la habilidad para manejarlos. El término fue popularizado por Daniel Goleman, con su
célebre libro: Emotional Intelligence, publicado en 1995. Goleman estima que la
inteligencia emocional se puede organizar en torno a cinco capacidades: conocer las
emociones y sentimientos propios, manejarlos, reconocerlos, crear la propia motivación, y
gestionar las relaciones.
Imagen esquemática del cerebro. Para comprender el gran poder de las emociones sobre
la mente pensante —y la causa del frecuente conflicto existente entre los sentimientos y la
razón— debemos considerar la forma en que ha evolucionado el cerebro. [6]
La región más primitiva del cerebro es el tronco encefálico, que regula las funciones
vitales básicas, como la respiración o el metabolismo, y lo compartimos con todas
aquellas especies que disponen de sistema nervioso, aunque sea muy rudimentario. De
este cerebro primitivo emergieron los centros emocionales que, millones de años más
tarde, dieron lugar al cerebro pensante: el neocórtex. El hecho de que el cerebro
emocional sea muy anterior al racional y que éste sea una derivación de aquél, revela con
claridad las auténticas relaciones existentes entre el pensamiento y el sentimiento. [7]
Imagen anatómica del cerebro. La amígdala cerebral y el hipocampo fueron dos piezas
clave del primitivo «cerebro olfativo» que, a lo largo del proceso evolutivo, terminó dando
origen al córtex y posteriormente al neocórtex. La amígdala está especializada en las
cuestiones emocionales y se la considera una estructura límbica muy ligada a los
procesos del aprendizaje y la memoria. [9] Constituye una especie de depósito de la
memoria emocional. [10] Es la encargada de activar la secreción de dosis masivas de
noradrenalina, que estimula los sentidos y pone al cerebro en estado de alerta. [11]
LeDoux descubrió que la primera zona cerebral por la que pasan las señales sensoriales
procedentes de los ojos o de los oídos es el tálamo y, a partir de ahí y a través de una
sola sinapsis, por la amígdala. Otra vía procedente del tálamo lleva la señal hasta el
neocórtex —el cerebro pensante—, permitiendo que la amígdala comience a responder
antes de que el neocórtex haya ponderado la información. [12] Según LeDoux:
«anatómicamente hablando, el sistema emocional puede actuar independientemente del
neocórtex. Existen ciertas reacciones y recuerdos emocionales que tienen lugar sin la
menor participación cognitiva consciente». [13]
La memoria emocional
En opinión de LeDoux, la interacción entre el niño y sus cuidadores durante los primeros
años de vida constituye un auténtico aprendizaje emocional, y es tan poderoso y resulta
tan difícil de comprender para el adulto porque está grabado en la amígdala con la tosca
impronta no verbal propia de la vida emocional. Lo que explica el desconcierto ante
nuestros propios estallidos emocionales es que suelen datar de un período tan temprano
que las cosas nos desconcertaban y ni siquiera disponíamos de palabras para
comprender lo que sucedía. [17]
La importancia evolutiva de ofrecer una respuesta rápida que permitiera ganar unos
milisegundos críticos ante las situaciones peligrosas debió ser vital para nuestros
antepasados, pues esa configuración ha quedado impresa en el cerebro de todo
protomamífero, incluyendo los humanos. Para LeDoux: «El rudimentario cerebro menor
de los mamíferos es el principal cerebro de los no mamíferos, un cerebro que permite una
respuesta emocional muy veloz. Pero, aunque veloz, se trata también, al mismo tiempo,
de una respuesta muy tosca, porque las células implicadas sólo permiten un
procesamiento rápido, pero también impreciso», y estas rudimentarias confusiones
emocionales —basadas en sentir antes que en pensar— son las «emociones
precognitivas». [18]
La amígdala prepara una reacción emocional ansiosa e impulsiva, pero otra parte del
cerebro se encarga de elaborar una respuesta más adecuada. El regulador cerebral que
desconecta los impulsos de la amígdala parece encontrarse en el extremo de una vía
nerviosa que va al neocórtex, en el lóbulo prefrontal. El área prefrontal constituye una
especie de modulador de las respuestas proporcionadas por la amígdala y otras regiones
del sistema límbico, permitiendo la emisión de una respuesta más analítica y
proporcionada. El lóbulo prefrontal izquierdo parece formar parte de un circuito que se
