Leadership and Emotional Intelligence

are willing to devote a portion of their energies to the process of becoming intelligent” (p.
55).
This study takes a constructivist epistemological perspective. Constructivism is
“where the interactive power of action and learning is realized through mental framing
and its relevance to a particular context” (Yeo & Gold, 2012, p. 512). Constructivist
approaches to emotion in learning challenge the paradigm of reason and scientific-based
approaches to learning (Dirkx, 2008). These constructivist approaches are manifested in
learning oriented towards the participant, environment and action (Dirkx, 2008; Merriam
et al., 2007; Nesbit, 2012). The construction of knowledge is at the individual and social
levels of analyses (Merriam et al., 2007).
Attention now turns to two adult leadership theories in particular and which are
theoretically aligned with a constructivist lens: experiential learning and situated learning
(Merriam et al., 2007). To frame this discussion, Figure 2.8 illustrates the anchoring
theorists.