FOUNDATIONS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE IN 19TH-CENTURY PSYCHOLOGICAL THOUGHT

Abstract

This article explores the conceptual foundations of emotional intelligence within 19th-century psychological thought, emphasizing the contributions of Charles Darwin, Wilhelm Wundt, and William James (along with Carl Lange). Although the term “emotional intelligence” only appeared in the late 20th century, its theoretical roots reach back to early debates about the role of emotions in human cognition, adaptation, and behaviour. Ch. Darwin’s evolutionary approach reframed emotions as biologically rooted, universally expressed, and socially functional. W. Wundt introduced a structural and dynamic model of emotional states, offering a measurable, multidimensional framework for analyzing feelings within experimental psychology. W. James and C. Lange proposed a somatic basis for emotion, suggesting that emotional experience emerges from the perception of bodily changes, which laid the groundwork for modern understandings of interoception and self-awareness. Each of these thinkers contributed to re-evaluating emotions as essential and lawful components of consciousness – paving the way for contemporary models of emotional intelligence, such as those by John D. Mayer, Peter Salovey, and David R. Goleman. The article highlights how these 19th-century theories form the intellectual triad underpinning the modern understanding of emotional intelligence: social functionality, structural measurability, and embodied awareness. Reconnecting emotional intelligence to its historical roots allows for a deeper appreciation of its relevance across education, leadership, and mental health. It also demonstrates that emotional intelligence is not a recent invention, but a historically grounded construct emerging from a long-standing effort to reintegrate affect into the scientific understanding of the human mind.