encarga de desconectar —o atenuar parcialmente— los impulsos emocionales más
perturbadores. [19]
Cuando estamos emocionalmente perturbados, solemos decir que «no podemos pensar
bien» y permite explicar por qué la tensión emocional prolongada puede obstaculizar las
facultades intelectuales del niño y dificultar así su capacidad de aprendizaje. Los niños
impulsivos y ansiosos, a menudo desorganizados y problemáticos, parecen tener un
escaso control prefrontal sobre sus impulsos límbicos. Este tipo de niños presenta un
elevado riesgo de problemas de fracaso escolar, alcoholismo y delincuencia, pero no
tanto porque su potencial intelectual sea bajo sino porque su control sobre su vida
emocional se halla severamente restringido. [21]
Las emociones son importantes para el ejercicio de la razón. Entre el sentir y el pensar, la
emoción guía nuestras decisiones, trabajando con la mente racional y capacitando —o
incapacitando— al pensamiento mismo. Del mismo modo, el cerebro pensante
desempeña un papel fundamental en nuestras emociones, exceptuando aquellos
momentos en los que las emociones se desbordan y el cerebro emocional asume por
completo el control de la situación. En cierto modo, tenemos dos cerebros y dos clases
diferentes de inteligencia: la inteligencia racional y la inteligencia emocional y nuestro
funcionamiento vital está determinado por ambos. [22]
«1. Nuestra propia historia, cultura y experiencias, sean buenas o malas, nos han
programado a sentir en una manera u otra, y dan un sentido diferente de todos los
demás».
«2. El lado oscuro de lo espiritual que llamamos el maligno que nos anima a tomar un
sentido oscuro y ver las cosas desde su punto de vista y luego produce en nuestra
imaginación y visualización el resultado de tomar su sentido de todo desde el punto de
vista negativo. Muchas veces su sentido usa los temores de pobreza, peligro, hambre,
rechazo, etc. para provocar en nosotros las emociones y decisiones negativas».
«3. El lado de la luz espiritual que llamamos Dios es el que nos anima a tomar un sentido
edificante o positivo y ver las cosas desde su punto de vista y luego produce en nuestra
imaginación y visualización el resultado de tomar su sentido que todo es para nuestro bien
y todo va a salir bien».
Cuando ya hemos decidido qué sentido vamos a aceptar como la verdad entonces lo
expresamos por nuestras emociones y nuestras acciones. [24]
«Los hombres que poseen una elevada inteligencia emocional suelen ser socialmente
equilibrados, extrovertidos, alegres, poco predispuestos a la timidez y a rumiar sus
preocupaciones. Demuestran estar dotados de una notable capacidad para
comprometerse con las causas y las personas, suelen adoptar responsabilidades,
mantienen una visión ética de la vida y son afables y cariñosos en sus relaciones. Su vida
emocional es rica y apropiada; se sienten, en suma, a gusto consigo mismos, con sus
semejantes y con el universo social en el que viven».
«Los hombres con un elevado CI se caracterizan por una amplia gama de intereses y
habilidades intelectuales y suelen ser ambiciosos, productivos, predecibles, tenaces y
poco dados a reparar en sus propias necesidades. Tienden a ser críticos,
condescendientes, aprensivos, inhibidos, a sentirse incómodos con la sexualidad y las
experiencias sensoriales en general y son poco expresivos, distantes y emocionalmente
fríos y tranquilos».
«La mujer con un elevado CI manifiesta una previsible confianza intelectual, es capaz de
expresar claramente sus pensamientos, valora las cuestiones teóricas y presenta un
amplio abanico de intereses estéticos e intelectuales. También tiende a ser introspectiva,
predispuesta a la ansiedad, a la preocupación y la culpabilidad, y se muestra poco
dispuesta a expresar públicamente su enfado (aunque pueda expresarlo de un modo
indirecto)».
Inteligencia Inter-personal: Capacidad de comprender a los demás; qué los motiva, cómo
operan, cómo relacionarse adecuadamente. Capacidad de reconocer y reaccionar ante el
humor, el temperamento y las emociones de los otros.
Referencias
1.↑ Thorndike, R.K. (1920). "Intelligence and Its Uses", Harper's Magazine 140, 227-335.
3.↑ Smith, M. K. (2002) "Howard Gardner and multiple intelligences", the encyclopedia of
informal education, Downloaded from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm on
October 31, 2005.
