The first part of this material contains a reading summary of Daniel Goleman's work Emotional Intelligence published in Mexico in 1995, later other references related to information collected by the author on the Internet or via personal consultation with the aforementioned authorities are presented.
The emotional brain
“Each emotion offers a definite disposition to act; each points us in a direction that has worked well to deal with the repeated challenges of human life. Given that these situations are repeated over and over throughout the history of evolution, the survival value of our emotional repertoire was confirmed by the fact that they were imprinted on our nerves as innate and automatic tendencies of the human heart »
"But while our emotions have been wise guides in long-term evolution, the new realities that civilization presents have emerged so rapidly that the slow march of evolution cannot keep up. Indeed, the earliest laws and statements of ethics - the Hammurabi Code, the Ten Commandments of the Hebrews, the Edicts of Emperor Ashoka - can be interpreted as attempts to dominate, subdue, and tame emotional life. As Freud described in The Discomfort in Culture, society has had to impose itself without rules designed to subdue the currents of emotional excess that freely arise within it »
Despite these social limitations, passions crush reason over and over again. This characteristic of human nature arises from the basic architecture of mental life. In terms of biological design for the basic neurological circuitry of emotion, what we are born with is what worked best in the last 50,000 human generations, not the last 500… and certainly not the last five. The slow and deliberate forces of evolution that have shaped our emotions have done their work over the course of a million years; The last 10,000 years - despite having witnessed the rapid growth of human civilization and the explosion of the human population, which went from five million to five billion - have left little trace on the biological templates of our emotional life. »
Emotion: "I use the term emotion to refer to a characteristic feeling and its thoughts, to psychological and biological states, and to a variety of tendencies to act."
It is argued that there are hundreds of emotions, along with combinations, variables, mutations, and nuances. The argument that there are a handful of core emotions is based to some extent on Paul Ekman's discovery that facial expressions for four of them (fear, anger, sadness, pleasure) are recognized by people from cultures across the world. world, including pre-literate peoples presumably not contaminated by exposure to film or television.
Primary emotions recognized preferably with their families:
• Anger: anger, resentment, anger, exasperation, outrage, grief, bitterness, animosity, annoyance, irritability, hostility, and, perhaps in the extreme, pathological violence and hatred.
• Sadness: anguish, regret, melancholy, pessimism, grief, self-pity, loneliness, despondency, despair and, in pathological cases, severe depression.
• Fear: anxiety, apprehension, nervousness, worry, consternation, restlessness, caution, uncertainty, dread, fear, terror, on a psychopathological level, phobia and panic.
• Pleasure: happiness, joy, relief, contentment, joy, delight, fun, pride, sensual pleasure, shudder, rapture, gratification, satisfaction, euphoria, extravagance, ecstasy and, in the end, mania.
• Love: acceptance, sympathy, trust, kindness, affinity, devotion, adoration, infatuation, agape (spiritual love).
• Surprise: shock, amazement, bewilderment.
• Disgust: contempt, contempt, contempt, abhorrence, aversion, disgust, repulsion.
• Shame: guilt, annoyance, disgust, remorse, humiliation, regret, mortification and constriction.
In looking for the basic principles, I follow Ekman and others, and I consider emotions in terms of families and dimensions, taking the main families - anger, sadness, fear, pleasure, love, shame, etc. - as cases relevant to the infinite nuances of our emotional life. Each of these families has a basic emotional nucleus, with their relatives forming waves from this nucleus in countless mutations. On external waves are moods that, technically speaking, are duller and last much longer than an emotion (while it is relatively rare to keep the heat of anger throughout the day, for example, it is not so rare to be in a grumpy and irritable mood, in which shorter outbursts of anger are easily activated). Beyond moods is temperament,the readiness to evoke a certain emotion or state of mind that makes people melancholic, shy or happy. Still beyond these emotional dispositions are obvious emotional disorders, such as clinical depression or incessant anxiety, in which someone constantly feels trapped in a negative state.
