Emotional Intelligence: Stress Inducer or Stress Eliminator?
Are you a compassionate person? Are you empathetic? Can you manage your emotions in a healthy way? What if I told you that these humanistic qualities could be beneficial to your mental health? Okay, I guess that’s kind of a given, but what if I told you that these qualities could lower your body’s response to stress? That’s a game changer, huh? So what is emotional intelligence? According to Melissa Burnett & Charles Pettijohn, (2015), emotional intelligence can be defined as: “the ability to recognize and regulate one’s own feelings and emotions, to be aware of others’ feelings, to differentiate between them, and to use this information as a basis for one’s own thinking and actions, “ (p. 147). Okay so, emotional intelligence is being “in touch” with your emotions, recognizing them, and being sensitive to other’s emotions, so what? How can positive thinking and emotions change the stress response? Well, according to a study of four hundred and twenty-one undergraduate students, (the location was not given), students who were nonadaptive perfectionists each carried the same performance expectations, as the adapted perfectionists, however, the maladaptive perfectionists carried higher levels of stress, (Richardson, et. al, p. 115). To clarify, a maladaptive perfectionist is an individual who carries high expectations for themselves. Maladaptive perfectionists also care excessively about their performance. Adaptive perfectionists have high expectations for themselves, but they do not feel as much anxiety about how they will preform. The authors also found, that when maladaptive perfectionists are compared to adapted perfectionists, maladaptive perfectionists scored higher in the following experiment categories: suppression, suppressing showing emotion, anxiety, and discrepancy, feeling that they don’t live up to standards, (p.115-116). This finding is huge. If a person is a high- achiever they can still carry high personal expectations, but they do not have to suffer from doubt, anxiety, and shame. An adaptive perfectionist, who carries a positive mindset, actually responds to stress in a healthy way. Adaptive perfectionists are case studies in how positive thinking and irrational emotion regulation translates into a blunted stress response.
In 2015, Burnett found that those who experience higher levels of emotional intelligence also reported lower stress levels, (p. 155). Also according to this study performed at a healthcare facility in the Mid-West, employees who engaged in ten minutes of Mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy for five days, did not change their perceived level of stress after the five days, ( p. 154). Interestingly, Burnett also found that the employees in this experiment group actually reported a score .4 higher than their baseline stress perception levels, (p. 154). The author speculates that the psychology between employee and manager relationship might have played a role in the heightened score, but the exact cause cannot be determined.
Although this finding is exciting, another study contradicts the positive influential nature of emotional intelligence. In a study of 144 undergraduate students in America, (location not given), higher levels of emotional intelligence was related to lower self-reported levels of life satisfaction (Holinka, 2015, p. 306).
Okay, so one source says that emotional intelligence is a good thing, and the other doesn’t exactly promote it, so what should I believe? As the reader, I am leaving that part up to you. I am hoping that if emotional intelligence is interesting to you, that you will further research this issue and it’s effects on stress. I am leaving you with this vague parting, but I will not leave you with complete hopelessness for emotional intelligence. An important fact that needs to be remembered, is that emotional intelligence is comprised of a set of psychological and social skills. By this, I mean that emotional intelligence is a set of skills that can be learned. What is extremely interesting, is that those with already high levels of emotional intelligence, can always improve their empathetic and compassion skills with themselves and others. We can all choose not to yell at our co-workers when we are frustrated, we can all listen to that friend talk about her latest break-up when you’d be happy with a single date, and lastly, we can all cultivate optimistic and positive outlooks in ourselves and others. Stress affects the body just as much as it affects the mind. If we are able to cultivate compassion, empathy, and emotional understanding, and regulation, we will be able to change how our body physiologically responds to stress. I wish that more research would be conducted on emotional intelligence and it’s impact on stress.
Burnett, M., Pettijohn, C., 2015. Investigating the efficacy of mind-body therapies and emotional intelligence on worker stress in an organizational setting: an experimental approach. The Journal Of Organizational Culture, Communications and Conflict, 19, 146-158.
Holinka, C., 2015. Stress, emotional intelligence, and life satisfaction in college students. The College Student Journal, 49, 300-311.
Richardson, C., M.,E., Rice, K., G., Devine, D., P., 2014. Perfectionism, emotion regulation, and the cortisol stress response. The Journal of Counseling Psychology, 6, 110-118.
