Book Review
By: Shell87
Date: November 5, 2001
Link to book review instructions:
http://www.soc.hawaii.edu/leonj/leonj/leonpsy15/g15bookreview.html
Working With Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman
Today
society is full of competition, whether it is for the best job, a higher grade
or simply for the sheer fun of the game, everyone is competing for something in
one way or another. Now that I am a
senior in college I have been doing a great deal of think about my future. I have been thinking about getting a real
job which I hope will turn into a lifetime, fulfilling career, but what will
set me a part from all of the other applicant’s for any job that I apply
for? I also asked myself, what are
companies looking when they hire new people?
I found my answers to these questions in Daniel Goleman’s, Working
With Emotional Intelligence.
Today’s society is in great need for a concept to help people become
more effective in all areas of their lives, everyone can improve on something.
Emotional
intelligence is a rather new topic of interest that that media has been
recently introducing to the public.
Although I have just learned about thins concept myself I think that it
is important that the media does get involved in the exposure of the public to
this concept because it is vital to success in all areas of our lives. With the pressures that is placed on many
people today it is very useful that the media help to expose helpful hints and
leads to a variety of theories and topics and from there the public has the
choice to include or ignore them in their own compilation of important life
strategies.
Everyone
whether we realize it or not wants to know what will aid them in getting that
dream job or at least giving them a shot a trying for it. In a society where competition for that
dream job is high it is great to know that there are tools out that will help
us to have a better chance at getting the things we want regarding our careers.
Working
With Emotional Intelligence
does not only apply to those who are looking for careers, but it also applies
to parents, teenager and everyone in general.
In one way or another everyone will get at least a little out of the
many important points Goleman focuses one.
These focuses can be applied to all areas of our lives not only to our
careers.
Important Topics
The first topic that I think is very important and I think is vital to understanding in today’s society is leadership. My definition of leadership is anyone who is able to be effective in guiding a group of people or even a single person toward a desired goal taking on a more authoritarian position, but effectively producing desired effects.
Goleman continually writes throughout his book about the importance of leadership, not just any type of leadership, but effective leadership. He explains through many easy to understand examples how vital to any company effective leadership is. If a company is under effective leadership, the company will most likely be successful whereas if a company is under ineffective leadership the company will undoubtibly fail in the end.
I feel effective leadership is an important topic in Goleman’s book because other than applying it to our careers, we can also apply this concept to every aspect of our lives not matter who we are effective leadership skill is an essential to becoming the best person we can be.
The second topic in this book I found to be important was communication. My definition of communication the ability to express thoughts, feelings and emotions effectively in a manner that the receiver is able to fully understand all meanings and intentions behind the either verbal or non-verbal message.
Communication is vital to not only a person as a member of a company but effective communication is vital to everyone in their everyday lives. Goleman uses examples of effective and ineffective communicators to illustrate the importance of communication. As a college student I have learned that communication with fellow students, professors, counselors and university staff is essential to the success of my college education. If I am not able to communicate effectively with any one of the above mentioned people I could become confused and lose sight of my focus of graduating because I am not able to communicate effectively.
The third topic I found to be important in this book is the topic Goleman writes about emotions being contagious. I feel that this is so true. My definition of emotions being contagious is when a strong feeling is expressed consciously or unconsciously and the outcome of that expression is that people around you have or share that same understanding of that initial expressed feeling.
This topic is important in the workplace, but also another in another area of our lives, in our relationships we have, whether it be a romantic relationship or a friendship emotions become highly contagious. This is an important topic to understand because it unveils the truth about how we are able to change our own destinies. By releasing positive and hopeful emotions to people we are surrounded by we will be able to effectively be able to lead and communicate to make our lives much better and more fulfilling.
Many companies have to deal with important issues such as low productivity, interpersonal conflict and poor leadership. Goleman’s book directly deals with many issues that many companies are facing today. Goleman does not give a solve all end all solution, he guides and exposes why problems in a company environment happen in the first place, then used helpful examples to provide evidence that the correction to a problem is possible as long as the correct techniques are taken to solve the problem.
The solution that Goleman offers in Working With Emotional Intelligence is dealing with your own emotions and effectively displaying them to your advantage. No matter what position you may be in, there is always room for improvement. Goleman does not simply give the reader one solution for all problems but guides the reader to understanding the importance of making sure you are being effective rather than looking at someone else first.
The importance of the topics Goleman writes about in his book is essential to our health and overall well-being. If we are constantly unhappy, irritated and dissatisfied that may lead to serious medical health problems. If we are able to somehow make our world we live in a little more tolerable our health won’t be affected as much. Goleman along with helping the reader to becoming successful in the workplace also takes to guessing out of why many of the problems in the workplace happen and he gives solutions to what we can to make life a little better. Less worry and anxiety leads to better health and less serious medical problems.
As a Psychology Major…
As a psychology I am able to look at this book
from many different areas. I can see
how a parent could use this book in the way they may choose to parent their
child, which is related to behavior psychology. I can see how this book is related to abnormal psychology in the
sense that many of our behaviors and incorrect beliefs could somehow seem to be
looked at in an abnormal way and I’m sure many of our practiced which lead us
to false beliefs have some kind abnormal psychological explanation.
I have noticed that because I am a
psychology major I do seem to often wonder why people behave the way they do
and I think that this is so relevant to Goleman’s book, like I have wondered
about many things Goleman has probably did the same thing when he thought about
emotional intelligence. Being a
psychology major has helped me a great deal to appreciate even the simplest
topics in this book.