4.↑ Payne, W.L. (1983/1986). A study of emotion: developing emotional intelligence; self
integration; relating to fear, pain and desire. Dissertation Abstracts International, 47, p.
203A. (University microfilms No. AAC 8605928)
Bibliografía
Goleman, Daniel: Inteligencia Emocional. Editorial Kairós. (Junio de 2001) ISBN 84-7245-
371-5
This innate intelligence can be either developed or damaged with life experiences,
particularly by the emotional lessons taught by the parents, teachers, caregivers and
family during childhood and adolescence. The impact of these lessons results in what I
refer to as one's level of "EQ." in other words, as I use the term, "EQ" represents a relative
measure of a person's healthy or unhealthy development of their innate emotional
intelligence.
When I say "EQ" I am not talking about a numerical test score like IQ. It is simply a
convenient name I am using. As far as I know, I am the only writer who is making a
distinction between inborn potential and later development or damage. I believe it is
possible for a child to begin life with a high level of innate emotional intelligence, but then
learn unhealthy emotional habits from living in an abusive home. Such a child will grow up
to have what I would call low EQ. I would suspect that abused, neglected (desatendido,
descuidado, abandonado) and emotionally damaged children will score much lower on the
existing emotional intelligence tests compared to others having the same actual original
emotional intelligence at birth.
As I see it, I believe, then, that it is possible for a person to start out with high EI, but then
be emotionally damaged in early childhood, causing a low EQ later in life. On the other
hand, I believe it is possible for a child to start out with relatively low EI, but receive healthy
emotional modeling, nurturing etc., which will result in moderately high EQ. Let me stress
(recalcar, enfatizar) however that I believe it is much easier to damage a high EI child than
to develop the EQ of a low EI child. This follows the principle that it is generally easier to
destroy than create.
At present, all other models of emotional intelligence, including even the most "pure" of the
group, the Mayer/Salovey/Caruso model, combine the measurement of the innate
emotional variables (sensitivity, memory, processing and learning) with the environmental
effects on those same variables. Certain writers have defined intelligence in general as
"potential." I agree with this and this is why I want to distinguish between EI and EQ.
--
See this article about the words ability, skill and potential.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Mayer and Peter Salovey have been the leading researchers in emotional
intelligence since 1990. In that year they suggested that emotional intelligence is a true
form of intelligence which had not been scientifically measured until they began their
research work.
This article presents a framework (marco) for emotional intelligence, a set of skills
hypothesized to contribute to the accurate appraisal (estimación, apreciación) and
expression of emotion in oneself and in others, the effective regulation of emotion in self
and others, and the use of feelings to motivate, plan and achieve (lograr) in one's life.
They and their colleagues have used various definitions of EI in their academic journal
articles since 1990, but their 1997 definition is the one they use the most now. First, here
are a few other definitions they have used, then a full presentation for the 1997 definition is
shown. Pease be sure to also read this article about the words ability, skill and potential.
The article discusses a fundamental problem with this 1997 definition, the problem with
their imprecise use of the word "ability".
The first, Emotional Perception, involves such abilities as identifying emotions in faces,
music, and stories.
The second, Emotional Facilitation of Thought, involves such abilities as relating emotions
to other mental sensations such as taste and color (relations that might be employed in
artwork), and using emotion in reasoning and problem solving. (Also: "integrating emotions
in thought," Mayer and Cobb)
The third area, Emotional Understanding involves solving emotional problems such as
knowing which emotions are similar, or opposites, and what relations they convey
(¿expresan?).
The fourth area, Emotional Management involves understanding the implications of social
acts on emotions and the regulation of emotion in self and others.
From Selecting a Measure of Emotional Intelligence: The case for ability scales (2000)
4. manage to stay open to these emotions in order to capture the wisdom (sabiduría) of
our feelings
They introduce the model by saying that the four branches in their chart are:
They add that abilities that emerge relatively early in development are to the left of a given
branch; later developing abilities are to the right." And they also say that, "people high in
emotional intelligence are expected to progress more quickly through the abilities
designated and to master (dominar) more of them." (From What is Emotional Intelligence,
by John Mayer and Peter Salovey)
Ability to identify emotion in one's physical states, feelings, and thoughts. Ability to identify
emotions in other people, designs, artwork, etc. through language, sound, appearance,
and behavior. Ability to express emotions accurately, and to express needs related to
those feelings. Ability to discriminate between accurate and inaccurate, or honest vs.
dishonest expressions of feeling.
