Emotional intelligence and moral development in everyday life

¶ … Psychology take-Home

Alan

Alan's quote clearly illustrates the concept of 'emotional intelligence.' The theory of emotional intelligence is associated with Daniel Goleman, who suggests that success in life cannot be solely attributed to intellectual ability as measured on conventional IQ tests. (Intelligence testing is a form of cognitive psychology.) Emotional intelligence has become more accepted as a 'real' intelligence in recent years because of the growing popularity of Howard Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences, or the idea that intelligence can defined according to specific ability groupings. Alan's sense of self-reflection about his own life underlines the fact that it is possible to develop emotional intelligence, even if someone is not naturally gifted in this particular area of his or her life.

Alan is an engineer, a profession that has traditionally valued technical capacities rather than feelings. But unlike some highly successful engineers, Alan has come to realize the importance of the 'human element,' in, for example, giving directions to a subordinate or selling a product to a particular vendor. The fact that Alan is able to learn suggests a particular point-of-view of human intelligence and emotional development: once, scientists believed generalized intelligence was largely unalterable by experience. Gardner did acknowledge that there was a g-factor of intelligence in the sense that certain extraordinary individuals, although proficient in one intelligence, might be nearly as proficient in other, separate disciplines, but Gardner also suggested that experience and 'nurture' could affect the development of different intelligences. By cultivating emotional intelligence, Alan has been able to build upon his capacity in this area, although his strongest intelligence might be his quantitative skills.

Catherine

Catherine's grandchildren are exhibiting moral development (developmental psychology) along the model of Kohlberg. Kohlberg suggested that at first children obey adults because of a commitment to 'following the rules' of conduct, and then gradually, over a series of stages, began to internalize more objective concepts of justice. It should be noted that while Kohlberg believed that his theories were universally applicable to both genders, not all theorists agree with him. Carol Gillian has suggested that because of female socialization, women tend to value relatedness more than abstract principles in their decision-making. Gillian viewed Kohlberg's conceptualization of moral development as patriarchal and discriminatory, given his prioritization of moral abstractions over compassion for the individual, and suggested that values development should not be viewed in a hierarchical manner. However, Catherine, a woman, does not distinguish between the moral development of boys and girls and seems to value abstract moral principles as the highest form of moral development.

It should also be noted that Catherine's view of the developmental process reflects her own 'life stage' as a grandmother, as delineated by Erik Erikson. Catherine is taking stock of her life, and looking back upon it with pleasure, noting how her children have become parents themselves. She sounds fulfilled and pleased, and exhibits a sense of strength and integrity in her manner of expressing herself. This suggests that her earlier developmental conflicts are resolved. Integral to Erikson's theory is the idea that a person cannot 'move on,' developmentally speaking, until his or her earlier life stage conflicts have been brought to a successful conclusion.

June

The specific theory that June is discussing is that of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, part of the humanistic view of psychology. Maslow stated that higher-order needs cannot be addressed until lower-level needs are satisfied. Lower-level needs include the needs for food, safety, and social relatedness, versus abstract notions of fulfillment. A good example of Maslow's theories in action is seen in schools: a child who does not have his physical needs taken care of in the form of a healthy breakfast and who lives in an unsafe apartment will have trouble focusing in a morning math class, even if he may be intellectually aware of the fact that to succeed in life and attain higher social status he must improve his grades. June, however, does not believe that this is the case, and instead advocates a different view of human development. Many theorists, it should be noted, have disputed Maslow's hierarchical view of human aspiration and proposed alternatives such as ERG (existence, relatedness, and growth) theory. While ERG theory does allow that all individuals have physiological needs and higher aspirations, it states that the prioritization of these needs may be different for different people. An artist (a writer, like June) may be willing to 'starve' for the sake of his or her art, for example. Also, ERG theory suggests that needs can be pursued simultaneously.

Ultimately, June's view of the need to find one's own way and the fact that everyone has his or her own potential for genius is most suggestive of Rogerian or humanistic psychology, a non-directive form of therapy that allows the patient, rather than the therapist to govern the analysis and process of self-discovery.

Odie

Odie's analysis of her mother's situation reflects a biological view of the grieving process. On one hand, Odie acknowledges that grief is a psychological state in the sense that it is normal to grieve over a person's death. However, depression can also have a physiological component. Raising a person's level of serotonin through Prozac, and SSRI, a selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor, can change a person's mood. This enabled Odie's mother to break out of her depression. However, depression is a complex illness, and as Odie notes, few individuals are cured by medication alone. (In fact, some studies have indicated that for major, as opposed to minor depression, drugs are no more effective than placebos).