Emotional intelligence and giftedness

Abstract

This article examines the relation between concepts of emotional giftedness and emotional intelligence, and attempts to relate a person's level of emotional intelligence to the actual ways they cope with challenging social situations. Emotional intelligence and social behavior were explored in a pilot study with adolescents. Emotional intelligence was measured with the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 1997), an ability‐based measure of emotional perception, facilitation, understanding, and management. General intelligence was measured with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Scale (Dunn & Dunn, 1981). Each of the 11 adolescents also answered questions about how he or she had handled a difficult social encounter. Those with higher emotional intelligence were better able to identify their own and others’ emotions in situations, use that information to guide their actions, and resist peer pressure than others.