The Role of 'Feeling' In 'Thinking'

The more I understand of emotional intelligence, the more I see it being a defining factor in ones life.....in the quality of ones life...in the choices we make, in the way we relate, in the feelings that happen, in the decisions we take, in the emotions we feel, in the way we handle them.... in pretty much the gamut of being.

Daniel Goleman, author of several books on Emotional Intelligence states "The daily challenge of dealing effectively with emotions is critical to the human condition because our brains are hard-wired to give emotions the upper hand. The communication between your emotional and rational brains is the physical source of emotional intelligence."

Research is now indicating that IQ, a tool developed as a historical product and a need post the world wars is over hyped. Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray, whose book The Bell Curve imputes a primary importance to IQ, acknowledge this; as they point out, "Perhaps a freshman with a SAT math score of 500 had better not have his heart set on being a mathematician, but if instead he wants to run his own business, become a U.S. Senator or make a million dollars, he should not put aside his dreams' .

The link between test scores and those achievements is dwarfed by the totality of other characteristics that he brings to life....characteristics which are defined by his emotional intelligence: abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one's moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope.

Unlike IQ, with its nearly one-hundred-year history of research with hundreds of thousands of people, emotional intelligence is a new concept. No one can yet say exactly how much of the variability from person to person in life's course it accounts for. But what data exist suggest it can be as powerful, and at times more powerful, than IQ. And while there are those who argue that IQ cannot be changed much by experience or education, crucial emotional competencies can indeed be learned and improved upon, especially so by children, if we bother to teach them.

In a lighter vein, it also answers a question that often stumps us  'how does somebody who is so obviously intelligent do something so irrational, something so dumb?'

And the interesting part is that despite the growing interest in EQ, there still exists a global deficit in understanding and managing emotions. Almost 70% of the people tested were unable to identify their emotions as they happened, so handling them is that much further away. 

There's enough research available on it to indicate that being aware of ones emotions can be used to potentially reap huge benefits. Apparently EQ accounts for a whopping 58 % of performance in all types of jobs.

Howard Gardner,  known for his multiple intelligences theory, appreciates how crucial these emotional and relationship abilities are in the rough-and-tumble of life. He also says "The time has come, to broaden our notion of the spectrum of talents. The single most important contribution education can make to a child's development is to help him toward a field where his talents best suit him, where he will be satisfied and competent. We've completely lost sight of that. Instead we subject everyone to an education where, if you succeed, you will be best suited to be a college professor. And we evaluate everyone along the way according to whether they meet that narrow standard of success.

We should spend less time ranking children and more time helping them to identify their natural competencies and gifts, and cultivate those. There are hundreds and hundreds of ways to succeed, and many, many different abilities that will help you get there.