Emotional intelligence and change: a new approach through self directed learning and incorporation of imagined interactions

Emotional intelligence (EI) is very important for people's change and it can be developed through training. As a variety of different approaches have been proposed and the construct of EI seems to be at crossroads, a very crucial issue with regard to EI is also the lack of a certain methodology to facilitate the improvement of EI competencies. Research demonstrates that programs which report success in developing EI indicate that mindfully identifying behaviours to be changed in combination with opportunities to exercise new skills result in producing more lasting behavioural changes. The primary goals of this literature review based paper are to display the importance of self-directed learning in EI change process, to demonstrate that a methodology based on the incorporation of imagined interactions (IIs) assist EI competencies to be developed. Both of the above assist training on EI to be more efficacious. In this paper it is demonstrated that IIs relate directly to self-directed learning assisting EI change.