Emotional intelligence (EI) describes our ability to understand our own and other people's emotions. This includes the ability to understand, express, and manage emotions. When we talk about EI, we mean four key aspects:
Understanding your own emotions: This is the ability to recognize what emotions we are feeling at a given moment and why. For example, being able to understand that we are angry right now because of a certain situation.
Understanding others' emotions: This is the ability to read emotions in other people's facial expressions and gestures. This helps us better understand what they are feeling.
Managing your own emotions: This is the skill of controlling your reactions to emotions. For example, being able to hold back anger or stress in a difficult situation.
Managing others' emotions: This is the ability to influence other people's emotional state. For example, being able to calm down an angry friend or offer support on a bad day.
The term «emotional intelligence» became popular in psychology because it helps explain how our emotions affect our actions and our relationships with others.
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