We have all had experiences with people that prove that those with the highest IQs are not always the most successful. For example, you may have encountered the technology wizard who’s never been promoted because he isn’t a team player. Or the tenured professor who has no idea why her grown children avoid her. Or the award-winning designer whose temper has caused him lost clients and financial ruin. These are all exceptionally bright individuals with recognized talent in their fields. And yet each has failed to reach his or her own career, personal, or financial goals.

What are these very intelligent people missing?

Chances are, what’s missing is emotional intelligence—the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions in ourselves and others. Sounds very powerful, doesn’t it? Can we really manage our own emotions, as opposed to having our emotions run the show? Could we really effect change in the emotions of our coworkers or family members?

The answer to all these questions is a resounding “yes.” Emotional intelligence (or EQ) is a measurement bolstered by a powerful set of skills we can use to improve our quality of life and better meet our goals. As Professor Jason M. Satterfield of the University of California, San Francisco, explains in the 24 informative half-hour lectures of Boosting Your Emotional Intelligence, EQ is an invaluable ability that can be learned, practiced, and used with positive results.

Although emotions have been discussed and debated for millennia, emotional intelligence as a field of inquiry is relatively new, with the term itself first appearing in psychology literature less than thirty-five years ago. In this engaging course, Dr. Satterfield explores:

Historic philosophical and scientific understandings of emotion

The current definition of emotions and the purposes they serve in our lives

Whether or not any given emotion is inherently “good” or “bad”

The cultural context of emotions

The major models of emotional intelligence, their strengths and potential weaknesses, and which parts of each model we might best use to understand our own emotions

The most common ways EQ is measured and the reliability and validity of each methodology

The relationship between emotional intelligence and social intelligence

The newest technological tools intended to increase EQ.

Whether or not you understand your emotions and their resultant behaviors, they leave their impacts like footprints all over the situations and people with whom you interact throughout your life. If your emotions are constantly running wild and you are hypersensitive to every personal interaction, coworkers might try to avoid your predictable high-energy chaos. If your emotions are shut down tight and rarely see the light of day, friends and partners might eventually stop trying to connect with you on the most personal and intimate levels. You might not be aware of what’s happening in those relationships and what’s causing people to back away from you—but you are impacted by their behavioral choices nevertheless.

In addition, your emotions impact your own cognition, decision-making, and physical body every day. Have you ever been nervous before an academic test or performance review and felt “butterflies” in your stomach? Have you ever felt so surprised or fearful that you “couldn’t think straight?” Or so happy that your physical pain seemed to lessen? In this course, Dr. Satterfield explains the many complex interactions and feedback loops between our emotions, physical body, and cognition.