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A review by anitaofplaybooktag
Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships by Daniel Goleman
3.0
More of a psychology book than a science book, Goleman does a nice job of explaining the brain biology that underlies our feelings and social interactions. He then goes on to discuss the underpinnings of our social relationships, why some people are psychopaths, the impact of social relationships on health, etc. etc.
I found the first part to be the most enlightening. Goleman discusses how humans are inherently empathetic - - and how empathy is actually controlled by the more unconscious part of the brain. He illustrates this with some interesting anecdotes. One that was memorable to me was an experiment with monkeys. Six monkeys could pull one of two strings for food. One string gave the monkeys a lot of food, but also shocked a seventh monkey in the same cage. The other string gave the monkey a much smaller amount of food and did not shock their companion. Four of monkeys would only pull the second string so that their comrade was not shocked. The other two pretty much wouldn't pull any string and were starving themselves for days rather than take a chance of hurting their companion. I found this to be fascinating - - that their empathy was actually higher than their desire for food.
In addition, Goleman makes a compelling case that emotions are very contagious and that we can spread joy or sadness quite readily to our fellow human beings.
Unfortunately, the points that Goleman makes are hammered home again and again. I felt a bit like his book was a science article blown up into big 300 page book. He did give lots of examples, but after awhile I just felt that his thesis didn't really merit a whole book.
A lot of the book really consisted of his views that stemmed from his research i.e. prisons need to be more rehabilitative, medical caregivers need more time with patients in order to give optimal care (duh), and so on and so forth. He also has a large section on relationships and how your childhood really impacts your own relationships later in life (double duh). It might be very useful to read this section if you do have young children as it does show the impact you have on their lives.
I found the very most interesting part to be the biology that contributes to people becoming psychopaths . . .and that there's definitely an element of brain chemistry that is a contributing factor.
All in all, I'm glad I read it, but I think his first book - - Emotional Intelligence - - was a WHOLE lot better and more interesting. So if you like psychology - - I'd go with that one first!
I found the first part to be the most enlightening. Goleman discusses how humans are inherently empathetic - - and how empathy is actually controlled by the more unconscious part of the brain. He illustrates this with some interesting anecdotes. One that was memorable to me was an experiment with monkeys. Six monkeys could pull one of two strings for food. One string gave the monkeys a lot of food, but also shocked a seventh monkey in the same cage. The other string gave the monkey a much smaller amount of food and did not shock their companion. Four of monkeys would only pull the second string so that their comrade was not shocked. The other two pretty much wouldn't pull any string and were starving themselves for days rather than take a chance of hurting their companion. I found this to be fascinating - - that their empathy was actually higher than their desire for food.
In addition, Goleman makes a compelling case that emotions are very contagious and that we can spread joy or sadness quite readily to our fellow human beings.
Unfortunately, the points that Goleman makes are hammered home again and again. I felt a bit like his book was a science article blown up into big 300 page book. He did give lots of examples, but after awhile I just felt that his thesis didn't really merit a whole book.
A lot of the book really consisted of his views that stemmed from his research i.e. prisons need to be more rehabilitative, medical caregivers need more time with patients in order to give optimal care (duh), and so on and so forth. He also has a large section on relationships and how your childhood really impacts your own relationships later in life (double duh). It might be very useful to read this section if you do have young children as it does show the impact you have on their lives.
I found the very most interesting part to be the biology that contributes to people becoming psychopaths . . .and that there's definitely an element of brain chemistry that is a contributing factor.
All in all, I'm glad I read it, but I think his first book - - Emotional Intelligence - - was a WHOLE lot better and more interesting. So if you like psychology - - I'd go with that one first!