it has drawn the interest of the researchers in the current scenario. It
significantly influences the professional lives of most of the individuals. Emotional
intelligence has a considerable impact on the characteristics and the performance of the
employees. Employees with high emotional intelligence are asset to the organisation. This
research paper identifies emotional intelligence activities in mainly four areas:
Conceptualization, measurement, Impact, and development.

22. Krishnaveni, R., and Deepa, R. (2008): The organisations have become very demanding
these days with extremely high work pressure, teams with people from different cultures,
frightening deadlines to complete the task, conflicts among staff members etc., which create
high stress amongst the employees. As a result of this, the work force is negatively affected
and hampers their efficiency. The organization loses its effectiveness. The organisation’s
victory depends on the capability, efficiency and aptitude of the employees. This paper gives
the insight into the fact that how emotional intelligence can be developed and used as a tool
to improve the capabilities and efficiencies of the employees in organisations in Indian
context and facilitate them to increase competitive advantage.

23. Ricardo Chiva and Joaquín Alegre Vidal (2008), in their research work tried to study
the connection between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction along with the factor of
organisational learning capability. It was evident from the research that there is noteworthy
association between organisational learning capability and emotional intelligence and job
satisfaction.

24. Dong, Qingwen (2007): In this research Dong and Quigwen studied the sample of 292
college students and observed that emotional intelligence is mandatory to have effective
interpersonal communication and satisfaction in the task they do. The study had attempted to
conceptualise the theory given by Goleman(1998) which includes understanding self and
others, manage self and others, and communicate effectively with all. These have been
termed as self-awareness, self-regulation, empathy, motivation and social skills. The study
concludes that self-esteem did not play a significant role among the college students. This
result raises opportunity for future exploration in this area.

25. Singh, Kavita (2007) in her study emphasized on the fact that emotional intelligence had
taken a very important place in the management filed today. The concept of EI is being
appreciated as it influences and enhances the human resource of the organisation. The
emotional intelligence and the related capabilities are in popular demand these days as they
are seemingly the game changer in the organization. In view of the fact that people were
engaged in various tasks in an organization, emotional intelligence is the decisive factor for
the efficient and influential management. To forecast the performance of individuals in an
organization, the emotional and personal competencies have to be identified and measured, so
as to understand the value and significance of the human resources. The personal competency
deals with success of employees, system and they have a prognostic relationship with
emotional intelligence. The study suggested that personal competencies are significantly
related to emotional intelligence.

26. Masud Ibn Rahman, Sampa Saha, Hemant and Bahadur Gurung (2006): This paper
was an attempt to understand the factors responsible for job satisfaction among the bank
employees in Dhaka city. The factors of job satisfaction include salary, inter personal
relationship among the staff members, personal achievements, freedom to implement new
ideas, sufficient information available to do the job etc. It had been observed that these
factors of job satisfaction are significantly related to satisfaction of the employees. The more
the involvement of these factors, higher is the job satisfaction.

27. Marc A. Brackett and Peter Salovey (2006): This research paper analysed the
measurement instrument developed from the ability model of EI (Mayer and Salovey, 1997),
the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer, Salovey and
Caruso, 2002). The special focus had been on discriminant, convergent, predictive, and
incremental validity of the test and the tests which were discussed were scoring methods,
psychometric properties, reliability, and factor structure of the MSCEIT. The significance of
the relationship between MSCEIT scores and leadership, organisation behaviour, academic
performance, psychological security, anxiety etc. was analyzed. In the concluding remarks,
the author had provided the direction for future research.
28. Frank J. Landy (2005): This paper dwelled into the past history of social intelligence
and compares it with emotional intelligence in the current scenario. He said that the employee
behavior discrepancy was not attributed to medium of measuring intelligence or personality
but a new concept of emotional intelligence had emerged. He was of the view that concept of
emotional intelligence is associated with professional success which exists exterior to the
scientific sphere. To establish the relationship between EI and work related behaviour the
data which were required were not freely available for research as it exists in the propriety
domain. In the absence of database, rigorous testing of the measurement device could not be
done. Therefore, the author concluded that scientific claims cannot be made about emotional
intelligence in working environment.

29. N. S. Pandey and Kavitha (2015) researched the connection between job fulfillment and
demographics viz academics, age, remuneration and work experience. The initial facts were
gathered by observing school teachers through questionnaires. The research conclusively
supported a noticeable association between demographics and job fulfillment.

THEORIES USED

 BAR-ON’S TRAIT MODEL

 THE ABILITY MODEL

BAR-ON’S TRAIT MODEL

Bar-On‟s model of emotional intelligence focuses on the „potential‟ for success

rather than success itself and is more process-oriented than outcome-oriented (Bar-On 2002).
He posits that emotional intelligence can be learned and developed over a period of time
through training, programming and therapy (Stys and Brown, 2004). The Bar-On model
differs from Goleman‟s model in that it includes stress management and general mood
components like optimism and happiness. Apart from these, he incorporates reality testing
which asserts how far a person is aware of the gap between the actual meaning and his
construed meaning of a given situation, and also impulse control which is an ability to control
oneself from reacting to a situation in a reckless manner. Bar-On‟s (2006) model outlines
five components which are further classified into fifteen subcomponents.

