5 Myths Of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the capacity to notice emotions, access and produce emotions to
aid cognition, comprehend emotions and emotional knowledge, and reflectively control
emotions to facilitate emotional and intellectual progress.
But there are some myths of Emotional Intelligence:
1. Emotional intelligence is a touchy-feely or feminine skill: This is not always the case.
Since ancient Greece, the capacity to manage or regulate one's emotions has been
seen as a manly attribute. Recent study, however, indicates that both men and
women might suffer from a lack of emotional intelligence. Similarly, they might have
an abundance of it. They can also enhance it at a comparable rate.
2. Emotional intelligence is only useful when it comes to negotiating personal
relationships: Personal gurus and life coaches spread this misconception because
they consider people's failure to manage their emotions in personal relationships as
detrimental to their overall well-being. However, emotional intelligence is equally
vital in business as in public life.
3. Emotional intelligence is mostly about empathy and caring for the feelings of others:
EI is more about self-awareness than empathy. A leader with high emotional
intelligence, for example, can manage an emotionally heated issue while regulating
their own emotions and responding diplomatically to others' emotionally explosive
actions.
4. Emotional intelligence determines whether or not an individual will be successful in
life: This misperception arose as a result of the EI craze, in which many saw it as a
cure for all of life's difficulties. While EI is beneficial in life, it is not the sole factor in
success. For example, some persons with high IQs and the capacity to grasp highly
technical and complex problems (for example, engineers and academics) have low
EI. They have the potential to be extremely successful in life. However, they are not
deemed suitable for positions of management or leadership.
5. Emotional intelligence is intrinsic and is present at birth, so you either have it or you
don't. This is the nature vs. nurture debate. Some people are more gifted than others
when it comes to EI. EI, on the other hand, can be learnt and developed with time.
People with low EI, for example, can be trained to detect their own emotional states
and control them, or to recognise nonverbal signs from others indicating their
emotional states and either calm them down or raise them up.
Despite the huge volume of scientific study that has been published on the subject over the
last two decades, there are numerous misunderstandings regarding this discipline.
Emotional intelligence (EI) is crucial in modern leadership, yet it is often misinterpreted.