What We Know about Emotional Intelligence: How It Affects Learning, Work, Relationships, and Our Mental Health

Sorting out the scientific facts from the unsupported hype about emotional intelligence.

Margaret Cardwell - Library Journal

Does emotional intelligence (EI) exist as real science? asks this meticulously documented work. Zeidner (education psychology & human development, Univ. of Haifa), Gerald Matthews (psychology, Univ. of Cincinnati), and Richard D. Roberts (research scientist, Educational Testing Service) delve into the research surrounding EI, which has found recent popularity for application in schools and businesses. They note the important applications that EI may have in education, the workplace, and the clinic and briefly touch on moral and ethical issues. The reliability of the various tests that try to define and measure EI is scrutinized using research studies published as recently as 2008. The authors do not dismiss EI as pseudoscience, but they do make many suggestions for further research to validate the study of this intelligence as its own discipline. Droll comments throughout help lighten the technical discussions. Recommended for practitioners and graduate collections in psychology, business, and education.

Moshe Zeidner is Professor of Educational Psychology and Human Development at the University of Haifa.

Gerald Matthews is Professor of Psychology at the University of Cincinnati.

Richard D. Roberts is Principal Research Scientist at the Center for New Constructs, Educational Testing Service.