Emotional Literacy

 By : A Annapurna , Founder and CEO, Emotionalytics and Co.

&

Indrayani Mundada , Research Analyst , Emotionalytics and Co.

BACKGROUND

Emotions

Emotions are one of the indispensable features of human nature and essential for our survival. It is what makes us rational yet complex, logical yet occasionally erratic. Salovey and Mayer (1990) define emotions as “organized responses, crossing the boundaries of many psychological subsystems, including the physiological, cognitive, motivational, and experiential systems” (p. 2). Such affective states are cognitive reactions to internal and/or external stimuli that cause psychological, physiological and/or behavioural changes as a whole (Mishra, 2014).

Emotional Intelligence

While examining the traditional models of intelligence at Yale University, Peter Salovey and John Mayer felt that verbal intelligence and perceptual organization intelligence were not enough to capture the whole of human intelligence. A news about a political leader made them question ‘how can a smart person sometimes act so dumb?’. In 1990, they first coined the term emotional intelligence (EI) to account for the missing piece while proposing that it was a part of social intelligence where it is “the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions” (p.189). They posited that EI reflected a hierarchy of inter-related emotional reasoning abilities- i) perceiving, ii) utilizing emotions to facilitate thought, iii) understanding and iv) regulating of emotions in self and others (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Brackett et al., 2011). The higher abilities reflected more advanced psychological processes.

Perceiving involved accurate recognition, interpretation and discrimination of the affective thoughts and expressions, their subjective meanings and links to other sensory encounters.

Utilizing emotion refers to using perceived emotions to drive rationalization, problem solving and communication. 

Understanding entailed comprehending the effect of internal or external events that evoked complex emotions and identifying appropriate emotional reactions with respect to the social setting.

Regulating emotions meant how the emotional response is controlled, adjusted and managed in self and others for appropriate expression in a given situation.

The researchers explained that with these abilities, emotionally intelligent individuals can be thought of as having sound mental health as they are aware of the nature and intensity of different emotions felt by themselves and others. Moreover, they are intuitive in identifying and communicating their feelings appropriately. On the other hand, people who lack these abilities may be prone to dissatisfaction with and loss of control over life-events. This may lead to feeling incompetent, depressed or even suicidal.

Following the conception of EI, Goleman (1995), in his ground-breaking book of ‘Emotional Intelligence’, theorized that EI may be a better predictor of overall life success than IQ and that it is instrumental in beginning and sustaining quality-interpersonal relationships. Many different models and theories of EI have concurrently indicated empathy as one of the key skills in interpersonal relationships (Saarni, 1999; Schutte et al., 2001; Zeidner et al., 2004; Waterhouse, 2006).

Nevertheless, conceptual disagreements of what EI encompasses and whether it entails single or multiple abilities still prevail, making it a difficult construct to be empirically examined or measured. Proponents of ‘mixed models’ use self-reports about a person’s beliefs and perceptions to measure emotional competencies (e.g. SSEIT and EQ-i 2.0). Conversely, those who advocate for ‘mental ability models’, that focus on a clear-cut set of emotion-processing abilities, opt for objective measurements like performance tests (e.g. DANVA and MSCEIT scales). Not surprisingly, with the additional risk that self-report assessments can be easily faked, these measures have low or no reliability and validity to measure EI. Taking the evidence into account, Brackett et al (2011) advocates for the use of objective measurements since valid performance tests can be developed to indicate reliable results that can explain subjective variance in the everyday behaviour of individuals.

Although existing literature provides little consensus over the definition of EI, different studies conducted since the inception have made it clear that this subset of social intelligence can be measured objectively and that affective abilities can be trained and developed. Conclusively, many studies accord that emotional intelligence provides important predictions about interpersonal relationships, mental health and overall life-outcomes (Salovey and Mayer, 1990; Goleman, 1995; Schutte et al., 2010; Brackett et al., 2011).

