Emotions have only a limited value in aviation. Logic and pragmatism rule the day. I’m a retired FAA Center Controller with previous military experience and a commercial, IFR, instructor rated pilot. We were always ‘advised’ wink to make control decisions, as much as possible, without no reliance on emotions. Emotions are not your friend when quick, logical, no b.s. decisions need to be made. The same applies in the cockpit. Emotional Intelligence also means knowing when NOT to be emotional.
peter vause. well spoken.
Ouch!
U.S. pilot’s EI motto: First you solve the problem then you sh*t in your pants.
How about stating simply “academia” rather than “liberal academia” (said a Visitor at The Hoover Institution), please.
[All squares are comprised of rectangles (interior right angles of 90 degrees); not all rectangles are squares.] Differentiations have no political dog in the fight nor any liberal or conservative horse in the race.
Pilots do not like to score low on a test. So my curiosity is piqued. I’ve never heard of Emotional Intelligence and I wonder what it has to do with flying airplanes but maybe it is something worth looking into. I’m glad AVWEB brought it up. Knowledge is a good thing.
My wife has been telling me this for years. No study needed.
I can tell you that the response you’ve given already demonstrates that you have more of it than various other commenters here.
I bet if they tested for financial intelligence, we pilots would score pretty low on that one, too.
joseph f c.: One is never too old to learn. I could not sleep so…
The association between emotional intelligence and decision making for pilots
Keywords:
Aviation Safety, Crew Resource Management, CRM, Decision Making, Emotional Intelligence, Flight Crew, HRM, Human Factors, Human Resource Management
Abstract
Emotional Intelligence (EI) refers to the regulation, perception, and management of self and others’ emotions. EI has been used to gain insight into decision making in corporate Human Resource Management (HRM) contexts, as well as in stressful situations. The potential link between EI and decision making in HRM could have great benefit to training and management in high-consequence and safety-critical industries. This research investigated the association between EI and decision making of pilots in the aviation industry. The aim was to uncover the level of association between EI dimensions and decision making for pilots; as well as to understand the role that pilots perceive EI dimensions play in their decision making in safety-critical scenarios. One hundred and seventeen pilots completed an online survey comprised of the Wong-Law EI Scale, decision making scenarios, and open-ended questions. The mixed-method analysis of the survey data showed a correlation between individual EI dimensions and decision-making scenarios, rather than the total scores. There are potential implications for general HRM research in EI and decision making as well as practical implications for the aviation industry. Overall, it was found that there is a link between EI and decision making, specifically for scenarios that involve other cognitive functions.
Christine Beling
Graham Wild
Chris, that was my thought exactly! I have seen far too many ignorant rants on this forum, which should be reserved for pilot talk.
No one is this thread has noticed the very clear disclaimer in the article ‘high scores are not necessarily considered adaptive’ in these tests and the interpretation that a lower emotional intelligence score means that pilots rely less on, and are less confident in, emotions when making decisions. In fact, the article pointed out a major strength of those who self-select to become pilots, and thus enter an environment governed by the laws of physics.
BTW, the 93% male composition of the study population accurately reflects the percentage of the pilot population who are male. A statistic that has not changed since 1929.
Emotional response in an aircraft is dangerous. Fear kills.
Fear triggers the fight or flight response and it does effect your ability to respond physically. Your body functions change. There is a loss of blood and oxygen flow to the non essential fight or flight organs like stomach, kidneys. Some peoples bladder empties so they can flee. The eyes are effected. Your eyes loose focus on things the mind doesn’t believe are a danger. So you can only focus on the thing you believe is the threat.
This is why training so so important. Pilots are taught to understand the aircrafts systems so when something does go wrong, they can work the problem without fear causing them to loose the ability to see everything happening and respond.
It is believed now that pilots not experiencing full stalls and spins is creating pilots that fear them. A stall or spin isn’t something to fear, it should be understood. This way you will avoid it, and if by some weird chance you do believe there is a stall or spin you will react properly.