EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND

PERSONAL GROWTH

Prepared for

Mr. Shahkar Khan

COMSATS Institute of Information Technology

Prepared by

Hamza Anwar

&

Aquib Kamran

Date

November 27, 2017

 1. INTRODUCTION

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to identify and manage our own emotions and the

emotions of other people. It generally includes three skills: emotional awareness; the

ability to harness emotions and to apply these skills while thinking or solving a problem;

and the ability to manage emotions, which includes regulating our own emotions and

cheering up or calming down other people.

The term emotional intelligence was introduced by two researchers Peter Salavoy and

John Mayer. They defined it in practical term as; to recognize, understand and manage

our own emotions as well as to recognize, understand and influence the emotions of other

people.

Further, in 1996 the term was popularized by Dan Goleman in his book with same name,

‘Emotional Intelligence.’ He described emotional intelligence as being well aware of how

our emotions can drive our behaviour and its impact on people both positively and

negatively, and to learn how to manage those emotions on both- ends our own and others

especially when we are under pressure.

Personal development is also known as self-development or personal growth. It

involves the growth and augmentation of all aspects of the person, the feelings that a

person has about himself or herself, and their effectiveness in living. It also includes the

development of positive life skills and the development of a realistic and healthy self-

esteem. Personal development encompasses; mental, physical, social, emotional, and

spiritual growth of a person to live a productive and satisfying life within their society. It

is achieved through the development of life skills.

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2. HOW EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND PERSONAL GROWTH
ARE INTERLINKED

The development of emotional intelligence plays an important role especially in the area

of our own Personal growth and an understanding of the self. Emotional Intelligence and

personal growth are skills that are necessary for living a productive life. Generally, fall

into one of several categories: feeling about self, intimacy, family, friends, community,

job, leisure, and spirituality. These abilities enable us to recognise and describe one's

feelings, giving and receiving feedback, recognising assumptions, setting realistic and

attainable goals, and engaging problem-solving strategies.

3. BACKGROUND
An insignificant number of people are well aware by the literal meaning of these terms.

Which leads people to have problems in their relationship with other people, or with

people who suffer emotionally with feeling of low self-esteem, and anxiety. It also

includes to have complex relationship with individuals who are marginally successful or

even very successful in life, but continuously want to improve their proficiency, relate

themselves with other people, and have standardized their level of satisfaction with

others. Lack of these abilities have also led a large number of people to suffer from

depression, pain, and torment. Most of the time people are unable to polish and discern

the special skills they have, just because of the absence emotional intelligence

and personal growth in them. Regardless of, having higher IQ level people blame

themselves for not getting employment or not having good interpersonal relationships just

because our society is still unfamiliar of these terms.

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4. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to determine the importance of emotional intelligence and

personal growth in polishing our career skills. As well as to determine the negative effects

on one’s life due lack of it.

5. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
Primarily, the peers and fresh graduates might have benefit from this study. Peers will be

benefitted from this study in university while building interpersonal relationships during

group work. Might learn how corporate while working together or what sort of strategy

should be used while being under-pressure. Will be able to learn how respect the self-

esteem of one another. Whereas the fresh graduates in market will be benefitted through

it during job interviews as they will be able to identify the right context of board’s

question and in HR department. It will also help many of us while taking decisions and

evaluating our society.

6. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Maslow (1970) suggests that all individuals have an in-built need for personal

development which occurs through a process called self-actualisation.

The Harvard Business Review called emotional intelligence as “a ground-breaking,

paradigm-shattering idea”. Emotional intelligence is a form of social intelligence that

involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to identify

and evaluate them, and use this information to guide one’s thinking and action. (“The

Significance of Emotional Intelligence. March 24, 2014”)

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 A science researcher Dan Goleman working with New York Times acquainted the term

emotional intelligence with five different dimensions in his book as;

 Self-awareness – this is the ability to know one’s emotions, feelings, strengths, weaknesses,

values, drives and goals along with recognition of their impact on others,

 Self-regulation – this is the ability to control and regulate emotions and impulses in

response to changing circumstances,

 Motivation – this is the ability to delay gratification in pursuit of goals,

 Empathy – this is the ability to understand and identify with the wants, needs, and

viewpoints of others around you, and

 Social skills – these are skills like being good team player, motivating and helping others,

building and maintaining relationships, communicating well with others and managing

disputes diplomatically. (“Emotional Intelligence,” 1995)

Personal growth initiative comprises one of the dimensions of psychological well-being

(Ryff & Keyes, 1995). Practically, personal growth can also be comprehended as

throughout life, individuals are likely to experience challenging, adverse situations that

require changes in the way they interact with others and handle various quotidian situations.

