The Science behind Emotional Intelligence - Research in Psychology

Evidence for the importance of emotions comes from the field of psychology, too. Here are some important findings:

Stress activates a certain gene that attaches to brain DNA, causing abnormalities that lead to depression as well as other emotional difficulties. The first bad experience feels negative and sets up a pathway in the brain. The second experience feels worse, and after repeated experiences, the memory trace has become a superhighway for depression.

When we are calmly energized (good stress), the brain secretes catecholamines, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. This kind of "stress" is beneficial because we can perform at our best.

When stress is severe, the brain secretes cortisol, which intensifies sensory awareness but dulls rational thinking. When levels of this substance are high, our memory does not work well, and we make more mistakes. Cortisol, levels rise when we are bored, frustrated, or highly anxious, or when we have other strong negative emotions.

Prolonged stress in laboratory animals has been shown to actually destroy neurons, shrinking the brain's memory center.

Experiments were performed in which people were shown shapes at a rate too quick for the shapes to register with the thinking brain. But subjects developed a preference for those shapes, even though they had no conscious awareness that they had seen them. The limbic brain perceives things more quickly, and even decides if it likes those things before the thinking brain can be engaged.

When we look at angry or happy faces, our facial muscles change very subtly in the direction of what was viewed. These subtle changes, while not visible to our eyes, can be measured with electronic sensors.

People showing little emotion when they first sit down to face an individual who shows a lot of emotion invariably pick up on the mood of the expressive partner. We subtly re-create in ourselves the mood of another, and may, in fact, be programmed to do so.

Animal studies show that primates experience empathy, just as humans do. When an animal sees another of its species in distress, the primate brain has specialized neurons in the visual cortex and in the amygdala that fire only in response to particular facial expressions that convey fear, threat, or submission. This might indicate that humans also have such specialized "empathy" neurons, and that empathy is programmed into our brains.

These findings are particularly relevant in the workplace, where stress can affect the environment as well as performance. Humans are complex "wholes," programmed to respond emotionally. No one can perform their jobs apart from their emotions, but excess stress is particularly disruptive to smooth functioning, and it makes concentrated, rational thinking very difficult. "Emotionally intelligent" individuals harness these emotions and use them appropriately.