Emotional inteligence
10/661this erratic tide of outburst and regret; it reaches into allof our lives in one way or another.The last decade has seen a steady drumroll of reportslike these, portraying an uptick in emotional ineptitude,desperation, and recklessness in our families, our communities,and our collective lives. These years havechronicled surging rage and despair, whether in thequiet loneliness of latchkey kids left with a TV for ababysitter, or in the pain of children abandoned, neglected,or abused, or in the ugly intimacy of marital violence.A spreading emotional malaise can be read innumbers showing a jump in depression around theworld, and in the reminders of a surging tide of aggression—teenswith guns in schools, freeway mishaps endingin shootings, disgruntled ex-employees massacringformer fellow workers. Emotional abuse, drive-byshooting, and post-traumatic stress all entered thecommon lexicon over the last decade, as the slogan ofthe hour shifted from the cheery "Have a nice day" tothe testiness of "Make my day."This book is a guide to making sense of the senselessness.As a psychologist, and for the last decade as ajournalist for The New York Times, I have been trackingthe progress of our scientific understanding of the realmof the irrational. From that perch I have been struck bytwo opposing trends, one portraying a growing calamity
in our shared emotional life, the other offering somehopeful remedies.WHY THIS EMOTION NOW11/661The last decade, despite its bad news, has also seen anunparalleled burst of scientific studies of emotion. Mostdramatic are the glimpses of the brain at work, madepossible by innovative methods such as new brain-imagingtechnologies. They have made visible for the firsttime in human history what has always been a source ofdeep mystery: exactly how this intricate mass of cellsoperates while we think and feel, imagine and dream.This flood of neurobiological data lets us understandmore clearly than ever how the brain's centers for emotionmove us to rage or to tears, and how more ancientparts of the brain, which stir us to make war as well aslove, are channeled for better or worse. This unprecedentedclarity on the workings of emotions and their failingsbrings into focus some fresh remedies for our collectiveemotional crisis.I have had to wait till now before the scientific harvestwas full enough to write this book. These insights are solate in coming largely because the place of feeling inmental life has been surprisingly slighted by researchover the years, leaving the emotions a largely unexploredcontinent for scientific psychology. Into this void
- Page 2 and 3: EMOTIONALINTELLIGENCEWHY IT CAN MAT
- Page 4 and 5: For Tara, wellspring of emotional w
- Page 6 and 7: WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY12. The Famil
- Page 8 and 9: 8/661the rich possibilities the cit
- Page 12 and 13: 12/661has rushed a welter of self-h
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- Page 18 and 19: PART ONETHE EMOTIONAL BRAIN
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- Page 24 and 25: at the Crabtree household. In short
- Page 26 and 27: 26/661the face blanch as blood is s
- Page 28 and 29: 28/661These biological propensities
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- Page 32 and 33: 32/661To better grasp the potent ho
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- Page 36 and 37: 36/661the family unit and the long-
- Page 38 and 39: 2Anatomy of an Emotional HijackingL
- Page 40 and 41: moment passes, those so possessed h
- Page 42 and 43: 42/661feeling, as well as any feeli
- Page 44 and 45: 44/661It is in moments such as thes
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- Page 48 and 49: 48/661LeDoux overturned the prevail
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- Page 52 and 53: messages from the brain to regulate
- Page 54 and 55: 54/661memories date from the first
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in our shared emotional life, the other offering some
hopeful remedies.
WHY THIS EMOTION NOW
11/661
The last decade, despite its bad news, has also seen an
unparalleled burst of scientific studies of emotion. Most
dramatic are the glimpses of the brain at work, made
possible by innovative methods such as new brain-imaging
technologies. They have made visible for the first
time in human history what has always been a source of
deep mystery: exactly how this intricate mass of cells
operates while we think and feel, imagine and dream.
This flood of neurobiological data lets us understand
more clearly than ever how the brain's centers for emotion
move us to rage or to tears, and how more ancient
parts of the brain, which stir us to make war as well as
love, are channeled for better or worse. This unprecedented
clarity on the workings of emotions and their failings
brings into focus some fresh remedies for our collective
emotional crisis.
I have had to wait till now before the scientific harvest
was full enough to write this book. These insights are so
late in coming largely because the place of feeling in
mental life has been surprisingly slighted by research
over the years, leaving the emotions a largely unexplored
continent for scientific psychology. Into this void
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