Generation of Haters Hiding Behind Social Media Anonymity
Generation of Haters Hiding Behind Social Media Anonymity
Weâve all seen the areas on Youtube, blogs, and other news areas where people make their anonymous comments about the topic at hand. It has become very easy for people to make comments that they might not otherwise have made should they have had to have their name or face associated with their remarks. Many comments are made by children under 18 and some of those comments may be just dismissed as immature. However, as more news stories surface about children killing themselves from cyber-bullying, there is growing concern about society accepting this kind of behavior. (For 11 facts about cyber-bullying click here). Cyberbullyingprotection.net reported that 75% of students have visited websites that bashed other students.
Many blogs, including this one, allow screening of posts before allowing them to be exposed. This is useful to avoid the deluge of spam that comes across from people trying to sell their unsolicited products. However, it can be reassuring to know that âhatersâ canât just post anything they want.
Why are there so many angry people out there that want to write negative comments? Part of the issue that these people have, other than immaturity, is a lack of emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence may be defined in many ways. One of the easiest ways to think about it is to define emotional intelligence as the ability to understand oneâs own emotions as well as those in others. People who write these posts have little consideration of the feeling of others. This shows a lack of interpersonal skills.
It brings forth a question as to whether any specific demographic has more issues with emotional intelligence than others. Rueven Bar-On, creator of the EQ-i emotional intelligence test, found that his model, âreveals that older people are more emotionally and socially intelligent than younger people, females are more aware of emotions than males while the latter are more adept at managing emotions than the former, and that there are no significant differences in emotional-social intelligence between the various ethnic groups that have been examined in North America.â
The good news is that emotional intelligence can be improved. Authors like Marcia Hughes and others have written several helpful books about how to increase levels of EI. Author and psychiatrist John Gottman discussed helping our childrenâs emotional development in his book, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child. Some of the things Gottman suggests are to:
- Listen to our children with empathy.
- Help your children name their feelings.
- Validate your childâs emotions.
- Turn their tantrums into teaching tools.
- Use conflicts to teach problem-solving.
- Set an example by remaining calm.
By helping our children develop emotional intelligence, perhaps we can see a future of less âhatersâ and cyber-bullies making anonymous hurtful comments.
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Bones Brennan Character Exemplifies Lack of Empathy
Having empathy is a part of emotional intelligence as defined by leaders in the field of EI such as Rueven Bar-On. Daniel Goleman describes three types of empathy including: cognitive, emotional and compassionate. In the book Itâs Not You Itâs Your Personality, it is noted that having empathy is a big part of interpersonal skills. It has to do with how much we care about other peoplesâ feelings and whether we can see things from other peoplesâ perspectives.
A recent episode of the TV show, Bones, showed an excellent example of how Emily Deschanelâs character Temperance Brennan lacked empathy. For those unfamiliar with the program, the Brennan has a high IQ but may lack in the EQ or emotional quotient department. In this episode, Bennan lacks the ability to realize that her logical thinking and lack of understanding of othersâ emotions is rude. In the episode, Feet on the Beach. Brennan must work with a podiatrist that she feels lacks her superior training and skills. While this may be fodder for entertainment, people may run into a similar situations at work where they may feel their abilities are being dismissed.
How can someone so smart lack empathy? It may be difficult for people to do what Dr. Jeremy Sherman refers to as âshoe shiftingâ or putting ourselves in anotherâs shoes. âWhen you put yourself in another personâs shoes you risk seeing yourself as others would see youânot quite as special as you thinkâ
How do we improve our empathetic abilities? One way is to improve our listening skills. For more tips on improving empathy, check out Shermanâs article in Psychology Today.
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MBTI and Business Executives Inflated View of Emotional Intelligence
Those interested in how personality affects performance often study the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) or Emotional Intelligence (EI) and the relationship to leadership. Rarely do I run across studies that look for relationships between MBTI and EI. Leary, Reilly and Brown published a Study of Personality Preferences and Emotional Intelligence where they examined the ârelationships between the dispositional factors measured by the MBTI and elements of emotional intelligence (EI) as measured by Bar-Onâs emotional quotient inventory (EQ-i).â
For those unfamiliar with the MBTI and the EQ-I, the MBTI measures our preferences for how we like to receive information. The EQ-i measures our emotional quotient or EQ. Emotional intelligence has often been defined differently by various authors. One of the easiest ways to think of emotional intelligence is by defining it as the ability to understand your own emotions as well as those in others.
In the Leary et al study, their results showed a relationship between Myers Briggs extroversion and emotional intelligence components. Also noted in the study was a âpositive and significant relationship between a preference for the use of feeling in decision making and an individualâs EI.â
When discussing âfeelingâ as defined by the MBTI, it refers to how one bases their decisions on their values. When discussing âextroversionâ as defined by the MBTI, it refers to how people prefer to focus on the outer world of people and things. Leary et al concluded, âThe positive and significant results for the extroversion and feeling hypotheses seem consistent with the view that EI is related to the ability to accurately perceive and manage relationships.â
I found the relationship for âfeelingâ to be the most interesting part of the study due to the high number of âthinkingâ as opposed to âfeelingâ executives in the workplace.   The study suggests that using âfeelingâ when making decisions shows awareness of othersâ feelings. This would be indicative of having emotional intelligence.
