Emotional Intelligence

Erika Carbal.,

English X, group 14

“Emotional intelligence is important to achieve success in life. Also, it gives an

overlooking at solving-problems in family and society life” are ones of the ideas that

Daniel Goleman [CITATION Gol95 \n \t \l 9226 ] transmits in his book: Emotional

Intelligence. To Goleman [CITATION Gol95 \n \t \l 9226 ] emotional intelligence is as

important as intellect one, since the success of a person does not only depend on

academic studies, but also on emotions. He expresses that the power of controlling

emotions has a great impact in self and others’ attitude. He insists that we were not

born with this intelligence; however, we can create, feed and strengthen it through

knowledge. 

Emotions have always been presented in people’s life. Since the beginning of times,

they were carried out by roots such as sense of smell, brainstem and the homosapiens

neocortex. In this way, people used to respond to situations by smelling or by using

areas evolving the thinking brain as a paramount sense for survival. Then, it comes the

tendency of analyzing things to comprehend what is perceived. In those impulses to

action and life experiences is intelligence something needed. 

“Emotional intelligence gives us an entirely new way of looking at the root causes of

many of the ills of our families and our society” [ CITATION Jon94 \l 9226 ]. Each person

has intelligence in capacities, abilities and talents that could be considered as important

statements and essential guides when it comes to emotions. Those emotional guides
empower human’s affairs and try to understand, modify and control one’s and others’

emotional states. 

In his production in the field of psychology and education, Goleman [CITATION Gol95 \n

\t \l 9226 ] mentions the “flood of neurobiological data letting us understand clearly how

the brain’s centers for emotions move us to do something” [CITATION Gol95 \p 21 \l

9226 ]. It refers that the mass of cells operates to think, feel, imagine and dream, which

contributes towards the creation of good habits to control our behavior. This useful

discovering in neuropsychology plays a crucial role in helping people, since

childhood, develop such essential skill. 

Emotion has to be with the tendency of acting along with directing and balancing human

situations, where “each emotion plays a unique role” [CITATION Gol95 \p 19 \l 9226 ] for

different kind of responses. It is seen as point to the preeminence of heart over head by

sociology, which leads an emotional and rational mind. One of them goes to feeling,

meanwhile the other one to thoughts; but, both of them impulse and empower the mode

of comprehension and mental life’s system. 

In this vein, emotions are a guide when facing important life events. They guide us a

complete new way of learning, looking, exploring and analyzing things and aspects in

daily life. Likewise, mastering emotional intelligence can be beneficial in different

aspects of our lives. An example of this is education. As mentioned by Goleman

[CITATION Gol95 \n \t \l 9226 ], high IQ is not enough to guarantee a triumph, but

having an emotional balance to make right and thoughtful decisions, since it enhances
the individual´s intellectual potential. Knowledge is not enough for students to cope with

hostile situations, like frustration. Some key skills provided by emotional intelligence

regarding this field are zeal, persistence and self-motivation, among others. People

have to deal with daily tasks to obtain concrete results. It is possible thanks to

constancy, flexibility, optimism and emotion. Bringing intelligence in emotions is a way

to acquire and develop vision, mission, personal, family and professional values in our

life experiences.

In the book, it is possible to understand that people as human beings feel emotions -an

important aspect. Nonetheless, there are times when everybody is driven by strong

emotions where intelligence is barely noticed. It could exist endless cases as losing a

loved one or knowing that he/she has suffered an accident, for instance. In those

moments, our feelings come in without having ever thought about it before. They appear

more than our thoughts and not just our feelings. 

Therefore, emotional intelligence brings into focus the ability to self-control and manage

behavior towards work. Making personal decisions is not, in fact, something easy to

achieve, much less at the moment to do it along with other people, whose purpose is

the same: positive results. In that way, we learn and acquire habits that can undermine

our best intentions; what it means, it brings intelligence to emotions, and this enable

fundamental personal and social competences in business, such as relationship

management.

Goleman [CITATION Gol95 \n \t \l 9226 ] provides a comprehensive and detailed guide

to promote our broad emotional intelligence. As well as children learn to model their
brain circuits, people teach a pedagogical program for the integral development of

human beings. To Goleman, emotional intelligence is not a fixed parameter brought

since birth, but it must be developed, promoted and taken care of.

Bringing intelligence to emotions contribute to effective performances at every life

aspect: at work, education, even in personal relationships by feeling great satisfaction.

This statement shows the necessity of psychology to give equal time to the intelligence

to emotions, but also to fix the paradigm (Gardner, 1983). We have been taught to

succeed in life through high IQ in order to become well-paid, yet the main idea here is

that it does not mean it always. It is true that in today’s society IQ contributes in

quantitative terms to factors determining life success; however, “the link between test

scores and those achievements is dwarfed by the totality of other characteristics

bringing life” [CITATION Gol95 \p 24 \l 9226 ]. 

In this sense, emotions can be intelligent. Salovey & Mayer [CITATION Sal90 \n \t \l

9226 ] proposed a model of multiple intelligences. They offered five-domain abilities

leading to an appreciation of personal and emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-

management, self-motivation, social awareness, and relationship management. Those

abilities go from knowing one’s emotions to recognizing and managing emotions in

others. By doing so, people can handle and marsh feelings and emotions to build on

self-awareness in order to service one’s motivations and mastery. Then, they could get

better at every life aspect with the advantage of having abilities such as undergirding

popularity, leadership, and interpersonal effectiveness. 

“Mind influences in any consequential way” [CITATION Gol95 \p 165 \l 9226 ]. Since

education seeks an integral students’ formation, a good and professional teacher finds

out the right motivation to help students in their learning process. They help them in an

academically and emotionally way, instead of imposing or pushing them to acquire just

a high IQ for success in life. 

In conclusion, emotional intelligence is knowing how to control impulses, actions and

feelings towards life situations. It also refers to take good advantages from them.

Besides, it engages skills and abilities which all of us can use to improve upon anything

we tend to practice on a regular basis. This allow us to keep our social relationships,

even at work. We can do this by knowing how to create empathy among people in order

to improve work environment. This practice shows to have a good impact on people

around. This would also increase the willingness to do teamwork and, certainly, this

would be reflected in effective results. This book aims to create a more aware society

and invites us to understand that fixing the paradigm and giving equal time to emotional

intelligence is important. Thus, people can learn be aware of own emotions and how to

manage them by applying intelligence to them.

 References

Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences. New York :

Basic Books.

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional Intelligence. Why it can matter than IQ. Michigan:

Bantam Books.

Kabatt-Zinn, J. (1994). Wherever You Go, There You Are. New York: Hyperion.

Salovey , P., & Mayer, J. (1990). Emotional Intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and

Personality 9.