Emotional Intelligence and Creativity

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue seeks contributions which focus on the nexus or influences of the broad concepts of emotional intelligence and creativity. Both topics, of great interest among researchers and policymakers, have their origins in the beginning of the past century and are still evolving today.

The origins of EI can be traced to the beginning of the 20^th century when researchers agreed that besides cognitive processes, there were non-cognitive factors that had an important influence on adaptation and life success. Petrides and Furnham (2001) posited that the EI genesis could be found in the work of Gardner (1983) and finally evolved with the work of Mayer and Salovey in 1990 and 1997. Authors agree on the importance of emotional intelligence within an educational setting (Brackett et al., 2009; Elias and Arnold, 2006; Fernández-Berrocal and Ruiz Aranda, 2018; Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development, 2020; Qualter et al., 2017), although the concept of EI remains unclear for some educational actors as the concept of EI evolves itself. Some contemporary authors continue to work with the concept of EI (Extremera and Fernandez-Berrocal, 2003) and others prefer to propose new terms such as emotional competency (Mikolajczak, Quoidbach, Kotsu, and Nelis, 2014) or socio-emotional learning (Durlak, Weissberg, Dymnicki, Taylor, and Schellinger, 2011; Lantieri, 2009) to define this construct focused on the development of skills and traits related to interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships.

Regarding creativity, it can be understood as the capacity to generate novel, original and valuable work adapted to a context, task or constraint (e.g. Lubart, Mouchiroud, Tordjman, and Zenasni, 2015).  According to Runco and Jaeger (2012), originality and usefulness were the first basic concepts analyzed in the study of creativity at the beginning of the 20^th century, establishing a standard definition of creativity. Nevertheless, the definition of creativity depends on the approaches we decide to choose, and still today we have several perspectives in order to understand or define what we call creativity (Glaveanu et al., 2019). 

At a theoretical level, original authors of the emotional intelligence conception (Salovey and Mayer, 1990) assumed that EI helps individuals to have clear thoughts that support the processes of intuition and insight, which in turn favors creative thinking. Since then, different studies have been conducted showing significant but relatively complex relationships between emotional intelligence and creativity. Early studies from Ivcevic and colleagues (2007) and Zenasni and Lubart (2008) showed that the EI/creativity link may depend on the nature of the creativity scoring examined (fluency or originality or consensual assessment scoring) and for example the nature of the EI task used (self-report versus cognitive task). The following research reveals this complexity. In this line, meta-analysis from Xiaobo Xu and colleagues (2021) confirm the moderate relationships but also confirm the existence of moderating variables such as the type of EI/creativity measure.

Thus, even if empirical evidence exists, it is not enough to explain all the diversity and complexity of the EI/creativity relationships. Moreover, there is no clear theoretical modelisation that clearly sustains a full view of the articulation between emotional intelligence and creativity. Finally, we should observe that most of the data refers to EI/creativity in adults and that very few studies examine these in children, especially considering the educational context. The few studies that attempt to make this link focus on emotions or affect in play and creative thinking (Russ and Kaugars, 2001), or mood and creative thinking (Celume, Besançon, and Zenasni, 2019; Teske et al., 2017).

In this line, we would like to propose a Special Issue that gathers original studies, reviews, and theoretical papers that would ideally combine both main concepts (creativity and emotional intelligence) or related conceptions (e.g. emotional creativity, socioemotional skills, etc.). With this broad scope, we are looking for submissions that address one or more (but not only) of the following topics:

• The development of both creativity and emotional intelligence through training or programs in adults or children (please specify population of study in your submission);
• Combined evaluation of both creativity and emotional intelligence/emotional competence (measurement tools or methods);
• Influences of emotional intelligence on creativity or vice versa;
• Theoretical links between creativity and emotional intelligence.

If your paper does not address any of the previously proposed categories, but you believe it is aligned with the main concepts we propose in this Special Issue, please feel free to submit your manuscript.

