Now, listen to part of a lecture in a Psychology class.
Professor (man): So, here's an example: my daughter had a friend over to our house recently and they decided to watch a movie together, only they got into an argument because they couldn't decide on what movie to watch. My daughter started to get quite upset during the argument, which wasn't like her at all. But then, my daughter stopped, and thought about why she was so upset. She realized her reaction was inappropriate, and she also realized she wasn't really upset with her friend…there was something else bothering her.See, she'd just gotten this summer job as a camp counselor for children, and she was feeling a lot of worry and stress about how well she would do, she said she'd never worked with children before, so she figured out that she wasn't upset about what movie to watch with her friend, but about starting her new job. She really wanted it to go well. She wanted the kids to like her. And when she understood this, she stopped arguing with her friend, and apologized to her. She told her friend how anxious she felt about starting the job, and how sorry she was about getting upset with her, and her friend encouraged her, saying she’d do great at the job! So my daughter felt better, and they relaxed and had fun together, same as always." "
Explain how the example from the lecture illustrates the concept of emotional intelligence.
Emotion Intelligence refers to the ability of people to recognize their true feelings and understand what is causing them. And the professor illustrates this with personal experience from his daughter. His daughter once invited her friend to come over to watch movie. But later they had an argument about what to watch. At first, his daughter was upset. However, later, she cooled herself down, and thought about why she acted this way, during which the emotional intelligence kicked in. She realized that she was actually upset about her new job as a counselor for small kids rather than about her friend. She was overwhelmed because she had never been with kids before, and she wanted them to like her. So she stopped the argument and apologized and explained her problem to her friend who then forgave and encouraged her. Finally they relaxed and had fun together, just as usual. (150 words)
