Antecedents and consequences of emotional arousal, and individual differences in emotional intelligence
Peter Salovey's research program on mood and emotion is focused on the psychological consequences of feeling states. The goal is to specify the processes by which affect influences thought and action. He views emotions as organizing processes that enable individuals to think and behave adaptively. This perspective can be contrasted with a more traditional one that sees affect as a disorganized interruption of mental activity that must be minimized or controlled. The consequences of the arousal of moods and emotions has been investigated in several different domains including (a) cognitive activities such as autobiographical memory, reasoning, and problem-solving, (b) perception and recall of physical symptoms and the development of health beliefs, (c) interpersonal behavior and close relationships, and (d) complex social emotions such as jealousy and envy. A theoretical framework called Emotional Intelligence unifies these different research thrusts. This perspective emphasizes the strategies that people learn in order to appraise and express their emotions accurately, understand the feelings of other people, regulate their emotions and the feelings of other people, and use emotions to motivate, plan, and achieve in life. This set of skills predicts important outcomes relevant to work, education, and relationships.
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Biography
Salovey was the 23rd president of Yale University and is a Sterling Professor of Psychology. After receiving an AB (psychology) and AM (sociology) from Stanford University in 1980, he earned his doctorate in psychology at Yale in 1986, focusing on clinical, social, and health psychology. Salovey served as Yale’s provost, dean of Yale College, dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and chair of the Department of Psychology. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine in 2013. His most important hobby is bluegrass music.