Hi Chris,
I think you may be reading from a different book to me. The psychologist Daniel Goleman PHD and psychologist who popularised this theory does not describe EQ as above.
Goleman describes a model of emotional intelligence comprising four domains and twenty competencies in his most recent book, The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace. The four domains are self awareness, self management, social awareness and relationship management. The first two of these domains are personal. Self awareness is characterised by a deep understanding of one's emotions, strengths and weaknesses, an ability to accurately and honestly self-assess. Self management is about the control and regulation of one's emotions, the ability to stay calm, clear and focused when things do not go as planned, the ability for self motivation and initiative. The second two domains are social, and concern a person's ability to manage relationships with others. Social awareness covers empathy for example, in the ability to consider employees' feelings in the process of making intelligent decisions either on a one-to-one basis or as a group. Relationship management covers the ability to communicate, influence, collaborate and work with colleagues.
So in stark contradiction to your abbreviated and incorrectly interpreted - use emotions
Temperament is More Important than Transient Emotions
By Chris Golis | February 2, 2009
BNET Australia Contributors
Aussie Rules
Biography
BNET Australia Contributors
Brian Haverty is editorial director for CBS Interactive Australia and is responsible for the company's BNET and ZDNet Australia sites.
Robert Gerrish is a coach, author and professional speaker and the founder of Flying Solo, an Australian online community for solo business owners.
Melissa Lourenco is the HR manager for CBS Interactive in Australia.
Chris Golis is the author of The Humm Handbook: Lifting Your Level of Emotional Intelligence. He runs seminars and workshops on EQ.
Suzi Dafnis is Community Director of the Australian Businesswomen's Network.
Yvonne Adele helps organisations build a culture of ideas by teaching people at all levels to access their untapped creative thinking skills.
As I said in my previous blog, I found The Emotionally Intelligent Manager: HOW TO DEVELOP AND USE THE FOUR KEY EMOTIONAL SKILLS OF LEADERSHIP by David R. Caruso and Peter Salovey a disappointing read, along with almost half of the 37 reviewers on Amazon.com.
I believe one of the major problems with the book is the Emotional Blueprint model it advocates, and which states that one’s Emotional intelligence quotient (or EQ) comprises four related abilities:
- The ability to read people by identifying their emotions.
- The ability to use emotions to get other people to work in harmony with you.
- The ability to understand emotions and so predict the emotional future.
- The ability to manage emotions and ensure that we use the available emotional information when making decisions which to me is a roundabout way of using intuition.
The problem with this model is that it says it is the transient emotions that are important. I disagree. I believe that what is essential in lifting your Emotional Intelligence is an understanding of temperament, which is that part of the personality that is genetically based and is what determines our habitual emotional response.
Caruso and Salovey do refer in passing to some people having typical ways of looking at the world and call these dispositional traits. I would argue the opposite and say all of us have core dispositional traits and that it the mixture of these traits with some being dominant and others weak that make us all unique. The model that I have found best at explaining temperament is the Humm-Wadsworth Temperament Scale. This model says we are all slightly insane and as I get older I am more and more relaxed about this hypothesis. The model also says we have seven core emotional drives six based on the most common forms of insanity and a seventh that tries to bring logic and order into our personality.
The following article from the 27 July, 1942 issue of Time, “Pegs that Fit“, provides a practical introduction to the model.
I like the Humm scale because it uses seven components compared to many other models which use only two or three variables to analyse people and are too simplistic and put people in a box. Why is seven important? Seven points are the limit short term memory can handle, as demonstrated in George Miller’s famous paper.
How do you evaluate the temperament of fellow employees?
More from “Aussie Rules”
Talkback 3 Talkbacks
RE: Temperament is More Important than Transient Emotions
chisquared
02/03/2009 02:25 PM
RE: Temperament is More Important than Transient Emotions
Hi Jenny
Thank you for your comment.
As you will see in a later blog (number 4) I actually agree with you.
I much prefer Goldman's definition (in his 1995 book) to that of Mayer and Salovey.
However in EQ circles there is considerable debate about the definition of EQ and what kicked off this blog was a seminar that I attended that recommended the Mayer-Salovey model.
I also think that Goldman has gone off on the wrong track in his later books with competencies but I intend to address that issue in subsequent blogs.
By the way in the 1995 book, Goldman acknowledges Salovey on page 341 as the inventor of the concept even though Salovey adherents now consider Goldman's definition to be erroneous.
Cheers
Thank you for your comment.
As you will see in a later blog (number 4) I actually agree with you.
I much prefer Goldman's definition (in his 1995 book) to that of Mayer and Salovey.
However in EQ circles there is considerable debate about the definition of EQ and what kicked off this blog was a seminar that I attended that recommended the Mayer-Salovey model.
I also think that Goldman has gone off on the wrong track in his later books with competencies but I intend to address that issue in subsequent blogs.
By the way in the 1995 book, Goldman acknowledges Salovey on page 341 as the inventor of the concept even though Salovey adherents now consider Goldman's definition to be erroneous.
Cheers
cgolis
02/03/2009 10:00 PM
RE: Temperament is More Important than Transient Emotions
Hi Chris -
I think this post rather misses the point of emotional intelligence.
Yes, temperament is important and no one denies that. But this is a different construct than emotional intelligence.
As Dan wrote in the 1995 book, EQ allows people find that "temperament is not terminal." In other words, while your basic personality is fixed you can develop intelligence with emotions (which are, by definition, transient... but powerful).
While you don't have to love David & Peter's book, I do think it's important to recognize that the whole concept of emotional intelligence is that it allows people to access the incredible power and wisdom of these rapidly changing, often confusing, and transient emotions.
Warmly,
- Josh
--
Joshua Freedman
COO, Six Seconds, The Emotional Intelligence Network
http://www.6seconds.org
I think this post rather misses the point of emotional intelligence.
Yes, temperament is important and no one denies that. But this is a different construct than emotional intelligence.
As Dan wrote in the 1995 book, EQ allows people find that "temperament is not terminal." In other words, while your basic personality is fixed you can develop intelligence with emotions (which are, by definition, transient... but powerful).
While you don't have to love David & Peter's book, I do think it's important to recognize that the whole concept of emotional intelligence is that it allows people to access the incredible power and wisdom of these rapidly changing, often confusing, and transient emotions.
Warmly,
- Josh
--
Joshua Freedman
COO, Six Seconds, The Emotional Intelligence Network
http://www.6seconds.org
josh@...
02/09/2009 03:36 AM
