Emotional intelligence is defined as the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one’s goals.
In the book Emotional Perspectives and Applications, Rueven Bar-On addressed seven studies, and specifically how these studies demonstrated that EI has a significant impact on physical health as well as overall subjective well-being.
The strongest impact was made by the EI factors listed below. Interestingly, #2 and #3 below are also the most powerful EI contributors to mental health.
- Self-regard, accurately perceiving, understanding, and accepting yourself; read more on self-regard here.
- Self-actualization, actualizing your potential and your ability to pursue your goals; read more on self-actualization here.
- Stress Tolerance, your ability to constructively and effectively manage your emotions; check out this free toolkit.
- Optimism, You are able to be positive, hopeful, and acknowledge the brighter sides of life; more on optimism and learned optimism.
- Happiness, You’re able to feel content with yourself, others, and life in general; read about the pursuit of happiness here.