Ability to label emotions and recognize relations among the words and the emotions
themselves, such as the relation between liking (simpatizar, gustar, apreciar) and loving.
Ability to interpret the meanings that emotions convey (expresan) regarding (con respecto
a) relationships, such as that sadness often accompanies a loss. Ability to understand
complex feelings: simultaneous feelings of love and hate or blends (mezclas) such as awe
(pavor, miedo) as a combination of fear and surprise. Ability to recognize likely transitions
among emotions, such as the transition from anger to satisfaction or from anger to shame.
Ability to stay open to feelings, both those that are pleasant and those that are unpleasant.
Ability to reflectively engage or detach from an emotion depending upon its judged
informativeness or utility. Ability to reflectively monitor emotions in relation to oneself and
others, such as recognizing how clear, typical, influential or reasonable they are. Ability to
manage emotion in oneself and others by moderating negative emotions and enhancing
(realzar) pleasant (amables, agradables) ones, without repressing or exaggerating
information they may convey (expresar).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have a few concerns about their definition and some suggestions I would like them to
consider.
I would like to see Mayer and Salovey focus more on the idea that intelligence is potential.
An infant can be intelligent, for example, without being able to read, write or take
intelligence tests. In other words, he may have no demonstrable abilities (capacidad) as
yet, but he may have extremely high potential ability. He simply has not had a chance to
develop his potential and his intelligence into competencies which can be measured by
any existing tests.
The word "ability" itself can have two meanings. First, it can mean potential, yet
undeveloped ability. Second, it can mean potential which has been developed into
something which can be demonstrated, measured or tested. At present it is impossible to
measure pure potential, thus the MSC tests (MEIS and MSCEIT) focus on only the second
form of ability. (I suspect, though, that one day brain scanning devices will be able to tells
us much more about a baby's potential.)
1. Ability, Skill and Potential - This article discusses a key problem with the Mayer Salovey
definition of EI and with the Mayer Salovey Caruso test (MSCEIT). The problem is their
use of the word "ability".
The Mayer Salovey definition, along with the way they discuss EI in their writing, ignores
the fact that a child can start out with high innate emotional intelligence and then be
emotionally damaged. (I discuss this further in my section on EI vs EQ.) I would like to see
them address this more in their work.
3. Emotional Vocabulary
I would like to see Mayer and Salovey address the fact that an emotionally intelligent
person is capable of mastering (dominar) an extensive vocabulary of what I call feeling
words. By mastering I mean having the ability to not only perceive an extensive range of
feelings in oneself and others, but also to quickly assign the most specific label to the
feeling, for example in conversation with others or in self-reflection. In some of their writing
MSC do include the ability to express emotion as part of their first branch of EI, but they
seem to limit their test to only a few emotions compared with the much broader (amplio)
available scope (campo) of feeling words which are available in the English language.
In common language we often think a person is "intelligent" when they have a large
vocabulary and can use it precisely. I believe this same concept applies to emotional
intelligence. But again, if a person is never specifically taught (enseñada) to use feeling
words, it does not necessarily mean they did not have high innate emotional intelligence,
nor that they cannot later expand their emotional vocabulary.
4. Emotional Knowledge
In the section on emotional understanding much of this is probably better called emotional
knowledge than an aspect of emotional intelligence itself. Knowledge can be taught but
intelligence represents potential before any learning has taken place. Of course, if one is
more intelligent, emotionally or otherwise, this learning takes place faster and can go
further.
5. Testing for EI
6. Abstractness
Finally their definition is a bit too abstract for me when it comes to things like identifying
emotion in art and music. I found this section of their CD ROM test a little hard to take
seriously when it asks you to look at a graphic design and try to guess what emotions it is
conveying. Therefore I would like to see them test for something like the ability to identify
emotion in tone of voice or body language instead.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The ability to perceive and identify emotions in faces, tone of voice, body language
The capacity for self-awareness: being aware of your own feelings as they are occurring
The capacity for emotional literacy. Being able to label specific feelings in yourself and
others; being able to discuss emotions and communicate clearly and directly.
