Types of Knowledge and Intelligences

Emotional intelligence is a concept I find fascinating and one I wish to develop further, not only for integration into my own personal life, but also for my future in teaching.

Goleman (1995) summarises emotional intelligence (EI) as “abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate mood and keep distress from swamping ability to think, to empathise and to hope.”

Goleman uses Gardner’s summary of interpersonal intelligence as “the ability to understand other people: what motivates them, how they work, how to work cooperatively with them,” even using the example in terms of success as a clinician. He defines intrapersonal intelligence as this “correlative ability, turned inward,” to form an accurate model of oneself and use it effectively in life.

Goleman states that no one can say exactly how much EI accounts for, but I believe it is vital for my role as a consulting veterinarian within the Murdoch Uni teaching hospital, where I currently work causally.

The notion that EI can be learned and improved upon is crucial. In the GP department, where my work lies, there is a focus on this. Here, students are taught how to perform consultations and are lucky enough to access face-to-face contact with the general public and their pets to learn these skills. They are instructed on aspects of basic interpersonal intelligence, such as reading body language and facial expressions. Sternberg appreciates that it is a key part of what makes people do well in practices. He includes one use of practical intelligence that is highly valued in the workplace, which is the “kind of sensitivity that allows effective managers to pick up tacit messages.” I believe we vets use these same skills to pick up tacit messages in our clients (pet owners). We are required to determine a their individual EI abilities and to use these to our and their advantage - by creating rapport and a trusting working relationship with our clients, to satisfy them and their expectations, and thus giving them the comfort to allow us to work with their pets.  A big part of building this rapport is the ability to empathise. It is a word that came up a lot during my own learning as a student. Goleman lists empathy, or “recognizing emotions in others,” as the 4^th of Salvoy’s 5 abilities that define EI. He states that it builds on one’s self-awareness, and is required to be better in caring professions such as my own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2mAiPrOloQ 

Using the robotic Start Trek character “Data” as an example, Goleman explains some key aspects of human life and feelings (as opposed to metacognition) and discusses passion, faith, hope and devotion – Of course these feelings are all dealt with on a daily basis in my workplace, as to many of our client’s, pets are considered members of the family and any loss, illness or injury are a big cause of feelings and emotions.

On a more intrapersonal level, the university has introduced a small component into the vet course concerned with dealing with stress and one's own emotion, as burnout, “compassion fatigue” and suicide are sadly a big problem within the industry. I believe this is not just due to the nature of our work, but also because of the personality and IQ types that choose to be vets. Many psychologists and educators agree that IQ is a narrowed view of academic skills, and IQ testing is a direct predictor only of success in classroom or as professor (Gardner, 1983). Most vets do not end up in a life of academia, but despite this, vet school entry, which is more often than not directly from secondary school, is based on an IQ or academic intelligence testing and a ranking system. This highlights the problem that there is no actual way of scoring for EI. As a result of this, I believe there are many “high IQ” types in our field.

Goleman uses Block’s “ego resilience” study to describe pure IQ types of men as intellectuals; ambitious, productive but critical, condescending, unexpressive, detached, emotionally cold and bland. On the flipside, highly emotional competent men are outgoing and cheerful, with a commitment to people and causes, tend to take responsibility, have an ethical outlook, and are sympathetic and caring in relationships. High IQ women tend to be intellectually fluent and confident, but introspective and prone to feeling anxiety, guilt and rumination. They hesitate to express anger openly, but do so indirectly. Unlike highly emotionally competent women, they do not reach out to new people or adapt to stress as well. I do wonder if skews in these characteristics predispose to the above issues of compassion-fatigue and suicide.

Coleman ends the chapter saying EI "adds far more qualities that make us more fully human." In a job where we are expected to be human, I believe EI should remain a focus of our current teaching and for the selection of future vets.