XI Международный конкурс научно-исследовательских и творческих работ учащихся
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Development of Emotional Intelligence in Teenagers
Автор работы награжден дипломом победителя II степени
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Introduction
“There's no such thing as emotion. It's only body chemistry in action.”
Toba Beta
What do we think when we hear the concept “Emotion”? Most of us think of hate, happiness or fear. This is the strongest feeling we experience throughout our life. In general, emotionality is associated with a range of psychological phenomena including temperament, personality, mood and motivation.
From ancient times to today psychologists and philosophers are trying to view the nature of emotions. For instance, Aristotle presumed that our emotions are a special way to explore the world. And he was the first who connected emotion and the conscious experience. But the most solid exploration of emotions was made by Charles Darwin. In 1872, Darwin published “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals”, in which he asserted that all humans and some other animals showed emotions through very similar behavior. The aims of our research work are: 1) to study the nature of emotions; 2) to explore the impact of emotions on teenagers’ lives; 3) to review the emotional intelligence.
The subject of our research work is the development of emotional intelligence in teenagers. We used empirical method of research (analysis of materials received from scientific journals and interviewing classmates) and theoretical methods of research (interpretation, comparison and compilation of information).
The relevance of our research is determined by the fact that Emotional Intelligence is a relatively new phenomenon.
What are emotions?
The word “emotion” was adapted from the middle French word 'émouvoir' in 1579, which means 'to stir up'. And it hasn't lost its meaning nowadays. Our strong feeling undoubtedly 'stir up' our souls and heart. Psychologists define emotion as a complex state feeling that results in physical and psychological changes that influence thought and behavior. In 1972 psychologist Paul Eckman suggested, that there are six basic emotions that are universal throughout human cultures: fear, disgust, anger, surprise, happiness, and sadness [1]. The purpose of this work is to explore the nature of emotions, so we need to focus on the main theories of the nature of emotions proposed by psychologists William James, Carl Lange and James-Lange who suggest that emotions occur as a result of physiological reactions to events.
According to this theory, we can observe an external stimulus that leads to a physiological reaction. Our emotional reaction is dependent upon how we interpret those physical reactions. For example, when we see a grizzly bear in a forest we begin to tremble. According to the James-Lange theory we interpret your physical reactions and conclude that you are frightened.
Unfortunately, parents can unintentionally force their children to hide their emotions. Moreover, adolescence is a period when teenagers tend to keep their feelings to themselves. Among teenagers “it is not cool” to uncover their emotions. However, there are still ways to develop teenagers’ Emotional Intelligence. Nowadays, school teachers are not just teachers, they are supposed to teach 21st-century skills that modern teenagers will need in the future to study, work and make a career, to build up relations with classmates and help them reveal themselves and understand others better.
The Cannon-Bard theory of emotions states that we feel emotions and experience physiological reactions such as sweating, trembling and muscle tension simultaneously. Thus, these two theories can be combined into a unified theory of emotions. Though, emotions are difficult to study because of the complexity, psychologists continue to explore them in labs.
What is the Emotional Intelligence?
The aim of our research work is to explore such psychological phenomenon as an Emotional Intelligence and its impact on teenagers. The concept of Emotional Intelligence (EI) has drawn a continuous attention in the scientific fields and has also become a topic of interest for researchers, physicians and academicians. The present study is an attempt to summarize the literature available on EI by exploring the evolution of the term EI and its necessity to develop.
In 1990 psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer published their landmark article where they for the first time introduced the concept «Emotional Intelligence» [2]. It was the very first definition of EN, but in 1997 they redefined it and stated EI as an ability to perceive, express and regulate emotion in self and others [3].
We consider Emotional Intelligence to be an ability to tap into your emotions and use them to make our life better. Being in touch with our feelings allows us to manage stress levels and communicate effectively with other people. The majority of psychologists suppose that teaching Emotional Intelligence to teenagers has proven its effectiveness.
We think when you are taught these skills you will get only benefits, such as more effective leadership skills, stronger friendships and connections to teachers, better conflict management skills, and greater academic achievement.
The Elements and Skills of Emotional Intelligence
Nowadays, emotional intelligence is considered to be more important than knowledge and skills. It is emotional intelligence that defines how successful and happy the teenager will be in the future. That is why it is vital not only to develop language skills but also to enhance the development of emotional intelligence in teenagers.
The psychologists highlight several elements of EI, which are:
self-awareness - (you are able to recognize own emotions ); motivation - the ability to continue doing something even in case of failure;self-regulation-you control your own emotions;empathy- the ability to understand other people’s emotions; adeptness – you are able to cooperate with other people taking into account their emotions.
It’s noteworthy that EI is an ability to distinguish other people’s emotions and control the person’s own ones. It is extremely important in the harmonious development of a person as far as we live in society.
Peter Salovey and John Mayer created the Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence. These are Perceiving Emotions, Facilitating Thought Using Emotions, Understanding Emotions, and Managing Emotions[see App.1]. In other words, perceiving emotions means to identify your and others’ emotions in faces and voices. Facilitating Thought Using E motions relates to analyzing emotional information. As for Understanding Emotions it’s an ability not only to understand, but also to predict someone’s emotions and to get strong emotional management skills. And Managing Emotions is the EI skill that relates to handling your own and others’ emotions effectively.
The Necessity of Emotional Intelligence Development
As adolescence is a very sensitive and critical period it’s very important to teach them how to develop their Emotional Intelligence Skills, be aware of emotions. Cope with emotions to succeed in many aspects of life.
Undoubtedly, it’s worth developing strategies to improve our relationships by growing our EI skills. There are some techniques that contribute to develop EI skills in teens. One should remember that EI skills are needed to be developed gradually and regularly. . Some of the following activities should be included in lessons and it will benefit young students:
Team-building warms up while working with teenagers
Discuss the emotions of other people, analyze them
Group and pair work contributes to cooperation
The use of learning projects will help not only summarize and apply acquired knowledge, but also help teenagers to cooperate.
Psychologists have developed some exercises that help develop EI skills:
Work on your self-awareness. Try to take a little time out regularly to think about your reactions to daily events.
Reframe your perceptions of self-management. Reframe the conflicts to build better team-work with your classmates.
Become aware of your emotional triggers. Try to manage our own emotions is to identify the triggers that actually set them off in the first place.
Recognize and celebrate your positive emotions. Experience is more positive emotions that will put you in a better position when negative things occur.
Conclusion
As a result of our research we found out that studying of EI skills is a very complicated process. Еmotions, Emotional Intelligence are still subjects of discussions of psychologists. EI allows a person to express your own feelings and emotions, control and rule not only your own emotions, but also emotions of other people. EI is a very important part of our successful public activity. The development of EI skills will allow teenagers to be stress-resistant, able to communicate with people without experiencing psychological problems, contribute to our professional relationships, interpersonal communications, and are even related to our ability to motivate ourselves.
Appendix 1
Bibliography
E. Eckman. Basic Emotions. Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. 2005, pp.45-60
Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition & Personality, 9 (3), 185-211
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In J.R. Sternburg (Ed.), Handbook of Intelligence (pp. 396-420). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press