The Wisdom in Feeling

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 Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Boston College. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Toronto and her PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Waterloo. Dr. Barrett's research focuses on the generation and representation of emotional experience, but she has also published papers in related areas, including the structure of affect, interpersonal relationships, experience sampling procedures, and, more generally, the role of retrospection in the self-report process.

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.