Do we fear the right things? In Chapter 9 I learned why humans fear the wrong things. After the 9/11 attacks, people feared flying more than driving. Yet Americans were 230 times more likely to die in a car accident than on an airplane flight. Statistics showed that death by car accidents significantly inclined after 9/11. In all reality, the most dangerous aspect of flying is driving to the airport. Psycological science has identified 4 influences on our intuitions about risk. 1) We fear what our ancestral history has prepared us to fear. Our brain prepared us to fear yesterday's risks: snakes, lizards, and spiders. It also prepares us to fear confinement and heights, hence flying. 2) We fear what we cannot control. We can control driving, flying we can't. 3) We fear what is immediate. People smoke cigarettes now, but aren't thinking of the long-term effects. They only think of the present dangers. Take-offs and landings of planes are immediate threats, while driving has many more threats to come that we don't acknowledge. 4) We fear what is most readily available in memory. Thousands of safe car trips have lessened our anxieties about driving. The image of the plane crashing into the World Trade Center creates a greater fear of flying. It is perfectly normal to fear violence from those who hate us. Smart thinkers will remember to check fears against facts. By doing so, we can take away a terrorists most powerful weapon: exaggerated fear.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions. I think I am very emotionally intelligent. I know how to handle the emotions of others at times when needed. I can read the emotions of others relatively well. I feel emotion in music and in stories. I can predict what someones emotion will be after an event occurs. I am good at expressing my emotions when they need to be expressed. I feel that when people don't express themselves through emotions, they are bottling up tons of feelings. The only way to alleviate the pressure of all the feelings is to let them show through immediately. I think my personal relationships with people are quite strong. My close friends know my personality and know that I am very strong-willed. I speak my mind openly and am not afraid of what people think. I think people who don't know me well enough come to a conclusion that I am too open with my thoughts. They don't fully understand my emotional way of expression. My close friends on the other hand understand me and know how I work. I love them and we all get alond very well because we are all similar emotionally.
The most interesting thing I have learned in Chapter 10 is Multiple Intelligences. I find it fascinating about how Howard Gardner created the theory of multiple intelligences. I find the theory to be mostly correct and accurate. It has eight intelligences combined to form the intelligence of a human being. The intelligence categories are as follows: linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. These categories define how intelligent a person really is. It breaks down intelligence into specific sublevels to get a better understand for peoples' needs. It is very effective and is helpful too.
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I knew that people were really scared to fly after 9/11, but I never actually thought that the likelihood of getting into a car accident is that much higher of a risk than flying in by air travel. Things I cannot control, like people's emotions or actions towards others, can scare me, not knowing exactly what is going to happen. In fearing what is immediate, an example would be underage drinking. One may go out with a friend, but then they need to think of how they're getting home, or what would happen if their parents found out. I found it interesting about the theory of multiple intelligences, too. I believe that "intelligence" in general cannot define anyone, so the specific categories are for a chance for everyone to fit in somewhere.
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