Emotional Intelligence and Happiness

Abstract

Emotional intelligence refers to understanding and managing one's own and others’ emotions effectively. It is linked to a wide range of positive outcomes like higher academic achievement and better work performance. Furthermore, theory also suggests that emotionally intelligent individuals are most likely to experience a higher level of psychological Wellbeing. Thus, emotional intelligence has become an important topic of research worldwide in relation to various variables like personality, empathy, self-efficacy, interest, achievement, performance etc. The present study aimed at understanding the relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness as well as to find out the profession-wise differences in these variables. Since emotional intelligence and happiness are getting extremely important with reference to today's workplace contexts, in this study individuals from the Army, Teaching and Creative field were studied. Also, to get an increased and better understanding, a sample of college students was also included. A total of 88 participants were studied using The Assessing Emotions Scale (Schutte et al., 1998), Subjective Happiness Scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) and a structured open ended questionnaire prepared by the research. In the current time, where we are living in a global village, being sensitive towards ourselves as well as to our surroundings is a crucial need. Thus, this study provides various implications for enhancing emotional intelligence and happiness.