The Wisdom in Feeling: Psychological Processes in Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence has emerged as an area of intense interest in both scientific and lay circles. Yet while much attention has been given to the measurement of an "EQ," little has been written about the psychological underpinnings of emotional intelligence. This book fills an important gap in the literature, linking the ideas embodied in the emotional intelligence concept to ongoing research and theoretical work in the field of affect science. Chapters by foremost investigators illuminate the basic processes by which people perceive and appraise emotion, use emotion to facilitate thought, understand and communicate emotion concepts, and manage their own and others' emotions. Incorporating many levels of analysis, from neuroscience to culture, the volume develops a broader scientific basis for the idea of emotional intelligence. It also raises stimulating new questions about the role of emotion in adaptive personal and social functioning.

Lisa Feldman Barrett, PhD, is University Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Director of the Interdisciplinary Affective Science Laboratory at Northeastern University, with research appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), and is a faculty member at the MGH Center for Law, Brain and Behavior. Dr. Barrett’s research focuses on the nature of emotion from both psychological and neuroscience perspectives, and incorporates insights from anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, and the history of psychology. She is the recipient of the William James Fellow Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health, among numerous other awards, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the APS. She was a founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Emotion Review and cofounder of the Society for Affective Science. Dr. Barrett has published more than 170 papers and book chapters.

Peter Salovey, PhD, is the Chris Argyris Professor of Psychology, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Yale University. He is also Director of the Department of Psychology's Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory and Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS. Dr. Salovey has published over 175 articles and has been an editorial board member of several journals. A recipient of the Presidential Young Investigator Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he has served on the NSF Social Psychology Advisory Panel. His recent work on emotion has focused on the ways in which feelings facilitate adaptive cognitive and behavioral functioning.