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Alan
Alan's quote clearly illustrates the concept of 'emotional intelligence.' The theory of emotional intelligence is associated with Daniel Goleman, who suggests that success in life cannot be solely attributed to intellectual ability as measured on conventional IQ tests. (Intelligence testing is a form of cognitive psychology.) Emotional intelligence has become more accepted as a 'real' intelligence in recent years because of the growing popularity of Howard Gardner's concept of multiple intelligences, or the idea that intelligence can defined according to specific ability groupings. Alan's sense of self-reflection about his own life underlines the fact that it is possible to develop emotional intelligence, even if someone is not naturally gifted in this particular area of his or her life.
Alan is an engineer, a profession that has traditionally valued technical capacities rather than feelings. But unlike some highly successful engineers, Alan has come to realize the importance of the 'human element,' in, for example, giving directions to a subordinate or selling a product to a particular vendor. The fact that Alan is able to learn suggests a particular point-of-view of human intelligence and emotional development: once, scientists believed generalized intelligence was largely unalterable by experience. Gardner did acknowledge that there was a g-factor of intelligence in the sense that certain extraordinary individuals, although proficient in one intelligence, might be nearly as proficient in other, separate disciplines, but Gardner also suggested that experience and 'nurture' could affect the development of different intelligences. By cultivating emotional intelligence, Alan has been able to build upon his capacity in this area, although his strongest intelligence might be his quantitative skills.
Catherine
Catherine's grandchildren are exhibiting moral development (developmental psychology) along the model of Kohlberg. Kohlberg suggested that at...
It should be noted that while Kohlberg believed that his theories were universally applicable to both genders, not all theorists agree with him. Carol Gillian has suggested that because of female socialization, women tend to value relatedness more than abstract principles in their decision-making. Gillian viewed Kohlberg's conceptualization of moral development as patriarchal and discriminatory, given his prioritization of moral abstractions over compassion for the individual, and suggested that values development should not be viewed in a hierarchical manner. However, Catherine, a woman, does not distinguish between the moral development of boys and girls and seems to value abstract moral principles as the highest form of moral development.
It should also be noted that Catherine's view of the developmental process reflects her own 'life stage' as a grandmother, as delineated by Erik Erikson. Catherine is taking stock of her life, and looking back upon it with pleasure, noting how her children have become parents themselves. She sounds fulfilled and pleased, and exhibits a sense of strength and integrity in her manner of expressing herself. This suggests that her earlier developmental conflicts are resolved. Integral to Erikson's theory is the idea that a person cannot 'move on,' developmentally speaking, until his or her earlier life stage conflicts have been brought to a successful conclusion.
Daniel
Daniel is describing the process of learning by rote, or being conditioned to perform a certain, specific behavior (behavioral psychology). At first, Daniel struggled with the mechanical processes of using the fork lift. However, much like Skinner's rat, his behavior was gradually 'shaped,' in his case, through conscious experiences, rather than through the intentional design of an experimenter. When he operated the…
