Emotional Intelligence Cote & Hideg's Article Critique

Early studies have shown that people are able to actually infer another's disposition (particularly dominance and affiliation) (Cote & Hideg 2010) just by displays of emotion.

All else equal people who display anger or disgust are perceived to be high in dominance and low in affiliation, those who display happiness are thought to be high on both traits, and those who display fear or sadness are believed to be low on both traits. In the domain of conflict management, negotiators who display happiness are believed to be satisfied with the current state of affairs (Cote & Hideg 2010).

Weaknesses: The article claims that research has suggested that people are especially attuned to identify information about emotions in their environments -- probably because these cues have evolutionary significance (Cote & Hideg 2010). However, the article does not go into great detail about why people are more likely to identify information in their own environment. This seems like an important element of EI when it comes to an organization setting and the researchers could have explained this a bit better and why they believe it to be the case.

Implications for Theory: Cote and Hideg (2010) do an apt job at illustrating how having the ability to influence others with emotion displays may help demonstrate competence in organizations: "affective reactions and strategic inferences" (2010). Their argument is sound and it is quite simply a branch of EI, which is already a well-researched topic. EI has already illustrated that it can influence other individuals' behaviors and so putting it in context of the organizational setting makes sense. The article is intended to be read by both researchers in the field of EI as well as those in leadership positions in organizations. Leaders of organizations could learn a lot about how to help motivate and influence their subordinates so as to get a higher level of productivity and loyalty for their organization.

Conclusion: The topic of EI is fascinating. The idea that people may have the power to influence others with their emotions is something that many leaders in organizations could harness and use to their advantage. Some people may have a greater ability to use EI than others, but there is still a good amount of disagreement as to whether people are born with EI or it is something that they develop and strengthen throughout their lives. Either way, the ability to influence others with one's emotions is something that does seem to be an ability that has been passed down through generations and generations of humans because we are, as humans, so in tune to the facial expressions and vocal tone, etc., of others. Being able to recognize what kinds of expressions and tones leads people to respond and then honing those skills could offer much potential power for some individuals.

References:

Cote, S. & Hideg, I. (2010). "The ability to influence others via emotional displays: a new dimensions of emotional intelligence." Organizational psychology review. Sage Publications.…