Social and Emotional Intelligence: Applications for Developmental Education.

"In the spirit of collegiality, I request your help. I'm about to place an ad in the educational section of the local paper to recruit students for next semester. How shall I complete it? " So began my workshop al a recent faculty development seminar. We were a gathering of secondary school educators and faculty at the community college level.After collaboration, spokespersons for each group voiced their responses. In the "must" category, participants identified the following characteristics: motivated, dedicated, inquisitive, enthusiastic, team player, self-disciplined, open minded, honest, responsible, self-aware, focused, goal oriented, and skilled in applying learning strategies. Attributes of undesirable candidates included: lazy, apathetic, narrow minded, selfish, whining, belligerent, hostile, and tendency to "treat learning as a commodity. ""What qualities so often associated with academia are notably missing from these responses? " I asked the group. Interestingly, not one educator spoke of intelligence, information knowledge, or prior academic achievement. Certainly these qualities impact the efficacy of student success. However, this dialogue, which mirrors many others in which I have engaged, reflects the strength and import of the range of factors which generate a productive academic experience, and few have to do with intelligence quotas. Most fall within the arena now commonly known as emotional intelligence or EQ.Emotional intelligence refers to a construct of skills that focus on the ability to recognize emotions in one's self and others, attach meaning to these, and use that knowledge to reason and solve problems (Goleman, 1995; Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 1999). The integration of these skills is significant in shaping the quality of one's life experience (Blair, 2002); the college experience is no exception.Few would deny that components of traditional intelligence relate to learning potential. However, educators concur that a student's success or failure rests upon a myriad of factors, cognitive potential being only one. Although cognitive potential is important, even when IQs are equal, a varied range of performance and behaviors along a spectrum of grade point outcomes will still arise. As observers of the learning process, if we express our vision of the successful student in terms of behavior, personality style, and affect, then development in these areas certainly deserves our attention.The concept of emotional intelligence is not new. Beginning in the 1920s, researchers suggested that social intelligence, the ability to understand others and to act or behave wisely in relation to others, was an important component of intelligence in general (Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 2000). Since then, interest and study has highlighted the value of "nonintellective" intelligence. This includes Sternberg's identification of "practical intelligences," through which personal goals are accomplished by adapting to, changing, or even selecting a new environment (Sternberg & Caruso, 1985; Sternberg, 1997). Howard Gardner's (1983) intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences speak to self-knowledge of one's feelings, goals, and concomitant behaviors as well as insight and understanding of the behavior of others.In his popularized best seller, Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman (1995) reported that traditional IQ contributes, at best, about 20% to the factors that determine life success.The remaining 80% are garnered from "other factors," most of which fall under the umbrella of EQ. Indeed, Mayer, Caruso, and Salovey (1999) conclude that a general intelligence, including a component of emotional intelligence, may be a more powerful predictor of important life outcomes than intellectual intelligence alone.Like other components of traditional intelligence, emotional intelligence develops with age. Beyond other cognitive functions, however, EQ development occurs throughout adulthood (Mayer, et al. …