Measuring Emotional Intelligence: Where We Are Today.

Emotional intelligence has been defined as 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 (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p. 189). As a subset of social intelligence, and of personal intelligences (Gardner, 1983), emotional intelligence involves a mental aptitude that assists in the cognitive processing of affect (Mayer & Salovey, 1993). Three studies are used to illustrate the concept of emotional intelligence and how it has been measured thus far. In addition, implications for the impact of emotional intelligence on achievement, emotional well being, and culture are discussed.