EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Written by: Stefanny Alarcón English X Group: 13

On Daniel Goleman’s production Dr. John Kabbat Zinn stated: “Impressive in its

scope and depth, staggering in its implications, emotional intelligence gives us an

entirely new way of looking at the causes of many of the ills of our families and our

society”. Emotional intelligence is a controversial subject that has been studied by

many different authors and psychologists, because of the findings some have

come to the conclusion that this kind of intelligence plays a bigger role than we

knew in past times. It has been argued that emotional intelligence has several

implications not only in the field of education and psychology, but also in day-to-

day life. And, to talk about this intelligence we need to know the basic concept of

what it is, as well as what it consists of.

The Cambridge Business English Dictionary defines emotional intelligence as,

“The ability to understand and control your own feelings, and to understand the

feelings of others and react to them in a suitable way.” First of all, the term

“emotional intelligence” first appeared in 1964 by Michael Beldoch, a psychologist

at Cornell University. After that, the inaugural model for emotional intelligence was

elaborated by Peter Salovey (now president of Yale University) and John Mayer (a

psychologist at the University of New Hampshire) and in 1990. This model defines

emotional intelligence as a combination of abilities to identify, understand, express,

 and use emotion to facilitate thinking, emotional knowledge, regulating and

learning from emotions. However, the concept of emotional intelligence gained

popularity in 1995 by the psychologist and author Daniel Goleman. He refers to

emotional intelligence as how well we handle ourselves and our relationships, and that

there are four domains: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and

relationship management, each of which is made up of a total of 12 competencies.

Each domain helps in a different life aspect and has a specific function that is

important to be aware of so that we can have a better emotional development as

human beings.

In his book titled “Emotional Intelligence”, Goleman provides an impressive extent of

treatment in chapters 1, 3, and 11. He gives many different real life examples, the goal

of these examples is to show the true power of emotions, and how they affect and

influence mankind behavior in ways no one could believe. From sacrificing oneself in

order to save a loved one, as the case of Gary and Mary Jane Chauncey, a couple

who decided to sacrifice themselves so that their 9-year-old daughter Andrea could

survive a car accident. In addition, we have cases in which people suffering from

certain diseases witness the great power of emotions, an example of these was the

breast cancer test, a project aimed to observe the results of sharing emotions and

unburdening the heart in patients with terminally sickness. On the other hand, we can

see the results of losing control of one’s own actions to the point of committing

despicable crimes a person never thought about during their entire life, this was the
 case of Jason H. a star student at high school in Florida who stabbed his physics

teacher, all of this just because the teacher gave him an 80 on a quiz. I believe

Goleman shows these examples to support his theory and his ideas on emotional

intelligence, by providing these in-depth cases he then continues explaining the

psychology behind these acts and the relation there is between emotions, actions, and

results. In this way, we can witness the extensive and detailed research the author

carried out as we go further in this title.

Not only is impressive the scope and depth within this work, but the implications it

demonstrates are simply astonishing. In chapter 1, the author teaches us how

passions are able to surpass reasoning. This is exemplified with the tragic case of the

Crabtree family, in which a father accidentally assassinated his daughter because of a

insignificant confusion. Here we learned how “fear mobilizes us to protect our family

from danger”. Besides, we receive a lesson on how each emotion prepares the body

for a very different kind of response, the main emotions discussed here were anger,

fear, happiness, love, surprise, disgust, and sadness. These biological responses are

related to our life experience and our culture. This means that the human brain has

suffered a series of changes while evolving. Over millions of years of evolution, the

brain has grown and developed in order to process memories, coordinate movement,

and comprehend what is sensed. This is an important factor to take into account,

because if we know how our body changes, if we know the chemicals released and

reactions of our body, then we will be able to have a better handling of responses, and
know how to act when we feel a specific emotion. Being aware of one's condition and

current situation is an incredibly powerful tool in our daily life, especially in this social

world we inhabit.

Furthermore, in chapter 3 we acquire knowledge about the correlation between

emotional intelligence and success. Academic intelligence may be helpful in life, but it

does not offer any preparation for the chaos, or opportunities, life brings. A high IQ is

no guarantee of success, prosperity, prestige, or happiness. And of course, emotional

life is a domain we can learn to master or not, it requires a unique set of abilities which

people may handle with greater or lesser skill. It is just a different kind of intelligence.

Even Gardner (1983) stated that there was not just one, monolithic kind of intelligence

that was crucial for life success, but rather a wide spectrum of intelligences, with

seven key varieties. The most important word in this view of intelligences is “multiple”.

This viewpoint of multiple intelligences aims to offer a wider image of a learner's

abilities and potential for succeeding than the standard IQ. This is a concept every

teacher should embrace for having a better development inside the classroom and in

order to help students reach their real potential no matter what the subject is. By

ignoring this approach teachers around the world would only affect their students'

learning process, they would hinder students' real abilities and capacity to progress

and learn effectively. And that is the cause of students' lack of motivation, poor

development inside and outside the classroom, and impossible intelligence standards

learners fail to reach.

 Also, in chapter 11 we encounter many reforms for our current health-care system.

Here, we face a new approach on medicine, it is a more humanistic approach in which

health-care is not seen as a source of money or a type business, but rather a caring

system that is aware of people's emotional needs and tries to fulfill these

requirements. The implications of these changes are visible in many cases along the

chapter. It is a matter of fact that we need to understand how emotions affect our

health in either a positive or negative way. The author suggests a variety of changes

including strategies to help patients release their inner pain, restructuration of medical

facilities so that families can stay with their loved ones at hospitals, helping patients

better manage their upsetting feelings as a form of disease preventions, among

others. Medical ethics may demand such an approach nowadays. Now it is the time

for medicine to choose a more methodical advantage of the link between emotion and

health.

After analyze the implications and findings of Goleman's work, I am completely agreed

with the statement that psychology must challenge the fixed paradigm and give

equal time to the intelligence of emotions. This fixed paradigm does not provide a

proper space for the development of emotional intelligence and neglects its

effectiveness not only in the learning context, but also in the fields of medicine and

personal growth.
To conclude, I consider that Goleman has succeeded at creating a real awareness

in us about the importance of being emotionally intelligent. Now we know that we

are more than just good grades or a high level of IQ, we must take a look at our

feelings and the way we are managing them. The key for success in life is strongly

related to that. Our emotions can be beneficial but if we let them to take control

over us, the failure is our final stop. A failure that will touch every aspect of our life:

professional, personal and health aspect; causing severe damage in each of them.

So, I recommend people to read this book since it helps a lot to understand the

importance of emotional intelligence and its implications in real life. In a few words,

not only reading, but analyzing this book makes a significant change in our lives.

REFERENCES

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New

York: Bantam Books.