Emotional Intelligence

This project was completed throughout the modules of this course. The goal of this project was to produce a personality theory application paper, where we apply our understanding of different theories of personality to a subject. In this case, I decided to select myself as my subject, as I felt applying psychological theory to myself would better help me understand the topics.

As I have learned throughout the course, understanding an individual's personality is greatly beneficial to empathizing and interacting with that individual. Personality and emotional intelligence are complementary subjects, each improving the other to make us more effective communicators, leaders, and helpers. Understanding how the trait theory of personality and cognitive theory of personality, for example, differ, and what their respective limitations are to understanding personality, better enables me to understand the emotions of myself and others.

This project involved selecting a goal, and applying knowledge of coping strategies, personality traits, and degree of "grit" to demonstrate these concept's impact on goal attainment. Earlier in the course, we completed self-assessments that informed us of how effectively we use proactive coping strategies, our Big Five personality trait measurements, and how "gritty" we see ourselves compared to others.

Goal-setting is a vital tool for academic and professional success, and understanding how our personalities and coping strategies impact the attainment of those goals is equally critical. My goal in this project was to complete the remainder of my B.A. in Psychology within two years, and it was interesting to consider how academic stresses can be managed through different  methods of coping - of both the healthy and unhealthy varieties. My high conscientiousness is also an extra tool in my toolbox.