EMOTIONAL LITERACY

In his phenomenal book, Claude Steiner said that emotional literacy is fundamentally “intelligence with a heart” (Steiner, 1997). The words Emotional Literacy were first uttered in the 1960s by Nancy Graham that caught Steiner’s attention who, since then, has expanded impressive notions around it. The phenomenon has become so widely popular that it has passed from being a fresh idea to a dynamic movement. Little empirical research has examined the significance of emotional literacy (EL) in everyday life or in specific domains like work or school. However, the importance of affective exchanges and expressions for sound mental and physical health is an established and inescapable fact. Steiner (2003) said, “To be emotionally literate is to be able to handle emotions in a way that improves your personal power and improves the quality of life for you and—most importantly—the quality of life of the people around you.” (p.1). The increment in personal power occurs when an individual recognizes what emotions they and others are feeling, at what intensity and where the emotions were rooted from. Such knowledge allows the person to manage emotions because they understand them in their entirety.

Throughout his book, Steiner utilized actual events and anecdotes from everyday life to support his notions that answers many questions, including the one Salovey and Mayer asked -why do smart people sometimes act so dumb? He observed that most humans frequently suffer emotional shocks or even trauma since early on in life. The repeated exposures eventually lead to emotional ‘numbness’ that impedes our will to consciously deal with our emotions, leaving them unresolved and swelling. Steiner proposed that EL training is an effective tool in re-establishing the connection with our suppressed feelings to increase our personal power. The 5 principles of the training are i) identifying and interpreting your feelings ii) genuine sense of empathy for others iii) management of own’s emotions iv) amend emotional damage caused v) emotional interactivity (Steiner, 2003).

Emotional awareness necessary for literacy

The author clarified that emotions have primitive biological roots that serve as instinctive responses to action-provoking situations. But people vary widely in their awareness of others’ and own’s emotions and situations that provoke them. He developed an Emotional Awareness Questionnaire that provided scores on a scale ranging from zero awareness to complete awareness.

  Fig:Claude Steiner’s Emotional Awareness Scale.

Description of the extent of awareness at each stage:

Numbness: Person not aware of any affective states they feel even when undergoing intense emotions. In psychiatric terms- alexithymia.

Physical Sensations: A state of somatization where a person may feel physical sensations for e.g. quickening of the heartbeat but not the emotion of fear.

Primal Experience or Chaos: A state of vulnerability and responsiveness towards emotions and might have outbursts but unable to control or label them.

Verbal barrier: An important stage in the transition from low to high emotional awareness. Requires the use of frontal lobe responsible for language, thinking and rationalizing to be able to express what we feel and why. This linguistic barrier can be broken essentially within an open, friendly and accepting environment, with people of similar nature.

Differentiation: To be able to identify and label different emotions and their varying intensities and express them in a comprehensible manner.

Causality: Understanding the cause behind the emotional experience and the interconnections between people and how they can erupt emotions in each other.

Empathy: Simply put, the ability to feel what others around us are feeling and being sensitive to them.

Interactivity: Going beyond empathy and anticipating how other people will respond to emotional events/experiences. At this stage, a person recognizes the complex interaction of emotions while communicating with others.

Training to attain Emotional Literacy

Steiner (2003) proposed that no stage is stationary and it was possible to progress from numbness to interactivity based on Eric Berne’s (1964) Transactional Analysis. As mentioned above, the elaborate training must happen in an emotionally literate environment in the steps mentioned briefly below-

i) Opening the heart to different kinds of positive and negative emotions. This can be done by offering, accepting as well as rejecting genuine and honest statements of emotions called ‘strokes’ (Berne, 1964) as appropriate.

ii) After surveying the emotional landscape, one must recognize the ebb and flow of their own emotional make-up and those of others. It is important to remain non-judgemental and use appropriate action/feeling statements that unfolds clear and honest conversations and empathy necessary for rich relationships.

iii) Errors in stroke transaction may lead to mistakes and damage relationships. The last step of becoming emotionally literate involves taking responsibility for one’s action, making amends and rectifying behaviour. This involves asking for forgiveness and accepting apologies in interpersonal relationships.

