Emotional Intelligence Under Siege

Everywhere I look these days, it seems as if the world has gone mad. I have reacted in surprise, dismay shock, as well as tears and prayers over what feels, sounds, and looks like the emotional meltdown of America. Several questions and concerns?have plagued my mind which precipitated this post. So, I decided to share them with my readers. From my lived experiences, observations, and research, our institutions (i.e., K-12, universities, ?government, workplaces, and healthcare systems) are under attack. Our communities (i.e., families, ?neighborhoods, faith-based communities ) are under attack. Our environment (i.e., ?air, water, and land) is under attack. ?“Under attack from what?”, you may ask, from disruptive emotional behavior.

As a psychologist with an interest in human behavior, these are the questions that occupy my mind around what seems like an unending barrage of emotional outbursts that are harming our nation and our relationships with each other. What is causing these behaviors? Where do they originate from? How can these behaviors be predicted and possibly averted? What is going on inside the minds of the people who carry out these behaviors? What are they thinking? Why do they think what they think? What is their motivation?

Now that it is possible to produce brain images, what could their brain scan possibly show that we didn’t know before (Melkonian, 2022)? How could their behavior be changed? How could their thinking be changed? What type of therapies, tools, and resources could be used to redirect their thinking and produce a productive outcome rather than a destructive one? As human beings, we are comprised of a spirit, soul, and body. Could it be a spiritual imbalance? Could it be a chemical imbalance? Could it be a mental imbalance? Could these behaviors be the result of antisocial, environmental, poverty, wealth, or entitlement? What about the result of past traumatic experiences? Could these behaviors be the result of a lack of proper nutrition, love, care, and compassion, identity, life purpose? Could these behaviors be the result of a few of these problems or a combination of them all? If I were to conduct a study of my own, it would most definitely be an interesting multivariate analysis.

?If I could conduct the ultimate study, I would most definitely love to investigate these problems by performing a mixed-method research study that incorporated actual subjects along with control groups. My goal would be to explore where things went wrong in the lives of the subjects and what they were thinking along with some device to record physical changes in the body and possibly the mind. This problem would need to be addressed using a multidisciplinary approach as there would be so many variables to consider. This is the point that would hold the most interest to me – the emotional or mental impulse,?trigger, or thought patterns occurring before the disruptive behavior began. Needless to say, this is an area that needs research. In the interest of time and space, this post will only address the basics of emotional intelligence, our brain anatomy, and what the data tell us, along with a few suggestions on a way forward.

Emotional intelligence is defined as information that we take in through our five senses and thoughts which are processed by our brains and nervous system subsequently stimulating a response or reaction. Our emotions are controlled by the limbic system which is the emotional command center in our brain. Our brain’s limbic system is comprised of three paired structures. In other words, each structure appears on both sides of our brains. Those structures include the thalamus, which is the monitor of all message activity that occurs between our spinal cords, cerebellum, and the hypothalamus, which is responsible for managing our emotions, regulating our body temperature, and prompting us to eat and sleep. The hippocampus transports our memories to be downloaded, saved, filed and stored for future retrieval [i.e., remembering, recall, reflection] (Mayo Clinic, 2016). The amygdala is responsible for reactions and responses to fear, anxiety, anger, and stress.

We possess core emotions for which there are a plethora of secondary emotions. The key emotions include enjoyment, love, surprise, sadness, fear, disgust, shame, and anger. There has been much debate over emotional intelligence and how it can be best measured and whether they are traits, skills, and/or both and how to best assess them, which ones to use in the workplace and whether they account for cultural differences. The latest research shows emotional intelligence measurements that have been evaluated for their internal consistency and how they are used. Essentially, an approach called psychometrics is used to evaluate their efficacy (Luna-Bruna et al., 2021). There are?emerging technologies being investigated to study how human emotions can be digitized to be better understood through the use of robotics (White & Katsuno, 2022). Other studies are investigating how emotional intelligence can be understood biologically through the use of EEGs or electroencephalograms which are used to measure brain activity (Rahman, et al., 2021) and functional MRIs (Bates, 2016). Still further researchers are using the metaverse to collaboratively explore regions of the brain. (Melkonian, 2022).

So, what happens when emotions go haywire? Reflecting back on the questions that were presented in previous paragraphs and the definition of triggers, they are precipitated by what is known as an emotional trigger. Triggers can be either internal or external. Internal triggers can originate from feelings such as anger, feeling anxious, or being overwhelmed and from traumatic experiences. Triggers can be external stemming from a person, place, or specific incident (Cuncic, 2022; Plata, 2018; Szczygiel & Mikolajczak, 2018).

Between 1992 and 2019, there have been 17,865 homicides committed in the workplace (US Department of Justice, 2019, p. 16). The highest number of workplace homicides was 1,048 committed in 1994 (US Department of Justice, 2019, p.16). Between 2014 and 2019, workplace homicides increased by 11%, and by 2019, workplace homicides had increased by 58% or 454 incidences (US Department of Justice, 2019, p.16). Non-fatal workplace violence increased by 25% in 2019 and accounted for 9.2 violent crimes per 1,000 workers over the age of 16 (US Department of Justice, 2019, p. 21). The characteristics of the offenders between 2015 and 2019 were: ?Male- 64%, Female 20%, Both 4%, Unknown 13%. The races of the offenders were: White- 36%, Black – 21%, Hispanic/Latino- 15%, Asian/Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander 1%, American Indian/Alaska Native- <1%, Multiple races—4%, and Unknown- 22%. The ages of the offenders were: 17 or younger- 13%, 18-20- 4%, 21-29- 17%, 30 or older- 43%, Mixed age group 5%, Unknown- 18%. The number of offenders per incident was: Single offender- 82%, Multiple offenders- 9%, and Unknown?9% (US Department of Justice, 2019, p.29).

A Way Forward

A few suggestions as a way forward would be for everyone to learn about emotional health, be more self-aware, be aware of their triggers, have strategies for managing them, and be aware of the emotions of others. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory Report for?Protecting Youth Mental Health (2021), there are numerous actions that can be taken to protect youth and schools at the national, state, and local level which include: 1) providing resources and technical assistance to strengthen school-based mental health programs, 2) investing in prevention programs, such as evidence-based social and emotional learning, and 3) expanding the use of telehealth for mental health challenges (U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory, 2021). Know the stressors experienced by plotters of violence. The top three stressors are family, social, and academic (U.S. Secret Service Analysis of Plots Against Schools, 2021,p.39). According to the Campus and Safety and Security data report, 28,268 criminal offenses, 694 hate crimes, and 10, 366 acts of violence against women, were committed at college campuses as reported by 5, 930 institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2020). There are also research findings of violence against men by women who stalk and/or exhibit violent behavior (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022; Purcell et al., 2001).

?To create an emotionally healthy workplace, employers can promote work-life balance, discuss mental health in the workplace, and support employees’ efforts to get help (Pendell, 2022; Moren, 2018; Barsade & O’Neill, 2016). So, what to do when your emotions go haywire? Take a walk, relax, get sleep, practice measured, controlled, and deep breathing by inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the nose to calm your body and mind, surround yourself with the right support system, and consider getting professional help (Allen et al., 2022; Bethune et al., 2022; Novotney, 2022; Shaw et al., 2018; Anton, 2015).

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