Intrapersonal: Self Regard, Emotional Self-Awareness, Assertiveness, Independence, and

Self-Actualization.
Interpersonal: Empathy, Social Responsibility and Interpersonal Relationship

Adaptability: Reality Testing, Flexibility and Problem Solving

Stress Management: Stress Tolerance and Impulse Control

General Mood Components: Optimism and Happiness

As the construct incorporates both emotional and social competencies, Bar-On refers to it as
the „Emotional Social Intelligence‟ (ESI) rather than emotional intelligence or social
intelligence (2006). He defines his ESI as “emotional-social intelligence is a cross-section of
interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills and facilitators that determine how
effectively we understand and express ourselves, understand others and relate with them, and
cope with daily demands.” Bar-On‟s model associates emotional intelligence to positive
psychology which contributes significantly to a person‟s happiness and psychological well
being in life (BarOn, 2010; Bar-On, 2006). He believes that individuals with higher
emotional quotient (EQ) are more competent in coping with demands, challenges and
pressures of everyday life. Thus, the Emotional Quotient Inventory– a self report measure –
used to measure the ESI, focuses on measuring one‟s ability to cope with environmental
demands and pressures (Bar-On, 2002), rather than personality traits or his cognitive
capabilities. ESI is operationalised by the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) which was
originally constructed to examine a theory of emotional and social functioning on which Bar-
On was working for his dissertation. Bar-On (2006) claims that his model is a „better
predictor of human performance‟ in workplace and in academics. The US Air Force (USAF)
explored the potential application of EQ-i to predict the performance of pilots, pararescue
jumpers and air traffic controllers in their training programs and found that the accuracy level
of this model was 75%. By being able to identify the trainees who would successfully
complete the training, the USAF estimates that it will be able to save approximately $ 190,
000, 000 by selecting the right people for the course. The results also confirmed the
predictive validity of Bar-On‟s construct (Bar-On, 2010). Nevertheless, questions are raised
regarding the content and predictive validity of EQ-i. Newsome et. al (2000) point out to a
study undertaken on 160 Canadian college students, where the total EQ-i score had a
correlation of just 0.01 with their GPA (Grade Point Average) and conclude that the data is
inadequate to use the EQ-i as a selection device. It has also been noted that Bar-on‟s model,
similar to that of Goleman‟s ECI is vulnerable to being faked, as the respondents can
deliberately doctor their answers for positive scoring (Grubb III & McDaniel, 2007). Thus,
the field is still open for the construct to be scientifically proved and validated.

THE ABILITY MODEL

When Mayer and Salovey introduced the concept of EI in 1990, they defined it as “an
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.” They believed that any task
is loaded with information, „affective information‟ and understanding and regulating it would
help individuals „to solve problems and regulate behavior‟ (Salovey and Mayer, 1990).

They conceptualized a set of skills which they believed would assist a person in
regulating his emotions. They identified three broad skills – „appraisal and expression of
emotion, regulation of emotion and utilization of emotion- which was further classified as:

a) Appraisal And Regulation Of Emotion: in self (verbal and non-verbal

perception) and others (non-verbal perception and empathy) – a person who is able to
accurately perceive his emotions will also be able to respond to his emotions accurately, and
in turn will be better in expressing them to others. At the same time, he should be able to
understand the emotions in others as well. This allows him to adapt to the situation and have
better social skills. These skills are a part of emotional intelligence as it requires the
processing of emotional information in oneself and in others.

b) Regulation of Emotion: in self and others – emotions can be triggered and

regulated according to a person’s will, when he is adept at consciously perceiving those
factors which have a feel good effect and those which do not. This ability also sharpens his
senses towards perceiving the emotions of others and effectively adapting himself or
influencing others as the situation demands. As the authors themselves acknowledge, this can
sometimes have a negative bearing as people may try to manipulate others to meet their own
demands – good or bad.

c) Utilization of Emotions: flexible planning, creative thinking, redirected attention

and motivation – this ability is included in the construct because, people with emotional
intelligence should be at an advantage in solving problems adaptively (Salovey and Mayer,
1990). An awareness of his emotional state helps him plan his actions, think creatively,
redirect his focus and motivate himself to get the best out of any situation. The initial
conceptualization focused on perceiving and regulating emotions. As the authors felt that this
was incomplete without thinking‟ about emotions, they redefined the theory as “Emotional
Intelligence is the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to
access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion
and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and
intellectual growth” (Mayer and Salovey, 1997). Based on this definition, a four branch
model was proposed – the four branches moving from basic psychological processes to more
complex ones. They also believe that an emotionally intelligent person had the ability to
progress through these four levels and master most of them faster than others with lower EI.
The four branches each were further subdivided into four sets of skills.