Conclusion

Since its inception, the concept of EL has rightly gained worldwide attention and admiration, and also induced debates about its applicability. The reason why emotionally literate life is so appealing is because of its potential to transform and significantly improve the quality of life and overall wellbeing of individuals from all walks of life. The book also provides comprehensive guidelines to be followed in different domains of schools, work and home.

Many researchers have built up from these guidelines to create training programs to suit different settings. For e.g., Brackett et. (2010) developed the RULER Approach to create a holistic emotionally literate environment in schools for students, teachers as well as parents to promote enthusiastic learning, prosocial behaviour and respectful relationships. RULER is the acronym for the skills of recognizing, understanding, labelling, expressing, and regulating emotions (Brackett et al., 2011). Studies have targeted overall and specific behaviours and found positive effects of emotional literacy interventions in schools (Knowler and Frederickson, 2013; Carnwell and Baker, 2007). An interesting approach to EL training by Nikolajeva (2013) was through reading fiction and was found successful in increasing emotional awareness in children.

Much work has been done in the areas of workplace attitude and behaviour (Carmeli, 2003), work-success (Brackett et al., 2011), developing leadership (Cooper, 1997) and teamwork (Beam, 2012) in organizations using EL training.

Having control over emotions is a powerful skill, with the risk of its possible abuse to manipulate the emotions of others for unethical reasons. On the other hand, some organizations now use it as another measure to scrutinize the emotional aptitude of employees rather than to enhance workplace attitudes and behaviours.

Apart from the western studies mentioned above, focused research has been conducted in a few eastern countries. For e.g. A study of Malaysian secondary school students showed that lower levels of emotional literacy were linked to higher levels of internalizing problem behaviours (Liau et al., 2003). In a Japanese study, Saeki, Watanabe and Kido (2015) showed that older children and girls had comparatively higher emotional literacy that young children and boys. Majority of the prominent definitions, models and tools of emotional intelligence and literacy have originated in the West.

Indian Context

It must be noted that, to the best of my knowledge, there is rarely or no research primarily focused on emotional literacy conducted in the Indian literature. Most/all of them have addressed the concept of EI and its measurement but have not examined the effects of emotional literacy in different life-domains. For e.g., Pradhan and Nath (2012) noted that higher EI predicted entrepreneurial orientation while a study of an automobile industry in Belgaum (Kulkarni and Janakiram, 2009) showed that EI predicted the performance of its managers and supervisors. Jain and Sinha (2004) statistically found that dimensions of EI are linked to organizational attitudes and behaviours life job-satisfaction, commitment, trust, turnover intention, organizational productivity, personal effectiveness and general health. Studies conducted in schools reported that higher EI was related to better academic performance (Chamundeswari, 2013; Shanbhag and Goud, 2013). Thingujam (2002) suggests that while the evidence portrays satisfactory applicability of western EI measures in the Indian context, it should be done with precautions. Even if the scales are standardized for foreign cultures, it does not necessarily mean that the concepts will have the same meaning in different countries. He recommends deriving reliability and validity of EI measures in each group for the tools to be appropriately utilized in different contexts of work or school.

Future Directions

Many of the EL Training tools experimented so far have begun with an assessment of EI of an individual. This can be problematic as there is little consensus over the definition and constitution of emotional intelligence. This disjunction has percolated in the lack of standard, fair and psychometrically sound measures of EI that restricts effective EL interventions. Future research must strive in addressing these issues by examining the phenomenon in diverse settings and populations for wide applicability.

Trist and Bamforth (1951) discussed that the advance in technological systems has led to a significant shift in the dynamics of workplace relationships. The cultural differences in the norms of emotional expression vary across countries (Baron and Misra, 2014) and is an important determinant of what approach towards EL must be adopted for training. Therefore, new or modified EL training tools must be developed to take technology, capitalism and cultural differences into account.

Keeping the significant gap in Indian literature in mind, Indian researchers are urged to move to the next step of EI and study emotional literacy to develop culturally tailored definitions, models and training tools of emotional literacy for different life-domains to increase personal and institutional productivity.

Steiner (2003) emphasizes that like most skills, EL needs practice and can be best learnt in the formative years of life. Hence, it is suggested that schools must pay attention not only to the literacy of children but also their parents’ interactions with their children, through workshops for e.g. during PTA meetings, for their holistic development.