References

Brackett, M., Patti, Stern, Rivers, Elbertson, Chisholm, & Salovey, P. (2009). A sustainable, skill-based model to building emotionally literate schools. In & J. B. T. R. Thompson, M. Hughes (Ed.), Handbook of developing emotional and social intelligence: Best practices, case studies, and tools (pp. 329–358). New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Celume, M.-P., Besançon, M., & Zenasni, F. (2019). How a dialogic space can impact children’s creativity and mood valence in Drama Pedagogy Training: Study with a French 4th grade sample. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 33, 100576. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2019.100576

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x

Elias, M. J., & Arnold, H. (2006). The Connection Between Academic and Social-Emotional Learning. In Maurice J. Elias & Hariett Arnold (Eds.), The Educator’s Guide to Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.

Extremera, N., & Fernandez-Berrocal, P. (2003). La Inteligencia Emocional En El Contexto Educativo: Hallazgos Científicos De Sus Efectos En El Aula. Revista de Educación, 332, 97–116.

Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Ruiz Aranda, D. (2018). La Inteligencia emocional en la Educación. Electronic Journal of Research in Education Psychology. https://doi.org/10.25115/ejrep.v6i15.1289

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Basic). New York: Basic Books.

Glaveanu, V. P., Hanchett Hanson, M., Baer, J., Barbot, B., Clapp, E. P., Corazza, G. E., … Sternberg, R. J. (2019). Advancing Creativity Theory and Research: A Socio‐cultural Manifesto. The Journal of Creative Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.395

Ivcevic, Z., Brackett, M., & Mayer, J. (2007). Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Creativity. Journal of Personality, 75(5), 199–236. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2007.00437.x

Lantieri, L. (2009). Cultivating Emotional Intelligence through Social and Emotional Learning: Why It Matters.

Lubart, T., Mouchiroud, C., Tordjman, S., & Zenasni, F. (2015). Psychologie de la créativité (2nd ed.). Paris: Colin.

Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. (2020). RETHINKING LEARNING: A Review of Social and Emotional Learning for Education Systems. (N. Chatterjee Singh & A. Duraiappah, Eds.). New Delhi: UNESCO MGIEP.

Mayer, J., & Salovey, P. (1997). What is Emotional Intelligence? In P. Salovey & D. J. Sluyter (Eds.), Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence (Basic, pp. 3–31). New York: Harper Collins. https://doi.org/10.1177/1066480710387486

Mikolajczak, M., Quoidbach, Kotsu, &, & Nelis. (2014). Les Compétences Émotionnelles (2nd ed.). Paris: Dunod.

Petrides, K. V, & Furnham, A. (2001). Trait emotional intelligence: psychometric investigation with reference to established trait taxonomies. European Journal of Personality, 15(6), 425–448. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.416

Qualter, P., Davis, S. K., Keefer, K. V., Parker, J. D. A., Saklofske, D. H., Wigelsworth, M., … Stough, C. (2017). Emotional competency in education: core concepts and applications. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 12, 51–71.

Runco, M. A., & Jaeger, G. J. (2012). The Standard Definition of Creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 24(1), 92–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/10400419.2012.650092

Russ, S. W., & Kaugars, A. S. (2001). Emotion in children’s play and creative problem solving. Creativity Research Journal, 13(2), 211–219. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15326934crj1302_8

Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9(3), 185–211. https://doi.org/10.2190/DUGG-P24E-52WK-6CDG

Teske, J., Clausen, C. K., Gray, P., Smith, L. L., Al Subia, S., Rod Szabo, M., … Rule, A. C. (2017). Creativity of third graders’ leadership cartoons: Comparison of mood-enhanced to neutral conditions. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 23, 217–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2017.02.003

Xu, X., Pang, W., & Xia, M. (2021). Are emotionally intelligent people happier? A meta-analysis of the relationship between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being using Chinese samples. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 24(4), 477–498. https://doi.org/10.1111/AJSP.12445

Zenasni, F., & Lubart, T. (2008). Emotion-related traits moderate the impact of emotional state on creative performances. Journal of Individual Differences, 29(3), 157–167.

Prof. Dr. Franck Zenasni
Dr. Macarena-Paz Celume
Guest Editors

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• emotional intelligence
• creativity
• social and emotional competence
• emotional skills
• creative thinking
• creative process