Changes developed by people can be caused by external factors (e.g., job promotion) or can

be changes caused by the individual (e.g., completing a post-graduate course). These

changes may require those involved to adapt to a new context, interact with others

differently, and use appropriate coping strategies to manage these new demands

(Robitschek, 1997).

The process of change intentionally developed by individuals is recognized as personal

growth initiative (PG). Personal growth initiative can be understood as the

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active and intentional involvement of the individual in their personal growth process

(Robitschek, 1998). Personal changes originating from PGI can be realized in the different

life domains of individuals, occurring in the affective, cognitive and behavioural

dimensions (Robitschek, 2003).

Baron, author of the EQ-i has defined EI as “An array of non-cognitive capabilities,

competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with

environmental demands and pressures” (Bar-On, 1997, p. 14).

Emotional Intelligence competency is also referred as an “ability to recognize,

understand, and use emotional information about oneself or others that leads to or causes

effective or superior performance”. They give an even shorter definition as “the

intelligent use of one’s emotions.” (Boyatzis and Sala, 2004, p. 149).

Emotional Intelligence is also circumscribed in the following way by two researchers:

Emotional Intelligence involves the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express

emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the

ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate

emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth (Mayer and Salavoy, 1997, p.10).

Emotional intelligence (EI) is frequently described as two different models, the

Trait model and the ability model (Bastian, Burns, &Nettelbeck, 2005;

Petrides&Furnham, 2001).

The ability EI model is typically assessed by the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale

(MEIS) or by the more recent Mayer Salavoy-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test

(MSCEIT) (i.e., Mayer, Salavoy,&Caruso, 2004). The MEIS and MSCEIT are measures

of ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotion in a positive,

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productive manner. Mayer and colleagues assess EI as a skill or ability rather than as a

self-report of perceived emotional competence.

In contrast to ability EI model, trait model slightly differs from it. The trait models are

accessed via self-report and are designed to measure emotional abilities and positive

social behaviours (Conte, 2005). The oldest measure of trait EI model is the Emotional

Quotient Inventory (EQ-I; Bar-On, 1997), a self-report measure of traits related to

emotional and social knowledge that influence an individual’s ability to cope effectively.

The EQ-I includes five domains; intrapersonal skills, interpersonal skills, adaptability,

stress management, and general mood (Bar-On, 1997).

A second self-report measure of trait EI model, the Emotional Competency Inventory

(ECI), is based on Goldman’s (e.g., 2006) model of emotional intelligence and purports

to assess abilities or competencies in four domains or clusters: self-awareness, self-

management, social awareness, and relationship management. Emotional Intelligence is

correlated with emotion regulation as emotion regulation plays and important role in

one’s life for social interaction. These abilities are thought to be important for social

interaction because emotions serve communicative and social functions, conveying

information about people’s thoughts and intentions. Of these four abilities, Salavoy and

colleagues believe that emotion regulation is probably the most important for social

interaction because it directly influences emotional expression and behaviour.

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7. CASE STUDY

Case study done by Lope et al. states that, an inability to control angry outbursts

negatively affects one’s relationships. In one recent study, college students who had higher

scores on an ability measure of emotion regulation reported having more positive

relationships with others, less conflict and antagonism in their relationship with a close

friend, and greater companionship, affection, and support from their parents (Lopes,

Salavoy, & Straus, 2003).

In a separate study of college students, after controlling for the FFM and measures of fluid

and verbal intelligence, emotion regulation was still associated with positive ratings from

peers (Lopes, Salavoy, Côté, & Beers, 2005).

Within the fields of therapy and treatment, there has been a rise in the examination of the

role that emotion regulation and emotional intelligence plays in social relationships.

In the therapy and treatment literatures, emotion regulation and emotional intelligence

appears to be an important component of successful treatments for a variety of problems

such as borderline personality disorder, couples’ therapy, and parent-child problems such

that the increase in emotional intelligence and positive expression of emotions tends to decrease

problematic relationships and reduce relationship discord and distress (e.g., Lineman, 2000;

Snyder, Simpson, & Hughes, 2006).