References

·       Baron, R.A. and Misra, G., 2014. Psychology (Indian Subcontinent Edition).

·       Beam, M.M., 2012. Emotional intelligence and team cohesiveness.

·       Brackett, M.A., Rivers, S.E. and Salovey, P., 2011. Emotional intelligence: Implications for personal, social, academic, and workplace success. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(1), pp.88-103.

·       Carmeli, A., 2003. The relationship between emotional intelligence and work attitudes, behavior and outcomes. Journal of managerial Psychology.

·       Carnwell, R. and Baker, S.A., 2007. A qualitative evaluation of a project to enhance pupils' emotional literacy through a student assistance programme. Pastoral Care in Education, 25(1), pp.33-41.

·       Chamundeswari, S., 2013. Emotional intelligence and academic achievement among students at the higher secondary level. International Journal of Academic Research in Economics and Management Sciences, 2(4), p.178.

·       Cooper, R.K., 1997. Applying emotional intelligence in the workplace. Training & development, 51(12), pp.31-39.

·       Knowler, C. and Frederickson, N., 2013. Effects of an emotional literacy intervention for students identified with bullying behaviour. Educational psychology, 33(7), pp.862-883.

·       Kulkarni, P.M., Janakiram, B. and Kumar, D.N.S., 2009. Emotional intelligence and employee performance as an indicator for promotion, a study of automobile industry in the city of Belgaum, Karnataka, India. International Journal of Business and Management, 4(4), pp.161-170.

·       Lam, L.T. and Kirby, S.L., 2002. Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An exploration of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance. The journal of social Psychology, 142(1), pp.133-143.

·       Liau, A.K., Liau, A.W., Teoh, G.B. and Liau, M.T., 2003. The Case for Emotional Literacy: the influence of emotional intelligence on problem behaviours in Malaysian secondary school students. Journal of Moral Education, 32(1), pp.51-66.

·       Nikolajeva, M., 2013. “Did you Feel as if you Hated People?”: Emotional Literacy Through Fiction. New Review of Children's Literature and Librarianship, 19(2), pp.95-107.

·       Pradhan, R.K. and Nath, P., 2012. Perception of entrepreneurial orientation and emotional intelligence: A study on India’s future techno-managers. Global Business Review, 13(1), pp.89-108.

·       Saeki, E., Watanabe, Y. and Kido, M., 2015. Developmental and gender trends in emotional literacy and interpersonal competence among Japanese children. International Journal of Emotional Education, 7(2), pp.15-34.

·       Salovey, P. and Mayer, J.D., 1990. Emotional intelligence. Imagination, cognition and personality, 9(3), pp.185-211.

·       Schutte, N.S., Malouff, J.M., Bobik, C., Coston, T.D., Greeson, C., Jedlicka, C., Rhodes, E. and Wendorf, G., 2001. Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations. The Journal of social psychology, 141(4), pp.523-536.

·       Shanbhag, D. and Goud, B.R., 2013. Emotional intelligence and scholastic performance among children of a high school in South India. International Journal of Collaborative Research On Internal Medicine & Public Health, 5(5), pp.0-0.

·       Sinha, A.K. and Jain, A.K., 2004. Emotional Intelligence: Imperatives for the organizationally relevant outcomes. Psychological studies, 49(2-3).

·       Steiner, C., 2003. Emotional literacy: Intelligence with a heart. Personhood Press.

·       Thingujam, N.S., 2002. Emotional intelligence: What is the evidence. Psychological Studies, 47(1-3), pp.54-69.

·       Trist, E.L. and Bamforth, K.W., 1951. Some social and psychological consequences of the longwall method of coal-getting: An examination of the psychological situation and defences of a work group in relation to the social structure and technological content of the work system. Human relations, 4(1), pp.3-38.

·       Zeidner, M., Matthews, G. and Roberts, RD, 2004. Emotional intelligence in the workplace: A critical review. Applied Psychology, 53 (3), pp. 371-399.