The Intelligence of Emotions
The Intelligence of EmotionsHow could an extremely bright and introspective student be so easily defeated in life, hanging himself from a steel beam at a young age of 15? Trevor Ian Smith was a sophomore in Woodson High School, Virginia. Academically strong, he was taking courses such as Chemistry GT and was actively involved in the speech and debate team, being one of eleven students selected for the National Travel team. Yet amidst all the positive things in his life, he chose the wrong path and committed suicide. Why? Rejection from his girlfriend whom he pursued relentlessly triggered a most tragic event. It seems rather ironic and baffling that a person of obvious intelligence could act so irrational. But what is intelligence?
Intelligence is defined as a measure of one’s mental ability. Often people associate intelligence with success. It is a wonder though why some people with high IQ fail while others with average IQ prosper in life; why some students are motivated to work harder after failing a test while others become discouraged; “why some people remain buoyant in the face of troubles that would sink a less resilient force” (Gibbs 62). The answer lies in one’s emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is a type of social intelligence that involves self-awareness, managing emotions, motivating oneself, empathy, and handling relationships. These factors, as “new brain research suggests, may be the true measure of human intelligence” (Gibbs 60).
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Having a sense of self-awareness is the basis of emotional intelligence. A person stuck in a traffic jam for hours might get home feeling cranky without quite realising why. Being able to recognize a feeling as it happens involves an activated neocortex - the part of the brain where the highest level of thinking takes place such as reasoning decision-making, purposeful behaviour and voluntary motor control. Through this process in the neocortex, one is better able to identify his/her feelings and understand them. This realisation is a neutral mode as if “’being accompanied by a second self – a wraithlike observer who, not sharing the dementia of his double, is able to watch with dispassionate curiosity as his companion struggles’”. (qtd. in Goleman 47) Such self-awareness is crucial for self-reflectiveness and self-control, better able to handle an emotional response.
Managing emotions in an appropriate manner is counterpart to recognizing feelings. The key is balance – life with suppressed emotions is bland and dull; one with too much, unstable and tense. Emotions are unavoidable. What type of emotions one feels and when it comes are impossible to control. How one reacts is the difficult choice. As Aristotle simply claims, “’Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way –...
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