Emotional Intelligence in the Classroom: Impact on Learning

Introduction and Purpose

Emotional intelligence, also known as EI, describes an individual's abilities, capacities, and skills in perceiving, assessing, and managing personal emotions, the emotions of others, and even the emotions of groups. Everybody possesses some level of EI; even children at school can practice, maintain, and enhance their emotional intelligence as they grow older. It is for this reason that using emotional intelligence inside the classroom is believed to affect student learning outcomes.

This paper is aimed at analyzing how the use of emotional intelligence impacts learning. Specifically, it is intended to:

1. Define emotional intelligence and understand the various concepts related to it.
2. Examine how emotional intelligence can be used inside the classroom.
3. Highlight the various approaches to using emotional intelligence to facilitate learning.
4. Evaluate credible journals and research regarding the use of emotional intelligence inside the classroom.

Defining Emotional Intelligence

This paper hypothesizes that the use of emotional intelligence when handling students is a very practical means of soliciting good behavior while maintaining high educational achievement. This is because emotional intelligence covers a wide range of both the cognitive and behavioral components of one's abilities. People who can make full advantage of using, managing, and controlling their own emotional intelligence will have a greater ability to become well-rounded individuals and students, with a high probability of modeling good behavior and right conduct. Hence, anyone who makes positive use of emotional intelligence inside the classroom can be said to possess a genuinely balanced intelligence quotient (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI).

The results of this paper will be beneficial to both teachers and students. It will serve as a guide for teachers in the conduct of teaching, helping them understand exactly how to put the emotional intelligence of students to good use. This paper will also prove significant to other and future researchers, particularly those interested in learning and emotional intelligence. Psychologists and future educators will likewise find it useful.

Emotional intelligence describes an individual's abilities, capacities, and skills in perceiving, assessing, and managing personal emotions, the emotions of others, and even the emotions of groups. Several models have been used to define and describe emotional intelligence. One of the most influential is Mayer and Salovey's model, which states that emotional intelligence is a person's capacity for understanding emotional information and reasoning with emotions (Mayer et al., 1999). According to Mayer and Salovey, there are four branches of emotional intelligence — that is, four distinct emotional intelligence abilities.

Perceiving emotions is considered the most basic area of emotional intelligence. This aspect is connected with the nonverbal reception and expression of emotion (Mayer et al., 1999). Emotional expression is a form of crucial social communication, as established in the evolutionary record of animal species, while facial expressions are recognizable parts of any human communication and interaction. The capacity to accurately perceive emotions in the face or voice of others provides a crucial starting point for more advanced understanding of emotions.

This second branch is comparable to the first in terms of how fundamental it is (Mayer et al., 1999). However, this area of emotional intelligence deals with the capacity of emotions to enter and guide the cognitive system, thereby promoting thinking. It is for this reason that maintaining a good system of emotional input is believed to enhance one's ability to direct thinking toward matters that are truly important.

Emotions are very important for conveying and receiving information. As one framework describes it: happiness usually indicates a desire to join with other people; anger indicates a desire to attack or harm others; fear indicates a desire to escape, and so forth. Each of these emotions showcases distinct patterns of transmitting possible messages and the actions associated with those messages. Understanding emotional messages and the actions they imply is therefore an important aspect of this area of skill (Mayer et al., 1999).

After an individual identifies the type of message and the appropriate action, the capacity to reason about various emotional messages and responses follows. Thus, in-depth understanding of emotions means not only comprehending the meaning of those emotions but also learning to reason through and for those meanings (Mayer et al., 1999).

Any type of emotion can be managed. Because emotion conveys information and is part of voluntary action, maintaining open emotional signals is very important (Mayer and Salovey, 1997). Open emotional signals help prevent miscommunication and misunderstanding while enhancing positive communication between sender and receiver. Through emotional intelligence, a person can manage his or her own emotions and those of others, thereby promoting personal and social goals.

Five Components of Emotional Intelligence

Before the concept of emotional intelligence gained prominence, intelligence quotient (IQ) was considered the primary measure of mental capacity. Everything was attributed to the abilities of the mind. Emotional intelligence should not be perceived as simply an added factor to IQ (Mayer et al., 1999). In fact, emotional intelligence plays a crucial role in honing technical as well as effective leadership skills; without it, it becomes extremely difficult to act as a good citizen or colleague.

Emotional intelligence comprises five component abilities, introduced by Dr. Peter Salovey and widely used by psychologists today. Notably, three of these five components can be correlated with cognitive processes, while the other two are associated with behavior.

The first component is self-awareness, which involves observing oneself and recognizing feelings as they happen. Self-awareness as a component of emotional intelligence is believed to be part of innate human behavior. All human beings develop understanding of the various feelings and emotions they are capable of expressing, especially as they grow older (Mayer and Salovey, 1997). Part of human nature is to understand various kinds of emotions and to transmit them to others when necessary.

The second component is managing emotions. Managing emotions requires handling various feelings so that they can be expressed and acted upon appropriately (Anderson, 1985). To express or act upon an emotion, an individual needs to first recognize what underlies each feeling and understand ways to cope with emotions such as fear, anxiety, anger, and sadness. This component is connected to the cognitive aspect of human beings — that is, to thinking, reasoning, and understanding. Managing emotions requires objective reasoning: one must weigh every feeling, understand its origin, analyze the best course of action, and ultimately make a decision (Anderson, 1985).

The third component is motivating oneself. Part of motivation involves the proper utilization of emotions in achieving personal goals, taking control of oneself, delaying gratification, and overcoming damaging impulses. Motivating oneself also belongs to the cognitive domain: it requires analyzing the goals one wants to achieve, identifying the emotions necessary for achieving those goals, and taking control of oneself and of situations (Anderson, 1985). Effective self-motivation is impossible without reasoning about what to do and why it matters.

The fourth component is empathy — the ability to be sensitive to other people's feelings and concerns, to see things from others' perspectives, and to recognize differences in others' points of view. This component is part of the behavioral aspect of human beings. Empathy does not require that one feel exactly what others feel, nor does it require fully understanding why others feel as they do. As a component of emotional intelligence, empathy means simply being aware of how others feel (Anderson, 1985; Omdahl, 1995).

The fifth and final component is handling relationships. This component involves the management of emotions in social contexts, socialization, and the handling of conflicts and difficult issues. Successfully and efficiently handling relationships requires analyzing what kind of relationship one is seeking, what type of personality one has, and how that compares with the personalities of others (Omdahl, 1995). There must be an analysis of one's own needs and wants in relation to those of others.

Conclusion

The use of emotional intelligence inside the classroom is a practical means of soliciting good behavior while maintaining high educational achievement. Emotional intelligence covers a wide range of both cognitive and behavioral components of one's abilities. People who can make full advantage of using, managing, and controlling their emotional intelligence are more likely to become well-rounded individuals and students, and are more likely to model good behavior and right conduct. Anyone who makes positive use of emotional intelligence inside the classroom can be said to possess a genuinely balanced intelligence quotient and emotional intelligence — demonstrating that the two are not competing measures, but complementary ones.