If there are more âthinkingâ people in business executive positions and this study showed people that were “feeling” had more of a relationship to emotional intelligence, what does that say about our business leaders? A study of nearly 5000 people by Sala revealed that executives may have an inflated idea of how high their emotional intelligence actually is.  âThe results of this study demonstrate that higher-level employees are more likely to have an inflated view of their emotional intelligence competencies and less congruence with the perceptions of others who work with them often and know them well than lower-level employees.â
What is interesting to note is that oneâs MBTI type does not usually change over time. However, one can develop their emotional intelligence. The âthinkingâ personality type bases their decisions on data. They tend to be logical.   If people with a strong âthinkingâ preference do not show as high of a correlation with emotional intelligence now, can they develop this based on their understanding of this data?  It seems logical to conclude this is possible.
As with any self-reported data, there are possible limitations to these studies. I personally have studied emotional intelligence and its impact on sales performance. I had to take the EQ-i and the MBTI in my training to be a qualified instructor for both assessments. I came out as an ESTJ and had a high EQ-i score. I may be an anomaly, but from what I have seen from the work of Daniel Goleman and others, whether someone is a âthinkingâ or a âfeelingâ personality, it is important to always be working on oneâs EQ in order to be successful.
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The Human Brain: Gender Differences in Intelligence and Maturity
Rueven Bar-On, a leading expert in emotional intelligence, reported that âno differences appeared between males and females regarding overall emotional and social competence.â That is not to say that both sexes were identical. âFemales appear to have stronger interpersonal skills than males, but the later have a higher intrapersonal capacity, are better at stress management, and are more adaptable.â
Scientists have now looked at the brains of both sexes at the age of 10, 16 and 20 to see if there truly are differences in maturity levels between the two. WJSOnline reported âAlthough boysâ and girlsâ brains show differences around age 10, during puberty key parts of their brains become more similar.â By measuring the brainâs cortex and how it may change as boys and girls age, the National Institute of Mental Health Childâs Psychiatric Branch studied 284 people and found âboysâ and girlsâ brains, on average, differ significantly at age 9, but by the time the participants reached 22, the brains of the two sexes grew more alike in many areas critical for learning.â
Some interesting differences in Gender Development noted in the article included:
Gender Development
Some typical milestones and when boys and girls tend to hit them:
At birth: Girls are a few weeks more mature neurologically and have more advanced hearing. Boys on average weigh half a pound more.
First words: Girls typically utter their first word at 11 or 12 months, one month ahead of boys.
Vocabulary: At 18 months, girls on average know 86.8 words, more than double boys’ 41.8 words. By 30 months, boys’ and girls’ language skills have converged, at about 500 words.
Walking: Caucasian girls and boys tend to walk around 12 months. African-Americans walk sooner, at nine to 10 months.
Potty training: Girls are fully trained by 36 months, according to one study. Boys took a bit longer, training by 38 months.
Onset of puberty: For girls, the process can start at age 9 to 10. For boys, it’s closer to 11 to 12.
Source: WSJ research
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Top 5 Sources of Emotional Intelligence Information
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Emotional Intelligence or EI has received a lot of attention thanks to Dr. Daniel Goleman and others. There are several definitions of EI, but one of the most basic definitions is: The ability to understand your own emotions as well as those in others. I have a lot of my doctoral students working on dissertations involving emotional intelligence.Â
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I know that there are a lot of books about EI, but I thought Iâd share with you some of the ones that I find most helpful. If you are interested in finding out more about EI, I suggest you check out the following:
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General Resource of Understanding Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why it Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman . . . click here.
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Great Resource to Compare 3 Models of Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Intelligence: Key Readings on the Mayer and Salovey Model by Peter Salovey, Marc Brackett and John Mayer . . . Click here  – Excellent resource for those doing research on EI that want to compare the basics of Mayer & Salovey, Bar-On and Golemanâs work.  There is a great table on page 88.
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Important Work by Reuven Bar-On: The Handbook of Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Development, Assessment, and Application at Home, School and in the Workplace by Rueven Bar-ON and James Parker with a forward by Daniel Goleman. . . Click here.
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Good Resource for Emotional Intelligence at Work: The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace by Cary Cherniss and Daniel Goleman . . . Click here.
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Exercises to Increase Emotional Intelligence: Â Emotional Intelligence in Action by Marcia Hughes, Bonita Patterson and James Bradford Terrell . . . Click here. Â I received my EI certification training through Marcia Hughesâ group.
I know I said I would include the top 5Â . . . Â but for those of you interested in my dissertation:Â Examination of the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Sales Performance . . . Click here.
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