boydx285: April 2012 Archives

Impulsive, inattentive, does not sit still, does not play well with others, and throws a lot of temper tantrums are all symptoms that my step-bother has had for years. They are also common symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder. Children with this disorder are diagnosed with or without hyperactivity. My step-brother definitely has the hyperactivity part of the disorder.

I will remember this concept from psychology because I never really knew what it meant to have ADHD until I came across the definition of it the text book. My step-brother takes medication for the disorder, and the disorder has also gotten better with age, just as the text book says it might do. My step-brother still has trouble in school and in learning and still has bad balance and coordination. He also lacks commonsense. Other than those issues, most of his symptoms simmer down when he takes his medication on a daily basis.

My step-brother's first boy cousin, too, has ADHD. Studies have shown heritability is as high as .80. The boys' grandpa also has symptoms of the disorder and had a lot of troubles growing up. Because I can associate the concept with my life, I will remember the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder and the statistics about it for many years to come.

What emotion is this person feeling?
A. Happy
B. Sad
C. Angry

I took an online emotional intelligence test and it asked questions like this, along with questions about what I would do in certain situations.

Emotional intelligence, in the book, is defined as the "ability to understand our own emotions and those of others, and to apply this information to our daily lives". I didn't really think about the actual definition as I was first reading, but after reading more about emotional intelligence online, I now have a better understanding of what it is. This link has really useful articles to the ins and outs of emotional intelligence.

Link

The one article I found most helpful was, "What Emotional Intelligence Is and Is Not". This article explains that emotional intelligence is not personality traits. It says people with high emotional intelligence understand the meanings that emotions convey and can use emotional episodes in their lives to promote specific types of thinking. I found these things in the article especially interesting.

The other article I found interesting was "10 Ways to Enhance Your Emotional Intelligence". The article outlines things you can do to improve emotional intelligence such as write thoughts and feelings down and tune into your unconscious feelings. Recently, employers have implemented training to boost their employee's emotional intelligence. Does this formal training method actually work? I guess we will have to wait for more research to be done in order to find out.