Introduction to Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman

Hello everyone! It has been a long time since I shared some things that I find interesting to all of you. I had been so busy at pumped up doing our Junior Internship (JI). I made rounds inside the hospital before, but this one is quite different. Nevertheless, I would not make it an excuse as to why I should stop sharing information to everyone around.

We often regard intelligence as an ability to ace examinations or attain an academic award, but in reality, intelligence is quite broad. Multiple intelligence has been introduced, so as emotional and social intelligence.

At this point, let me share with you some interesting facts that I have learned from Daniel Coleman's Social Intelligence book. I could only cover a portion of the book since I only have short breaks from the hospital.

Social Intelligence , to simply put it, is the characteristic of an individual to understand and manage people. It is not only limited to that. It does not put a man into a narrow self-interest but includes the interest of the other person. This type of intelligence also enriches personal relationships (concern and empathy as examples).

This is an important type of intelligence that should be nurtured not just by medical practitioners but by everyone. An example of this intelligence is being portrayed by psychologists and psychiatrists. As some patients do not seem to open up well with their doctors, the medical personnel must know how to approach the patient.

Another example of this is how military men, particularly top brass officials be able to negotiate with the locals or settlers as to where they are assigned. The should riposte (quick and clever response) to the people to avoid unanticipated conflicts.

Emotional Economy on the other hand is like a chain reaction. It states that emotions are contagious or has a domino effect. This is evident whenever someone dumps negative feelings to us (such as contempt, disgust, threats, or anger), these emotions activitae circuitry for those very same distressing emotions.

Have you ever noticed waking up and feeling pumped up, and all of the sudden someone explodes anger to you, you would end up feeling anxious. The effect on yours could then be passed on to the next person that you would encounter, it could be the salesman at the mall who is trying to share his products on you. In response, to quote the book, the leakage of emotions can make a bystander an innocent casualty of someone else's toxic state.

Ever wonder whenever you feel anxious about a certain situation, you have the urge either to fight or flight? The Amygdala, which is an almond shaped part of the middle portion of the brain is the one that triggers your fight or flight response. The emotion that powerfully arouses the amygdala is fear.

When we are in a certain situation, we become instinctively attentive of our surroundings. According to Goleman, the increased amygdala-driven vigilance heightens our alertness to emotional cues in other people around you.

Take for example when you are in a crowd of people and you see one odd looking person or more than that, you suddenly feel more vigilant on the movement of the people around you.

We were all wired to become more conscious of your movements. That is why it is pivotal to stop using headphones or earphones whenever you are in public because you tend to become vulnerable to risk or danger.

In addition, the amygdala can be termed as the brain's early warning system. It allows you to scan the things that are happening in your surroundings particularly to possible threats. The amygdala is also literally speechless as it has no direct access to the speech portion of the brain.

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Emotional Contagion

Have you also ever wondered why we tend to react with our emotions and when the emotions set aside, we then become rational? This is basically because there is this low road function of the brain.

According to the words of Goleman, this low road operates beneath our awareness, automatically and effortlessly, with immense speed. When we are captivated by an attractive face, or sense the sarcasm in a remark, we have the low road to thank.

Meanwhile the high road allows your brain to work methodically but it takes more time. This is why it takes more seconds to become rational than be emortional towards certain situations.

Low road use neural circuitry that runs through the amygdala and silimar automatic nodes, while the high road sends inputs to the prefrontal, the brain;s executive center, which contains our capacity for intentionality.

This proves that the words of Robert Heinlen to be true. According to him, Man is not a rational animal, but a rationalizing one.

Mood Drivers and Catching Emotions

There was an experiment called Wurzburg experiment in Germany where its result suggests that our wourld may be filled with mood triggers or drivers.

The students were allowed to listen to a recording with two different reading tones of the reader. It was found out that there were changes in how the students absorb informationa based on the tone of the reader.

Good mood drievers can easily sway audiences or people around, that is why most of those who are providing frontline services should be soft-spoken as it may enhance the mood of an enraged client.

An example of catching emotions occured during a screening by the Lumiere brothers in Paris. Although it was just a short film, the audiences felt like the approaching train is going to hit them, thus even on screen, emotions are contagious.

Often times, I experience this whenever I watch a film. I got swayed by the emotions being shown by the characters but then a part of my mind knows that the movie is just a product of human imagination. This showed that the major exception on being moved by the emotional cues of other people because the high road facilitates the critical thinking of the human brain.

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About the Author:

David Goleman is the author of the best seller books Working with Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence. He also co-authored a book with the title Primal Leadership. He had his Ph.D from Harvard University. This man in science has helped a lot in regard with its advancement through his works.

For more information about him and his works, check his website . Purchase his well-written books as well to learn more about different types of intelligences.

I hope you were satisfied of brief intorduction about social intelligence. Watch out for more science-related posts!

Source:
As mentioned, excerpts were taken from Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relations by Daniel Goleman.