The ability to incorporate feelings into analysis, reasoning, problem solving and decision
making
The potential of your feelings to guide you to what is important to think about
3. Emotional understanding
The ability to identify and understand the inter-relationships beween emotions, thoughts
and behavior. For example, to see cause and effect relationships such as how thoughts
can affect emotions or how emotions can affect thoughts, and how your emotions can lead
to the behavior in yourself and others.
The ability to understand the value of emotions to the survival of the species
4. Emotional management
The ability to take responsibility for one's own emotions and happiness
The ability to turn negative emotions into positive learning and growing opportunities
The ability to help others identify and benefit from their emotions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The mental ability we are born with which gives our emotional sensitivity and potential for
emotional management skills that help us maximize our long term health, happiness and
survival.
--
Knowing how to separate healthy from unhealthy feelings and how to turn negative
feelings into positive ones.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My comments
Six Seconds “The capacities to create optimal results in your relationships with yourself
and others.” (more) Way too broad. Says nothing about emotions.
Lea Brovedani Emotional intelligence is being able to recognize, name and appropriately
deal with the emotions that we feel and experience. We may all feel anger, emotional
intelligence is knowing what to do with the emotion of anger to achieve the best possible
outcome. Not too bad, but narrow.
Reuven BarOn "an array of noncognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that
influence one's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures".
Non-cognitive means not related to iintelligence. saying "to succeed" is too subjective
Maurice Elias Emotional intelligence is the set of abilities that we like to think of as being
on the other side of the report card from the academic skills. See my full critique of this
Inst. for Emotionally Intelligent Living The ability to sense and use emotions to more
effectively manage ourselves and influence positive outcomes in our relationships with
others. Not too bad, but word effectively is subjective.
Byron Stock Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge from
your emotions and the emotions of others. You can use the information about what you're
feeling to help you make effective decisions about what to say or do (or not say or do)
next. I like this pretty well.
Need to find...
Emotional intelligence is your ability to acquire and apply knowledge from your emotions
and the emotions of others in order to be more successful and lead a more fulfilling life.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1997, Six Seconds’ team sought to take those best-practices and create a framework
for teaching and practicing the skills of EQ. They went beyond the scientific definition to
capture the practical value of the concepts that are worth teaching and learning. Their
definition of emotional intelligence is, “The capacities to create optimal results in your
relationships with yourself and others.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes
Maybe "the potential to describe emotions" should be in there, too. It may seem at first
glance to be simply a redundant reiteration of 'communicate' and 'explain' emotions, but I
think that the word 'describe' also includes describing emotions -to oneself-, in order to
better understand them, etc., and not merely communication or explanation of emotions to
others. Describing emotions is also not so much tied with causality and time as explaining
emotions, although the two tie in with one another. The description of an emotion really
comprises the use of metaphors and analogies, including comparison with other, similar
emotions, and all manner of other analogous things, in order to better incorporate an
emotion into one's verbal and intellectual understanding, so that it can be really focussed
on as a matter of concentration.
I think that the description of feelings using metaphors form part of the basis of human
language. It helps refine our understanding of feelings by comparing feelings to concrete
things and already-extant mental concepts. I would bet that all of our words which we now
use to mean certain feelings themselves started off as metaphors for something, either
some object or action which was similar to the feeling or connected to it in some way, like,
for instance, the sound one makes when one is angry, or some animal or natural process
which seems to be 'angry'. Ancient humans would then have begun developing their self-
consciousness and emotional intelligence, which aided them in caring for their tribesmen,
etc., and probably played and integral role in the survival of the human species through all
of the catastrophes and ice ages of our past.
- M.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
History
An alternative model, which views emotional intelligence as an innate potential has been
proposed by Hein (2005, 2007). This model defines emotional intelligence as "the innate
potential to feel, use, communicate, recognize, remember, describe, identify, learn from,
manage, understand and explain emotions." This model suggests an individual may be
born with high emotional intelligence, yet later act in ways which are unhealthy, anti-social
or self-destructive due to their environment and experiences. The model also suggests
that current tests can not accurately measure emotional intelligence by looking at an
adolescent's or an adult's emotional skills, emotional knowledge and behavior, since all of
those are significantly influenced by one's environment and experiences. <ref
name="heindef">Hein, S. (2005, 2007) [http://www.eqi.org/eidefs.htm "Definitions of
Emotional Intelligence"] </ref>
WIKI
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of
oneself, of others, and of groups.
So if a person has access to a gun and can use it to scare others - ie controlling their
emotions -- they are emotionally intelligent?