Techniques for developing emotional intelligence

Can we increase emotional intelligence, and if we can, what techniques facilitate the development of emotional intelligence? I will provide two examples of approaches that may increase emotional intelligence. Several years ago John Malouff and I (Schutte and Malouff 2002) found that using a mixed model emotional intelligence intervention that spanned several months resulted in an increase in emotional intelligence for the students participating in the intervention compared to those in a control condition. Recently, Joanna Wing, Brian Byrne and I (Wing, Schutte and Byrne 2006) found that emotion-focused writing increased the emotional intelligence of writers. Why is it useful to know whether and how we can facilitate the development of emotional intelligence? First, practical implications flow from knowing how emotional intelligence can be increased. There are numerous positive qualities such as positive affect, greater life satisfaction, better relationships, and better leadership, that have been found in correlational studies to be related to emotional intelligence, and perhaps, some of these qualities may change concomitantly when emotional intelligence changes. Second, experimental studies that create an increase in emotional intelligence have the potential to provide theoretical insights. By investigating the causal function of emotional intelligence in relation to other qualities we can gain a better understanding of what emotional intelligence is and how it fits in to the general pattern of human functioning.