a) Perception, Appraisal and Expression of Emotion:

This is an ability to identify emotions in oneself, in others, express them accurately

and further discriminate between honest and dishonest expressions of feelings.

b) Emotional Facilitation of Thinking:

This sharpens the thought process as emotions direct attention towards important
information and the emotions can be used to classify the information for better judgment and
memory. Emotionality helps people to have multiple perspectives. A happy mood leads to
optimistic views and a bad mood to pessimistic thoughts. An awareness of these mood
swings assists a person in approaching a problem in specific ways with better reasoning and
creativity.

c) Understanding and Analyzing Emotions:

It is based on employing emotional knowledge: to identify the subtle relationships and

differences between similar emotions – e.g. loving and liking, and also interpret the meanings
of those emotions. The person also has the ability to identify complex emotions occurring
simultaneously (love and hate, fear and surprise, etc.) and also perceive the transition from
one emotion to another (when anger turns to satisfaction or anger leading to shame).

d) Reflective Regulation of Emotions to Promote Emotional and Intellectual

Growth:

It is an ability to be open to emotions good or bad and thus having the power to
voluntarily attach or detach from an emotion. The person also has the competence to reflect
on his own and others‟ emotions and thus be able to manage emotions in him and others. To
test whether emotional intelligence meets the standard criteria to be accepted as scientifically
legitimate, Mayer ET. al. (1999) proposed the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale
(MEIS) and proved that there exists good evidence and possibility that emotional intelligence
is a distinct form of intelligence.

The MEIS used a 12 subscale ability test to assess the emotional intelligence of the
participants (503 adults and 229 adolescents). Twelve tasks measured the different abilities
classified under the four branches:

 Emotional perception – identify emotions in faces, music, designs and stories

 Emotional facilitation of thinking – describe emotional sensations and asked to

simulate situations where any specific emotion is predominant.

 Emotional understanding – recognize when two emotions blend (surprise and joy,
etc.) and when one emotion progresses into another (anger becoming hatred, etc.)

 Emotional management – given imaginary situations and asked how they would
act.

The answers were analyzed based on the consensus (the group), the expert and the
target scoring. The results showed that emotional intelligence could be operationalised as a
set of abilities; was distinct from the existing theories of intelligence, and still showed a
correlation to verbal intelligence (part of general intelligence) and was also proved that
emotional intelligence develops with age. The most important question raised against MEIS
was pertaining to the validity of the correct answers. Robert et. al., (2001), Perez et. al.
(2005) questioned on how accurate would be the „correctness‟ of the right answers. Mayer
and his colleagues (Mayer et. al., 2001; Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2004) accepting the
legitimacy of the doubt raised, argued that MEIS was but a maiden attempt to operationalise
EI, and the model was in the process of striving for a test that would successfully evaluate the
EI of a person.

The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) proposed in

2003, further addressed and successfully resolved the issue whether there are correct answers
to the tasks given. It improved on the MEIS by bringing in twenty one „emotions experts‟ as
per Legree (1995) who stated that „aggregation of experts beyond two is necessary to achieve
a reliable identification of answers‟. The reliability of the test was seen to be good, and the
correlation and factorial structure showed that all the tasks given were positively
intercorrelated (Mayer et. al., 2003). As Emmerling and Goleman (2003) point out, (quoting
Van Rooy and Visweswaran in press) MEIS and its successor MSCEIT show correlation with
traditional measures of intelligence which is a prerogative in identifying any new construct as
an „intelligence‟.

Discussing further on the legitimacy of the ability model‟ over other models of EI,
Mayer et. al. (2004; 2008) posits that much of the concern stems from the exaggerated claims
of certain mixed models and also the inclusion of personality and non-intellective elements as
a part of emotional intelligence construct. Compared to the mixed ability model, the ability
model proposes a purer‟ approach to the theory strictly adhering to a cooperative
combination‟ (Robert et. al., 2001) of emotions and intelligence. An analysis by Van Rooy,
Visweswaran and Pluta (2005) also support the claim that the ability model over the mixed
ability models helps in distinguishing EI as distinct from IQ and other personality models.
Their study found that while selfreport measures showed high correlation to personality
measures, the MSCEIT „did not correlate highly with either personality or cognitive ability‟.
Nevertheless, doubts regarding the validity and reliability of operationalising the ability
model remains. Although the ability model appears to be the most promising one of all EI
measures (Conte, 2005), as Mayer and Salovey (2003) themselves propose the applied use of
EI tests must proceed with great caution‟. With a history of just twenty years, though much is
unknown of emotional intelligence, EI remains a promising area of study but with significant
gaps in knowledge‟ (Mayer et. al. 2008).