Emotions and Intelligence

This is just my opinion. I personally like when people show a little emotion. This way I can tell if they are being genuine or not. Maybe not to the point were they are showing to much emotion that it takes away from their point. All though I can understand that if people are truly passionate about something that the may go overboard. I also understand just because people show some emotion does not mean they are right, they just think they are right. At least if they are logical we can still have a logical discussion. If someone is poker faced all the time about these discussions they may be making more sense overall, but how do I know if they are not just manipulating me? How do I know they are not just trying to get me to believe in something they say would benefit me or my family but it never really will? I know common sense usually applies, but some people are just excellent salespeople and can get you believe most anything. That's why people should always go and take some time and truly think about what that person said. That way the next time you run into the person, you will know that they where trying to get one over on you. So I guess you can say less emotion makes you seem more intelligent but there are many things in this world that are not what they appear to be. So that is the way I always try to look at things. Myself I would rather be considered a true a human being and considered less intelligent, than be considered real intelligent and also be considered a heartless scumbag. I do feel as I get older that I am just feeling more numb about the way the work works and I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

I think that there emotional reactions to almost any subject. Within that emotional response usually only one point of view is expressed. There are certianly times when this is the right response, but it is very limiting and the goal tends to be very narrow. An intellectial response on the other hand is often considered cold and uncaring. If one is lucky one can control one's emotions enough to recognize that response and still look beyond it in a reasonable way assesing the problem in an intellectial manner thereby coming up with an answer that is both caring and intelligent.

Intelligence is a very difficult quality to measure; I've not taken an IQ test for aeons, but I believe various forms of intelligence are involved, verbal, mathematical, spatial and so on. Cerebrality, logic, rationality; I believe these to be different from intelligence as such; and indeed they do imply a purely cerebral, or mind-based intelligence. From my perspective, a purely cerebral intelligence is deficient: a person who does not for one reason or another "think" emotionally as well as rationally can be in danger of seeing things - while perhaps well - then only partially. Intelligence in my view should not cease at the purely rational, but should embrace the emotional; and yes, the spiritual. Then of course there are high forms of creative/artistic intelligence, or genius, which are as I see it deeply dependent on emotional intelligence; and even spiritual intelligence. Artists do have a reputation for possessing powerful emotions; and sometimes also considerable cerebral brilliance too: the two can combine to world-shaking effect. I don't think it's possible to for example compose a truly great poem, or pience of music, or sing or act well without the possession of enormous emotional intelligence. Of course, in the cases of artists, there is always the danger of this aspect of intelligence running rampant; and so you have the wild and tortured artists of legend. But for me the two forms of intelligence are impoverished when functioning separately...but together can create miracles.

You are echoing here one of the basic principles of Jungian Psychological Type, the balance between Thinking and Feeling. Feeling, incidentally, is not only emotions, it is values, and the Feeling type wears his/her emotions and values on his/her sleeve while the Thinker tends to keep them inside. This is particularly so in introverts. All people have a mixture of both, and Type is decided on which of each of two pairs of elements is dominant. The others are Extraversion/Introversion, and Sensate (factual, pragmatic) and Intuitive. The Myers-Briggs model adds a fourth pairing which Jung did not have, that is Judgment/Perception, the difference between making decisions and gathering information. The sort of cold-blooded Thinking you describe usually goes with what the Myers-Briggs people call the ESTJ type, about which the original authors of this theory said, "Social life incidental, emotional life accidental". (They also have a very high correlation with traditional religion, conservative politics, and bean-counting.) It is a mistake to suggest that these people don't have values or emotions, it's just that they give less importance to them than logic and factuality. Feeling types give primary importance to their values, but this doesn't mean they can't deal with logic just as well as Thinkers, it simply means they utilise that logic to support their values. Jung believed that these characteristics are innate, and I find his argument compelling, in which case much of the clash between belief systems is intransigent because it is two completely opposed personalities and belief systems clashing. Incidentally, the standard IQ tests have many failings, although, as Abraham Maslow said, they have validity within the very proscribed parameters of the educated middle class for which they were developed, and one of those failings is that they measure primarily the ability to deal with instrumental logic and facts, not with values and emotions. Thus it is clear that embracing emotions is not a sign of lower intelligence, it is a manifestation of different priorities. I am the complete opposite of the type I mention above, being an INFP. I also score quite high on that measure of instrumental logic, the IQ test. I can be as logical as the next person in "neutral" issues, but if my values are engaged they will always take precedence over the logical and pragmatic if that is possible; sometimes it is not possible; sometimes the logic is so clear that the value (situationally in most cases) has to give way, usually with regret. E.g., sometimes the "value" of biodiversity simply has to make way for "development", but only after every possible alternative has been exhausted. The Thinker might agree with the "value" of biodiversity, but will come to a pragmatic decision far more easily and quicker than will a Feeler. I hope this adds to the discussion. Lash

Well thanks a ton for such an intelligent discussion. I often people that most of the people take decisions in their life out of emotions without giving a serious thought on it. No doubt we all are emotional by nature but whenever it comes to taking the important decisions in life, we need to look from all the angles and give our conclusion. What say?

What you say is certainly interesting. Why would you suggest that "people who think logically are seen as cold hearted". I think this is an image that suggest all logical people are like Volcans (from the Star Trek TV series) and have no emotions. to think that is simply illogical. Logic is an essential thing that differentiates humans from many other species, and by the way in this regard we all have a logical mind no matter how intelligent we are. Personally speaking I believe myself to both be very logical and very emotional. I may not cry at the tear-jerking movie everyone else does; but there are moments that drive me to tears. I am not sure that emotional people come off as less intelligent. The issue is in the backing that you give your argument. On the surface the logical argument brings out a multitude of evidence as to why something should or should not be done whereas the emotional argument relies on tugging the heart-strings to win the argument. There is no reason why a combined approach cannot be used, evidence with logical reasoning combined with an emotional overtone, potentially the best of both worlds. Logic is not cold, but it is factual and there is a difference. Does your intelligence diminish when emotions alone are used? I do not see why that has to be the case, change the situation and your logical approach can be as strong as it ever was.