Blog Post #5: Round 3 of Research – What Affects Emotional Quotient?

What Affects Emotional Quotient?

How can negative experiences affect emotional quotient?

Having negative experiences can affect emotional quotient in a variety of different ways that are specific to how you deal with these emotions that you feel when having these experiences. If you deal with these emotions correctly, you may gain an advantage and obtain a higher emotional intelligence level [1]. Emotional quotient is practically used all the time in daily life [2], when you build relationships, engage with another person in conversation, and when you control your own emotions [5]. When you deal with a stressful experience, you can sometimes learn from it by understanding what things you can’t control and what you can, and by not stressing over what has happened in the past, and instead, decide to move on from mistakes and to try to learn from them [3]. Visiting your memories and trying to frame them in multiple or single ways is called reframing [3]. Our goal is to avoid reframing because doing it often can cause you to think negatively about yourself and feel guilt on events and actions that you have no control over [3].

How can positive experiences affect emotional quotient?

Positive experiences affect emotional quotient similarly to negative experiences, but there is less room for dealing with your emotions improperly. This occurs because most of the time, positive experiences are more light-hearted than negative experiences and there is less space for people to judge others and create opinions. Positive experiences are also less able to affect emotional quotient because they are generally positive and there are less things to worry about. Still, positive experiences are able to affect emotional quotient if you don’t have the strong ability to engage in appropriate actions, given the emotional context of a situation [4].

Compare negative and positive experiences, is there a specific experience that affects emotional quotient more? Why or why not?

In comparison to negative and positive experiences, having negative experiences might affect emotional quotient more because there is a possibility of reframing [3]. In positive experiences, the risk of reframing is very low because things are often kept light-hearted and playful in these experiences. There is also a risk of not dealing with emotions correctly when experiencing a negative emotion [1]. These negative emotions can include anger, which can be hidden for a while before being hideously destructive [1], sadness, which is a powerful emotion that can cause people to lack energy and become lethargic [1], and fear, which can cause unfair prejudices and biases against other people for certain reasons [1].

Citations:

[1] Bariso, Justin. “How Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Deal with Negative Emotions.” EQ Applied, EQ Applied, 17 Aug. 2020, https://www.eqapplied.com/personal-growth/the-positive-side-of-negative-emotions

[2] “Examples of Emotional Intelligence.” Harappa, 3 Aug. 2021, https://harappa.education/harappa-diaries/examples-of-emotional-intelligence-in-the-workplace/#:~:text=Every%20day%2C%20countless%20people%20use,emotional%20intelligence%20in%20the%20workplace

[3] Ligneris, Benoit des. “How Reframing Negative Experiences Can Make You Happier.” Medium, Better Humans, 27 Dec. 2019, https://betterhumans.pub/how-reframing-negative-experiences-can-make-you-happier-5aa2a70654ed

[4] Mallinger, Mark, and Jeff Jeff Banks. “Use Emotional Intelligence to Cope in Tough Times – a Peer-Reviewed Academic Articles: GBR.” Graziadio Business Review | Graziadio School of Business and Management | Pepperdine University, 30 Oct. 2017, https://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/08/use-emotional-intelligence-to-cope-in-tough-times/

[5] Neal, Bruno. “Handling Tough Situations with Emotional Intelligence.” Main, 8 Dec. 2017, https://www.td.org/insights/handling-tough-situations-with-emotional-intelligence