Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to perceive, understand, manage one’s own emotions and those of others, and use this information effectively in social relationships. Experts like Daniel Goleman, who popularized emotional intelligence, have explained it with five core components. Here are the details:
1. Self-Awareness
- The ability to recognize one’s own emotions and understand how they affect thoughts and behaviors.
- Example: Noticing you’re angry and thinking, “I’m upset right now, I need to calm down.”
- Why is it hard for AI? A machine can analyze data to say “you’re angry,” but it cannot internally feel or make sense of that emotion.
2. Self-Regulation
- Controlling emotions, avoiding impulsive reactions, and behaving appropriately for the situation.
- Example: Staying calm and suggesting a constructive solution instead of yelling in an argument.
- AI difference: Artificial intelligence acts based on programmed rules but doesn’t experience an internal struggle like suppressing anger, because it has no emotions.
3. Motivation
- Directing oneself toward goals with inner drive and not giving up in the face of challenges.
- Example: Continuing to work on a project despite failure, saying, “This matters to me, I’ll keep going.”
- AI limit: AI can optimize a task but lacks personal passion or a search for meaning like humans have.
4. Empathy
- Understanding others’ emotions and seeing things from their perspective.
- Example: Noticing a friend is sad and asking, “How do you feel, how can I help?”
- Why can’t AI do it? AI can predict emotions from facial expressions or words but doesn’t “feel” them. Empathy feeds on lived experiences.
5. Social Skills
- The ability to manage relationships, communicate effectively, and resolve conflicts.
- Example: Bringing together different personalities in a team and guiding them toward a common goal.
- AI challenge: Artificial intelligence can chat or make suggestions but struggles to grasp the subtle nuances of human relationships (e.g., sensing someone’s hurt from their tone of voice).
Key Difference Between Humans and AI
Emotional intelligence requires not just logical analysis but also subjective experience and consciousness. Artificial intelligence can mimic emotional data (e.g., a chatbot saying “I’m sorry”), but it doesn’t truly feel it. The human brain is shaped from childhood through emotional learning processes—traumas, joys, and relationships. AI, on the other hand, is just code and data, unable to replicate this depth for now.
