Ability model of emotional intelligence is put forth by Mayer, Salovey and Caruso. This model defines emotional intelligence in terms of an ability, rather than a trait or characteristic. The model proposes four main types of emotional abilities which are as follows;
- Emotional Perception – it refers an individual’s ability to recognize his own emotions and to understand the emotions expressed by others. This is the basic skill involved in EI because unless you can perceive emotions you cannot manage them.
- Emotional Use – The ability to use one’s emotions involves the skill of leveraging emotions to enhance our thinking, decision-making and relationships. For example, Channelizing anger at perceived injustice towards fighting for one’s legitimate rights.
- Emotional Understanding – It refers to using the specific information that various emotions provide and knowing how that might affect behaviour of the person. For example, you promised your wife to take her to movie but you forgot. Once you return to home, you saw your wife being rude and angry. If you are a man of high EQ, you can easily discover that the angriness of your wife is the result of your failure to fulfil the promise.
- Emotional Management – It refers the ability of an individual to self-regulate emotions and to regulate emotions in others. The person with a high level of this ability can harness positive or negative emotions and manage them in a way that facilities the completion of required tasks.
