Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize your own and other people’s feelings, and the ability to manage them. Although the term was born much earlier, it was in 1995 with the publication of the book Emotional Intelligence, by the American psychologist Daniel Goleman, that it became popular. This book is made up of research that Goleman carried out for ten years at Harvard University, with the collaboration of the Universities of Yale and Michigan, thanks to his knowledge and research of the human mind and the advances that had been made up to that point. moment, in the field of neurosciences.
Goleman’s theory suggests that emotional intelligence could be organized into five capacities: knowing one’s emotions and feelings, managing them, recognizing them, motivating oneself, and managing relationships.
The school landscape
If we go back a few years, we can see how teachers preferred conformist children who got good grades and demanded little from them.
“Conformism” and “demanding little” go hand in hand with little motivation towards creativity and strengthening self-esteem. It means not daring to expand the “safety zone”, as it is called in Neuropsychoeducation. In this sector we do not necessarily feel happy, but it is the circle in which, although not happy, we know and in which we get used to living.
This is why it was common to find attentive students in class, memorizing the teacher’s explanations and getting, in the best of cases, good grades. The objective was for students to develop logical-mathematical abilities that were later evaluated and could be “measured” with the IQ test.
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Advances in the field of science and neuroscience make us predict, on the one hand, that this scenario does not guarantee lasting learning over time. Most likely, these students would get wonderful grades on their evaluations, but that knowledge would, after a short time, disappear from their minds as a result, fundamentally, of their little (or no) role and emotional commitment. This scarcity results in weak neural networks that, by not having an emotional impact and by not being exercised in the future (in this case, once the evaluation is completed), weaken until they finally disappear.
On the other hand, the result of the analysis of educational systems is quite painful. The most advanced agree that teacher training, in addition to contemplating the contents of each discipline, psychology and pedagogy, should include an introduction to neurosciences. Counting on discoveries about the way the brain learns and how important the role of emotions is in daily life, the fact that the skills of emotional intelligence are not contemplated by the vast majority of systems worldwide does not It is a minor fact.
“Emotional intelligence is a decisive factor when it comes to academic training.”
We find here, at this last point, a red light that requires space to reflect. It is evident that for a child, or a young person, to develop as a happy person, it is not enough for their training to include content or retain data, that is, it is not enough for them to increase a high IQ.
The current classroom does not show many changes compared to the scenario described above. Although critical thinking is included in most school curricula, it is not always put into practice. It would be imperative that teacher training and schools contemplate the development of emotional intelligence so that it can be applied in the field of formal education, transmitted to parents and thus, together, educate the entire person (intelligence quotient and emotional quotient).
emotional literacy
Why is it imperative to educate in an environment that contemplates emotional intelligence?
Nothing is more accurate than the words of Goleman himself to answer this question. In 2010, Goleman was invited to give a conference on emotional skills to COs from two hundred companies in the United States. Each of the participants was a manager in their area. Furthermore, all of them had completed master’s degrees and obtained their doctorates from the most prestigious and expensive universities.
So what is it that makes the difference?
Goleman began his lecture with a question to which he already had the answer. He asked, “How many of you received your graduations as top ten in your classes?” This small informal survey gave the result that Goleman expected and knew from his research. Only four of the two hundred people raised their hands. More interesting is the explanation that followed the survey. “…The person needs the intellectual quotient, but to be successful it is necessary to develop the emotional quotient…” which is what guarantees good inter and intra personal relationships through the development of Intrapersonal and Interpersonal intelligence. (1)
IQ only predicts between 4 and 10% of professional success. This leaves out a broad contribution from other factors. One of them is emotional intelligence.
Among the skills that distinguish outstanding people in hundreds of organizations, two items are clearly observed: which of the skills are based on IQ and technical knowledge in purely cognitive skills and how many belong to the domain of emotional intelligence.
“It turns out that for all types of jobs, when it comes to differentiating “the stars” from the rest, emotional intelligence is twice as important as cognitive skills. The higher the level in an organization, the greater its importance. So for top-level leaders, in these competency models, 80 and 90% of the skills belong to the domain of emotional intelligence.” Goleman states with conviction.
It’s not that IQ and technical knowledge don’t matter, but they are simply basic skills. IQ is the strongest indicator of what kind of job a person can get, but emotional quotient is what keeps a person in that position. It is not IQ that predicts who will be an outstanding worker. All of this has to do with emotional intelligence, with how we handle ourselves and how effective we are in personal relationships.
There is one cognitive ability that appears again and again as an indicator of outstanding leaders. This is what we would call “global thinking”, “pattern recognition” or “systems thinking”. It consists of understanding the importance of considering a current decision and its implication in the five or ten years to come. Or, perhaps more significantly, “What strategic vision should we have moving forward?” And once we have the strategic plan, once we know where we are going, the problem is this: “we can only get there through people.” To execute that plan, that strategy, we need to persuade, inspire, listen, motivate, communicate and those are competencies of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence in school, today
The vast majority of people assume that all human beings are born with a series of innate resources that allow them to create their own self-esteem and self-control. However, like cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence is learned.
The good news is that we can work on emotional intelligence at school and at all levels. This is why schools should consider teaching students to be “emotionally intelligent,” providing them with strategies and helping them develop basic emotional skills that protect them from risk factors or, at least, that can mitigate their negative effects.
Even though the development of this intelligence is not contemplated, as mentioned, in almost any of the educational systems in the world, each school, each teacher can take the curricular contents and focus them in such a way that little by little they provide the students with these strategies. and help them develop basic emotional skills.
Let us imagine, in a display of optimism, that the educational community was convinced that emotional intelligence should be one of the basic objectives to be pursued by the educational system, in this way, each educational community would be fully educating the people who will have to face the challenges. uncertain challenges of the 21st century, the leaders, “the stars, protagonists of the future.”
From Neuropsychoeducation we consider that an educational space is one that, beyond the place where it is located, teaches cognitive skills (intelligence quotient) and, in addition, educates the entire person (emotional quotient) so that they can develop, so that they learn, little little by little, to develop as a better human being.
(1) Intrapersonal intelligence: ability to form a realistic and accurate model of oneself, having access to one’s own feelings and using them as guides in behavior.
Interpersonal intelligence: ability to understand others; what motivates them, how they operate, how to relate appropriately and the ability to recognize and react to the mood, temperament and emotions of others.
(1) Intrapersonal intelligence: ability to form a realistic and accurate model of oneself, having access to one’s own feelings and using them as guides in behavior.
Interpersonal intelligence: ability to understand others; what motivates them, how they operate, how to relate appropriately and the ability to recognize and react to the mood, temperament and emotions of others.
Prof. Nse. Alejandra del Fabro
Speaker at Asociación Educar.
Founder of the Idio+delfabro Institute.
Applying Neurosciences, the pedagogical methodology of your institute is based on teaching-learning processes compatible with the way the brain learns.
Partner DANA Foundation, New York, USA.