Real intelligence

Emotional Intelligence — Why it can matter more than IQ by Daniel Goleman; Bantam Books; Price: Rs.220; 413 pp Not a few knowledgeable social scientists among others have often remarked that India’s global reputation for spirituality and piety is not entirely deserved, and that beyond this facade the subcontinent has always been a cruel and violent arena with a huge deficit in manners and especially empathy. As with all social infirmities, this deficit too can be traced back to lacunae in the education system. In particular, to widespread ignorance within academic and parental communities of the importance of developing the emotional intelligence of children. Although some of the more avant-garde schools have lately begun to acknowledge the importance of ‘life skills education’, this awareness has yet to spread to the great majority of the nation’s institutions of education — primary, secondary or tertiary. There is little awareness within the teacher or parent communities that developing the emotional quotient (EQ) of students is as important as developing their intelligence quotient (IQ). Indeed school syllabuses and curriculums — heavily focused upon developing language, science and math skills — almost entirely ignore the vital EQ or emotional intelligence of children. The neglect of emotional education — a global phenomenon — is surprising because one would have thought the importance of EQ is self-evident. Or else what’s the explanation for the large number of class geniuses with high IQs and pass percentages who we can all recall from our school days, failing to fulfill their great promise in adulthood? According to Daniel Goleman, a Harvard psychology graduate and New York Times journalist, the explanation is rooted in the often less developed emotional intelligence of high academic performers. On the other hand the highly developed emotional intelligence of the academically less distinguished, more than compensates for their low IQs and transforms them into high achievers. This is the thrust of Emotional Intelligence — Why it can matter more than IQ, the worldwide bestseller which, although it was first published almost a decade ago, has received scant attention in this country. Contemporary India’s daily deluge of horror stories highlighted by the media — gender oppression, child abuse, student riots, caste atrocities, corruption, road rage incidents and casual official and societal tolerance of poverty, injustice and despair — indicates a huge, and perhaps growing emotional intelligence deficit of nationwide proportions. Emotional Intelligence offers numerous solutions to address this damaging shortcoming. “There is growing evidence that fundamental ethical stances in life stem from underlying emotional capacities. For one, impulse is the medium of emotion; the seed of all impulse is feeling bursting to express itself into action. Those who are at the mercy of impulse — who lack self control — suffer a moral deficiency: the ability to control impulse is the base of will and character. By the same token, the root of altruism lies in empathy, the ability to read emotions in others; lacking a sense of another’s need or despair, there is no caring. And if there are any two moral stances…