It's Valentine's Day. Behind the heart shaped stickers, chocolates, and bouquets of roses lies the true reason today is celebrated: humans are emotional creatures. Now, we’re not just talking the mushy emotions that are commonly associated with Valentine's Day; we're talking about the higher level of emotional intelligence that humans possess. For example, humans are highly social creatures: we are receptive of one another's facial gestures and subliminal messages given through body language, and are one of the only species known to mourn the loss of a loved one. So whether you're a fan of Valentine's Day or not, you have to appreciate the role emotions play in every aspect of our day to day lives—including the way we learn. In fact, the role emotions play in learning is so great that we can actually use emotional intelligence to improve the performance, retention, and speed with which you, your students, or your employees learn.

The article "Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence" published in the Annual Review of Psychology states that individuals that receive positive emotional feedback are generally more confident, are perceived more positively by others, and can maintain intimate and close relationships with others. In turn, these individuals have better physiological well being and have better achievement academically and in the work environment. So, even though as a boss or teacher you cannot control home life, by creating a positive learning environment the performance of your learners can skyrocket.

So pass out those valentines and generate those positive feelings, if not for the sake of St. Valentine, do it for the sake of learning.