Important Quotes
“The emotional economy is the sum
total exchanges of feeling among us.”
(p.165)
“Great leaders go a step further,
integrating emotional realities into what they see, and so instilling strategy
with meaning and resonance.” (p.187)
+ And –‘s
This book is great for everyone. It
is not just geared toward one group of people.
The helpful topics and their solutions will help anyone become a more
effective person overall. It is very easy
reading for those who like to get right to the point, but is not too easy which
gives it a balance for all types of readers.
Goleman could have left out some
material that he had mentioned about the brain and the importance that is has
on the emotional spin cycle. This makes
the book become a little confusing at times.
Goleman also gives the impression that because he emphasizes the brain
so much that people may begin to believe that the brain may cause
uncontrollable emotions and that is absolutely not the case at all. In that sense Goleman could have either left
out the parts about the brain or at least explained it a little better so that
it wouldn’t seem so confusing.
So, Who is This Book For?
Everyone should read this book. This book is for parents, business people,
college students, high school students, teachers, everyone. It doesn’t take a psychology background to
understand this book; Goleman was successful in making this book very useful to
anyone who may seem interested in this topic of emotional intelligence.
This book is relevant to education
because it teaches the reader about awareness of our emotions, which is vital
to controlling our emotional spin cycle.
Awareness to not only our own emotions but about the emotions of other
which in turn may eventually affect our own emotions. This book can be used as a tool in the classroom to provide
children and adults about the importance of emotional awareness not matter what
point we are at in our lives.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this
book. I don’t usually enjoy reading
books that are assigned for school, but I think that if you are really willing
to read this book and apply at least one of the many important topics to your
life no matter what areas you choose to improve, you will see a dramatic change
for the better.
Related Site
1-Emotions
and Emotional Intelligence http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/gallery/young/emotion.htm
I found this discussion of emotional intelligence at a website about Daniel Goleman’s book, “Working With Emotional Intelligence.”
Recent discussions of EI proliferate across the American
landscape -- from the cover of Time,
to a best selling book by 
Daniel Goleman, to an
episode of the Oprah Winfrey show. But EI is not some easily dismissed
"neopsycho-babble." EI has its roots in the concept of "social
intelligence," first identified by E.L. Thorndike in 1920. Psychologists
have been uncovering other intelligences for some time now, and grouping them
mainly into three clusters: abstract intelligence (the ability to understand
and manipulate with verbal and mathematic symbols), concrete intelligence (the
ability to understand and manipulate with objects), and social intelligence
(the ability to understand and relate to people) (Ruisel, 1992). Thorndike
(1920: 228), defined social intelligence as "the ability to understand and
manage men and women, boys and girls -- to act wisely in human relations."
And (1983) includes inter- and intrapersonal intelligences in his theory of
multiple intelligences (see Gardner
for an interesting interview with the Harvard University professor). These two
intelligences comprise social intelligence. He defines them as follows:
Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand other people: what motivates them, how they work, how to work cooperatively with them. Successful salespeople, politicians, teachers, clinicians, and religious leaders are all likely to be individuals with high degrees of interpersonal intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence ... is a correlative ability, turned inward. It is a capacity to form an accurate, veridical model of oneself and to be able to use that model to operate effectively in life.
Emotional intelligence, on the other hand, "is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one's thinking and actions" (Mayer & Salovey, 1993: 433). According to Salovey & Mayer (1990), EI subsumes Gardner's inter- and intrapersonal intelligences, and involves abilities that may be categorized into five domains:
Self-awareness:
Observing yourself and recognizing a feeling as it happens.
Managing emotions:
Handling feelings so that they are appropriate; realizing what is behind a feeling; finding ways to handle fears and anxieties, anger, and sadness.
Motivating oneself:
Channeling emotions in the service of a goal; emotional self control; delaying gratification and stifling impulses.
Empathy:
Sensitivity to others' feelings and concerns and taking their perspective; appreciating the differences in how people feel about things.
Handling relationships:
Managing emotions in others; social competence and social skills.
Self-awareness (intrapersonal intelligence), empathy and
handling relationships (interpersonal intelligence) are essentially dimensions
of social intelligence. See the Time
magazine piece for an overview of emotional intelligence. Their article
basically summarizes Daniel Goleman's Emotional
Intelligence book in a few simple pages, interjecting other experts' opinions
and pieces of research to lend to a more balanced critique of emotional
intelligence. In addition, look st the piece on emotional intelligence from a Hindu newspaper
article. It offers a more theoretical and historical perspective on
emotional intelligence.
2- Why is emotional intelligence important?
Researchers investigated dimensions of emotional intelligence (EI) by measuring related concepts, such as social skills, interpersonal competence, psychological maturity and emotional awareness, long before the term "emotional intelligence" came into use. Grade school teachers have been teaching the rudiments of emotional intelligence since 1978, with the development of the Self Science Curriculum and the teaching of classes such as "social development," "social and emotional learning," and "personal intelligence," all aimed at "raise[ing] the level of social and emotional competence" (Goleman, 1995: 262). Social scientists are just beginning to uncover the relationship of EI to other phenomenon, e.g., leadership (Ashforth and Humphrey, 1995), group performance (Williams & Sternberg, 1988), individual performance, interpersonal/social exchange, managing change, and conducting performance evaluations (Goleman, 1995). And according to Goleman (1995: 160), "Emotional intelligence, the skills that help people harmonize, should become increasingly valued as a workplace asset in the years to come."