Embedding Emotional Intelligence into Military Training Contexts

Abstract

Even the most junior Warfighters must effectively interact and negotiate with locals from communities that do not share their religious beliefs, social perspectives or customs. These cultural differences introduce a layer of uncertainty into chaotic operational contexts that are marked by moments of intense stress, and often contribute to strong emotional responses such as anxiety or anger. Unchecked, these emotional responses can escalate and lead Warfighters to make judgments and decisions they might not otherwise make. In high stakes situations, even the slightest mistake may have tragic consequences; thus, a need exists to equip Warfighters with skills that allow them to recognize/regulate their emotions. Emotional Intelligence (EI) “is the ability to monitor one's own and other's feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions” [1]. Learning effective strategies to manage our emotions is critical for laying a strong foundation for the development of positive relationships [2,3]. Being able to effectively build positive relationships in diverse settings is a key attribute of cross cultural competence that may be improved through EI training. By practicing emotion recognition/regulation strategies, individuals will begin to replace ineffective decision-making with productive responses to challenging situations. In order to understand how emotions can influence decision making and social judgment, various moderating factors need to be considered, including cultural, group, and individual differences in emotional recognition/regulation [4]. We provide a brief overview of the operational need, define the basic tenets of EI, and describe how this approach could be implemented within an existing military training setting. We describe how emotion recognition and regulation skills would be exercised and evaluated and list potential benefits of using immersive training for skill development. Finally, we conclude with recommendations for future research and development in this area.