It is said that we have an emotional and a rational mind, the first is much faster, acting without thinking about what it is doing, ruling out the deliberate and analytical reflection that is the hallmark of the thinking mind… the actions that arise from the mind Emotional feelings carry an especially strong sense of certainty, a consequence of a simple and simplified way of seeing things that can be absolutely perplexing to the rational mind. When the storm has passed, or even in the middle of the response, we find ourselves wondering, "What did I do this for?" A sign that the rational mind is waking up, albeit not with the speed of the emotional mind… this quick mode of perception sacrifices accuracy in favor of speed, depending on first impressions,reacting to the big picture or the most surprising aspects. Assimilate things immediately, as a whole, reacting without taking the time necessary for reflective analysis. Vivid elements can determine that impression, making a careful assessment of the details. The great advantage is that the emotional mind can interpret an emotional reality (he is furious with me; she is lying; this saddens him) in an instant, making intuitive judgments that tell us who we should be cautious with, who we can trust, who is distressed. The emotional mind is our radar to perceive danger; If we (or our ancestors in the evolutionary process) expected the rational mind to make some of these judgments, perhaps not only would we be wrong, but we might be dead.The downside is that these intuitive impressions and judgments, because they are made in the blink of an eye, can be wrong or false. ”
The logic of the emotional mind is associative; it takes elements that symbolize a reality, or triggers a memory of it, to be equal to that reality. This logic of the heart - of the emotional mind - is well described by Freud in his concept of the 'primary process' of thought; it is the logic of religion and poetry, psychosis and children, sleep and myth (as Joseph Campbell points out, 'dreams are private myths; myths are shared dreams')… if the emotional mind follows this logic and these rules, with one element representing another, things should not necessarily be defined by their objective identity: what matters is how they are perceived; things are what they seem. What something reminds us of can be much more important than what it 'is'.
In one of the most revealing discoveries about emotion in the last decade, LeDoux's work demonstrated how the architecture of the brain gives the amygdala a privileged position as an emotional sentinel, capable of assaulting the brain.His research has shown that sensory signals from the eye and ear travel first in the brain to the thalamus and then - through a single synapse - to the amygdala; a second signal from the thalamus is directed to the neocortex, the thinking brain. This bifurcation allows the amygdala to begin to respond earlier than the neocortex, which elaborates information through various levels of brain circuits before fully perceiving and finally initiating its most perfectly adapted response.
While the amygdala works preparing an anxious and impulsive reaction, another part of the emotional brain allows a more adequate and corrective response. The regulator of the brain for rips of the amygdala appears to be at the other end of a larger circuit of the neocortex, in the prefrontal lobes just behind the forehead. The prefrontal cortex seems to come into action when someone feels fear or rage, but it contains or controls the feeling in order to deal more effectively with the immediate situation, or when a new evaluation provokes a totally different response… this neocortical area of the brain causes a more analytical or appropriate response to our emotional impulses, adapting the amygdala and other limbic areas….This progression that allows discernment in the emotional response is the current combination, with the significant exception of emotional emergencies. When an emotion kicks in, moments later the prefrontal lobes execute what represents a risk / benefit ratio of infinite possible reactions, and bet on one of them as the best. The left prefrontal lobe seems to be part of a nervous circuit that can disconnect, or at least mitigate, all negative emotional outbursts except the most intense. If the amygdala often acts as an emergency trigger, the left prefrontal lobe appears to be part of the brain's disconnect mechanism for disturbing emotions: the amygdala proposes and the frontal lobe disposes.These prefrontal zone-limbic zone connections are fundamental in mental life, far beyond the fine tuning of emotion; They are essential to guide us in the decisions that matter most in life.
These connections explain the conflicts and agreements that have to be reached between the heart and the head, thought and feelings. When it comes to making a decision, an attention capacity that takes into account the essential data to complete a given problem and task is necessary. This capacity is known as working memory and is in charge of the prefrontal cortex. But the existing circuits from the limbic brain to the prefrontal lobes allow signals of intense emotion to create nervous interferences that sabotage the capacity of the prefrontal lobe to maintain operational memory, emotional alteration prevents us from thinking correctly and this constant emotional disturbance can create deficiencies in the intellectual capacities of a child, impairing the ability to learn.(When control over emotional life is impaired)… These emotional circuits are sculpted by experience throughout childhood, and we leave those experiences entirely to chance at our own risk. According to Antonio Damasio of the University of Iowa, people who have damaged the prefrontal-amygdala circuit despite not showing the slightest deterioration in their IQ or in any cognitive capacity, their ability to make decisions is terribly degraded. This leads to the counter-intuitive stance that feelings are typically indispensable to rational decisions; These point us in the right direction, where pure logic can be best used… Thus, emotions care about rationality. In the dance of feelings and thought,the emotional faculty guides our momentary decisions, working collaboratively with the rational mind and allowing - or disabling - thought itself. In the same way, the thinking brain plays an executive role in our emotions, except for those times when emotions get out of control and the emotional brain loses its brakes.
In a sense, we have two brains, two minds, and two different kinds of intelligence: rational and emotional. Our performance in life is determined by both; what matters is not only IQ but also emotional intelligence. Indeed, the intellect cannot operate optimally without emotional intelligence. In general, the complementarity of the limbic system and the neocortex, of the amygdala and the prefrontal lobes, means that each of them is a full partner in mental life. When these partners interact positively, emotional intelligence increases, as does intellectual ability.
