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#nowreading Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman. Opens with Aristotle quote about how it's easy to be angry, hard to be angry in an appropriate way depending on context and desired ends https://t.co/s9BICWoMBr
Goleman reminisces on a hot afternoon in NYC - and how an enthusiastic bus driver's happy, infectious attitude turned his passengers from sullen to cheerful. This memory stuck with him closely for 20+ years: bus driver as urban peacemaker, transmuting irritability into softness
Goleman frames self-restraint, zeal, persistence, compassion and self-motivation as skills that can be developed and taught. "Emotional habits" can be shaped and reformed. Toxic emotions are bad for health. Brain circuitry is malleable, temperament is not destiny
Massive survey of parents and teachers show a worldwide trend of children being more emotionally troubled than before: more lonely, depressed, angry, unruly, nervous, worried, impulsive, aggressive. Surely education needs to address this
"The first laws and proclamations of ethics can be read as attempts to harness, subdue and domesticate emotional life. [...] Despite these social constraints, passion overwhelms reason tune and time again." Civilization is still too new and foreign to the ancient human being
Anger: blood flow to hands, increased heart rate, adrenaline boosts vigor Fear: blood flow to legs, away from face. Momentary freeze in case hiding is optimal Love: parasympathetic arousal (opposite of flight/fight) - relaxation response, calm and contentment, cooperative mood
Surprise: widened eyes, take in more visual information Disgust: wrinkled nose, curled lips - maybe primordial attempt to expel noxious stimuli Sadness: diminished energy/enthusiasm, introspection, huddling for safety of home All of these are also shaped by cultural norms
Goleman describes a friend telling him about her recent divorce- she said she was happy, and didn't think or care about her ex-husband anymore - and her eyes suddenly welled up with tears as she spoke. There is a mind that thinks and a mind that feels
The brain evolved from the bottom up, and each new human embryo's brain roughly retraces this evolutionary course Brainstem: breathing, metabolism Limbic system: fear, disgust, lust. Rudimentary learning & memory is possible here - what to eat, what to avoid Neocortex: thought