Emotional inteligence
propriety; they dictate how our own feelings impact oneveryone else. To follow these rules well is to have optimalimpact; to do so poorly is to foment emotionalhavoc.Actors, of course, are artists of the emotional display;their expressiveness is what evokes response in theiraudience. And, no doubt, some of us come into life asnatural actors. But partly because the lessons we learnabout display rules vary according to the models we'vehad, people differ greatly in their adeptness.EXPRESSIVNESS AND EMOTIONALCONTAGION226/661It was early in the Vietnam War, and an American platoonwas hunkered down in some rice paddies, in theheat of a firefight with the Vietcong. Suddenly a line ofsix monks started walking along the elevated berms thatseparated paddy from paddy. Perfectly calm and poised,the monks walked directly toward the line of fire."They didn't look right, they didn't look left. Theywalked straight through," recalls David Busch, one ofthe American soldiers. "It was really strange, becausenobody shot at 'em. And after they walked over theberm, suddenly all the fight was out of me. It just didn'tfeel like I wanted to do this anymore, at least not that
227/661day. It must have been that way for everybody, becauseeverybody quit. We just stopped fighting." 3The power of the monks' quietly courageous calm topacify soldiers in the heat of battle illustrates a basicprinciple of social life: Emotions are contagious. To besure, this tale marks an extreme. Most emotional contagionis far more subtle, part of a tacit exchange that happensin every encounter. We transmit and catch moodsfrom each other in what amounts to a subterranean economyof the psyche in which some encounters are toxic,some nourishing. This emotional exchange is typically ata subtle, almost imperceptible level; the way a salespersonsays thank you can leave us feeling ignored, resented,or genuinely welcomed and appreciated. We catchfeelings from one another as though they were somekind of social virus.We send emotional signals in every encounter, andthose signals affect those we are with. The more adroitwe are socially, the better we control the signals wesend; the reserve of polite society is, after all, simply ameans to ensure that no disturbing emotional leakagewill unsettle the encounter (a social rule that, whenbrought into the domain of intimate relationships, isstifling). Emotional intelligence includes managing thisexchange; "popular" and "charming" are terms we usefor people whom we like to be with because their
- Page 176 and 177: 176/661Seligman defines optimism in
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- Page 200 and 201: Attunement is very different from s
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- Page 228 and 229: 228/661emotional skills make us fee
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- Page 246 and 247: Roger asks, before committing himse
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- Page 250 and 251: PART THREEEMOTIONALINTELLIGENCE APP
- Page 252 and 253: 252/661staggering 67 percent! 1 If
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- Page 260 and 261: about how to disagree is key to mar
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propriety; they dictate how our own feelings impact on
everyone else. To follow these rules well is to have optimal
impact; to do so poorly is to foment emotional
havoc.
Actors, of course, are artists of the emotional display;
their expressiveness is what evokes response in their
audience. And, no doubt, some of us come into life as
natural actors. But partly because the lessons we learn
about display rules vary according to the models we've
had, people differ greatly in their adeptness.
EXPRESSIVNESS AND EMOTIONAL
CONTAGION
226/661
It was early in the Vietnam War, and an American platoon
was hunkered down in some rice paddies, in the
heat of a firefight with the Vietcong. Suddenly a line of
six monks started walking along the elevated berms that
separated paddy from paddy. Perfectly calm and poised,
the monks walked directly toward the line of fire.
"They didn't look right, they didn't look left. They
walked straight through," recalls David Busch, one of
the American soldiers. "It was really strange, because
nobody shot at 'em. And after they walked over the
berm, suddenly all the fight was out of me. It just didn't
feel like I wanted to do this anymore, at least not that