This reverses the old understanding of the tension between reason and feeling: it is not that we want to suppress emotion and put reason in its place, as Erasmus claimed, but to find the intelligent balance between the two. The old paradigm held an ideal of reason freed from emotional stress. The new paradigm forces us to harmonize head and heart. To do it positively in our life, we must first understand more precisely what emotion means intelligently.
The nature of emotional intelligence
«… academic intelligence has little to do with emotional life. The brightest people can sink into the dangers of unbridled passions and uncontrollable impulses; people with a high IQ can be incredibly bad pilots of their private lives. ”
«… emotional intelligence: skills such as being able to motivate and persist in the face of disappointment; control impulse and delay gratification, regulate mood, and prevent disorders from diminishing thinking ability; show empathy and hope.
«… fundamental emotional skills can indeed be learned and improved by children… as long as we bother to teach them»
«… academic intelligence offers practically no preparation for the disorders -or the opportunities- that life brings… Emotional life is an area that, like mathematics and reading, can be handled with more or less skill and requires unique set of skills… emotional aptitude is a meta-skill and determines how well we can use any other talent, once the pure intellect has been completed ».
Main spheres of emotional intelligence according to Salovey
• Know your own emotions. Ability to control feelings from one moment to another fundamental for psychological penetration and understanding of oneself.
• Manage emotions. For feelings to be adequate, the ability to calm down, to get rid of excessive irritability, anxiety and melancholy. Those who lack this ability constantly struggle with feelings of grief, and those who possess it recover more quickly from life's setbacks and disorders.
• The motivation itself. It's ordering emotions in the service of a goal is essential for paying attention, for self-motivation and mastery, and for creativity. Emotional self-control is delaying gratification and containing impulsiveness and serves as the basis for all kinds of achievement.
• Recognize emotions in others. It is empathy based on emotional self-awareness that enables them to adapt to subtle social cues that indicate what others need or want, it is people's "fundamental ability" and sparks altruism.
• Manage relationships. The art of managing the emotions of others, competition and social incompetence.
Psychological Well-Being: The Quotient Inventory of Reuven Bar-On
Reuven Bar-On is inspired by Marie Jahoda, in the 50s, one of the first psychologists who noticed the interest in the concepts of mental health and psychological well-being. From her position in the Commission of Health and Mental Illnesses in the United States, she tried to link these two topics –which in her opinion were related to prevention- and reversed the emphasis that up to that moment had psychopathological studies.
His work allowed defining six components of Psychological Well-being, which were the ones that Bar-On took as the basis for the construction of its Inventory, and on the other hand gave rise to a very important movement in the study of personality and determining factors in psychology of personal happiness.
Later we consider the personality factors related to psychological well-being described by Bar-On.
Those factors are: self observation, interpersonal relationships, social responsibility, flexibility, independence, problem solving, assertiveness, reality testing, stress tolerance, actualization, happiness.
The term Emotional Intelligence was coined by Peter Salovey of Yale University and John Mayer of the University of New Hampshire. EI has received a lot of attention in the media especially since the book by Daniel Goleman was published.
IE is a set of skills, attitudes, abilities, and competencies that determine an individual's behavior, reactions, mental states, coping style, and communication style. These factors directly affect the level of success, satisfaction, ability to relate to other people as well as personal ability to cope with stress, the level of self-esteem, perception of control, the general level of emotional mental well-being.
Some research shows that individuals with high levels of IE are more successful and live fuller and happier lives. They enjoy better relationships with their partner, peers, friends and boys. At work they enjoy the respect of their colleagues, subordinates and superiors and as a result they are promoted more quickly, they have a stronger immune system, they enjoy good health.
Others claim that EI is made up of four components: identifying emotions (ability to recognize how you feel and those around you; identifying emotions in people, in music, in art), use of emotions (ability to generating emotions and then reasoning with these emotions, being emotional and being able to use these emotions can help you understand how others feel or take on emotional roles); understanding emotions (knowing what happens when emotions get stronger and how people react to different emotions, ability to understand complex emotions); regulate emotions (you feel the feelings instead of repressing them and use those feelings to make better decisions,reacting with anger can be effective in the short term but if this emotion is channeled and directed it can be more effective in the long term).
According to Albert Mehrabian, EI includes the ability to properly perceive personal and other emotions, exercise dominance over one's emotions, and respond appropriately, entering relationships in which the honest expression of emotions is balanced with courtesy, consideration and respect, selecting jobs that are emotionally compensatory, eliminating procrastination, low achievement and personal insecurity, balancing work, home, and recreational life.
Document Assigned by: Uch de RRHH the HR student portal
Download the original file
