Toward a More Contextual, Psychological, and Dynamic Model of Emotional Intelligence

Researchers have undertaken many approaches to conceptualizing and assessing EI. Some approaches combine self-reported EI with broader personality constructs. Other approaches are based on so-called ability measures of EI, whether as tendencies people can self-report (Tett, Fox, & Wang, 2005) or as assessments developed to measure specific components of EI (e.g., Nowicki & Duke, 1994). We briefly survey the literature to arrive at a working understanding of what EI is currently thought to be (for more extensive reviews, see Mayer, Roberts, & Barsade, 2008; Zeidner, Matthews, Roberts, 2009).