The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Competence

Emotional intelligence refers to a person’s ability to accurately understand and assess his or her feelings. It involves being acutely aware of how one responds to different situations as well as how other responds to one’s actions. It involves the desire/motivation to resist impulsive actions or utterances that may cause relational tensions or conflicts (such as anger-motivated verbal outbursts). Therefore, emotional intelligence constitutes people’s capacity for self-motivation, knowledge, and understanding of personal feelings. In addition, it includes the ability to regulate/manage one’s feelings in various social contexts. It also enables to recognize the emotions of others as well as the ability to handle interpersonal relationships.

Emotional competence is a learned skill that is rooted in one’s emotional intelligence. According to Larson & Brown, it is based on a person’s capacity to “learn and practice the skills pertaining to emotional intelligence, in relation to the attributes of self-awareness, motivation, self-regulation, empathy, and adeptness, all which are practices in the realm of our daily relationships.” It is the ability to show, express, or release one’s inner emotions/feelings. Accordingly, emotional competence pertains to the way individuals handle or respond to emotions. This involves expressing one’s feelings appropriately in different social situations. In addition, social competence involves recognizing, interpreting, and responding to personal and other people’s emotions constructively.

The two concepts of intelligence are related in terms of their interdependence. Possession of emotional intelligence is a necessary condition for emotional competence to develop (Larson & Brown, 2007). On its part, emotional competence displays an individual’s knowledge of emotional intelligence (Santrock, 2009). However, they differ in the sense that whereas emotional intelligence cannot be expressed through behavior, emotional competence is reflected in one’s actions.

Self-awareness is one of the attributes that are common to both emotional intelligence and emotional competence. In emotional intelligence, self-awareness refers to people’s knowledge and understanding of the kind of intelligence they are endowed with. In emotional competence, self-awareness refers to people’s knowledge of their strengths and weaknesses in performing different tasks.

Development affects self-awareness by increasing it as one grows. This is because self-awareness and emotional stability improve with one’s cognitive, social, and physical development.

About the author: Alice Grey is a bachelor in English philology and sociology at California University. She is currently working as one of the best writers at the professional memo writers She also studies feminine psychology.