Individuals who have high levels of the readiness for change, intentional behaviour, and

using resources dimensions of PG may have a greater potential to identify or create

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opportunities that enable and intensify their positive personal growth (Robitschek

Kashubeck, 1999).

People with high levels of PG adapt better to different situations, overcome stressful

situations, have higher levels of life satisfaction, and seek appropriate solutions to the

situations faced (Loo, Tsai, Raylu & Oei, 2014; Robitschek et al., 2012; Wergild et al.,

2013a). High PGI indices are also positively related to positive affect and negatively to

Anxiety, depression and negative affect (Hardin et al., 2007; Robitschek& Kashubeck,

1999; Robitschek& Keyes, 2009).

8. NEGATIVE IMPACT IN PEOPLE’S LIVES DUE TO LACK OF PG

SKILLS

A lack of PGI skills is associated with a negative impact in people’s lives. It has been

observed that low levels of PGI are related to difficulties in adapting to new contexts, so

that those involved experience higher levels of stress and anxiety and lower levels of life

satisfaction (Stevic& Ward, 2008; Weigold&Robitschek, 2011; Bakunin, Wergild,

&Wergild, 2013; Bakunin, Wergild, Hercegovac &Elsayed,

2013). Difficulties in identifying opportunities for personal growth are also associated

with the adoption of ineffective coping strategies, such as the prevalent use of emotion-

Focused coping strategies rather than the use of problem-focused strategies

(Weigold&Robitschek, 2011).

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9. POSITIVE IMPACT IN PEOPLE’S LIVES DUE TO PRESENCE OF
PG SKILLS

Personal growth initiative is positively related to the dimensions of self-acceptance,

positive relations with others, autonomy, environment mastery, purpose in life, and

personal growth of the psychological well-being (Kashubeck et al., 2008). Higher levels

of PG were associated with the presence of higher indices of emotional

Well-being, social well-being (Negovan, 2010) happiness, social actualization, social

contribution, social coherence, social integration, life satisfaction, positive mental health

and positive affect (Hardin et al., 2007; Robitschek& Keyes, 2009).

10. METHODOLOGY
In order to know is our society well aware of these terms and how impactful are these

terms while establishing career goals in our lives. The team decided to conduct a

reasonable survey in form of a questionnaire among the peers of their own university.

The method was adopted to obtain both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the

research. The questionnaire contained questions with suitable options for the peers to

choose.

11. DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEY WITHIN CAMPUS

The first priority of the team was to distribute the questionnaire among the students and

to analyze that how well our society is aware of the selected research topic. They also

choose this method over emails and phone calls to avoid the non-seriousness and late

response of the people towards surveys. It was made sure that questionnaire is distributed

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among various age groups to in order to better understand the views shared. Respondents

also included some teachers, fresh graduates, and a few visitors from the university. The

respondents were given 10-20 minutes to complete a questionnaire based on 10 multiple-

choice questions.

12. DEDUCTIVE REPORT

Team decided to make a detail quantitative report of the questionnaire in which they

showed the result of each question with a separate pie chart and a brief description of the

result for both girls and boys to see how much contradiction is present in their point of

view towards the selected topic of research.

13. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is limited to the perception about lack of personal growth and emotional

intelligence within our society. As well as its positive and negative impact on one’s

career success. Above study about EI and PG is restricted to university campus that

includes its students, faculty members, recent graduates of the university, and somehow

the visitors. The data collection will be moreover based on different survives rather than

on interviews, calls or emails. The main focus of this study is to see up to what extent

people have suffered due to lack of these abilities while attaining their career goals as

well as how many of them have achieved magnificent success in their life due their

strong grip on EI and PG.

14. LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

One of the shortcomings faced during the research was the incorporative attitude of peers

while filling the survey. Much variability was seen in the results of survey due to self-

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report. As the self-reported data consist of bias and these biases are incongruent. Selective

memory is also a major drawback while conducting research as remembering or not

remembering the events that took place during research. Inconsistency seen within primary

and secondary data.

15. ORGANIZATION
Major section of report consists of review of related literature which provides secondary

and essential information about the selected topic for the research as well as the limitation

plays an important role in research as it tells what obstacles the team faced while

conducting the research. The reader must give an overview to methodology in order to

understand the type of research is conducted.

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