Best of the Archives: The Science of Emotional Intelligence | Daniel Goleman

How much would your relationships improve if you could up your emotional intelligence game? That phrase, “emotional intelligence” or EQ, entered the lexicon over 25 years ago, when Daniel Goleman wrote a book by the same name. 

In this episode, Daniel Goleman talks about the four components of emotional intelligence and how we can develop these skills in our daily lives.  

Golman is a Harvard-trained psychologist who, along with other contemplative luminaries such as Joseph Goldstein, Sharon Salzberg and Jon Kabat-Zinn, went to Asia and discovered meditation in the 1960s— making it a huge part of their lives and careers. 

In this episode we talk about: 

• The four components of emotional intelligence, how to develop them, and why these skills matter so much during the middle of a pandemic 
• Empathy and relationship management in the age of zoom
• The “marshmallow test” and impulse control
• A phenomenon he calls, “amygdala hijacks”
• Why so many Jewish kids in the sixties and seventies got turned on to Buddhism 

Where to find Daniel Goleman online: 

Website:http://www.danielgoleman.info

Social Media:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanielGolemanEI
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/danielgoleman

Books Mentioned:

• Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body by Richard Davidson 
• Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl 

• A Force for Good: The Dalai Lama's Vision for Our World by Daniel Goleman 

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Definition of “EQ”
• First Person Plural: EI & Beyond Podcast with Daniel Goleman
• Peter Salovey, president of Yale University
• Jack Mayer, professor of psychology at the University of New Hampshire 
• Stanford’s Marshmallow test
• Spirit Rock Meditation Center 
• Ram Dass 
• Jon Kabat-Zinn 
• Sharon Salzberg
• Joseph Goldstein
• Jack Kornfield
• Sam Harris
• Mark Epstein
• Sylvia Boorstein
• Tara Brach
• Mingyur Rinpoche 
• Laurie Santos
• Lama Rod Owen