Understanding and controlling emotions, in oneself and in others, is a broad notion that includes a number of talents and abilities. Emotional intelligence (also known as EQ or Emotional Quotient), as defined by Mayer and Salovey is the adaptive identification, comprehension, control, and use of emotions to support cognitive function. It is defined as the capacity to use intellect to manage emotional life, preserve emotional balance, and correctly reveal feelings by use of abilities like empathy, self-control, self-motivation, and self-awareness. Emotional intelligence also includes the ability to recognize emotions, absorb feelings associated with emotions, comprehend emotional information, and successfully control emotions.

Emotional intelligence is completely separate from the intellectual intelligence known as IQ (Intelligent Quotient) and is not defined or affected by it. Someone with high IQ can have a low EQ score and someone with low IQ can have a high EQ score. Even though we are pretty much born with our IQ, we constantly develop our EQ with the available research to suggest that the development curve tends to become horizontal around the age of 45-50. It is difficult to increase the IQ, however, it is a very achievable goal to increase the EQ in a person.