Life And Psychology

In the early 1990s, a group of neuroscientists, psychoanalysts, cognitive psychologists, and psychiatrists collaborated to develop a neuroscientific basis of Freudian psychoanalysis. This collaboration combined two completely different areas of study - neuroscience and psychoanalysis. While neuroscience has focused on brain structures, neural mechanisms, and biological processes, psychoanalysis, originating in the work of Sigmund Freud, focused on unconscious processes, subjective experience, and clinical interpretation.

Several findings in research, in neuroscience and cognitive psychology, during the 1990s, resembled many core ideas in Freudian psychoanalysis, bringing neuroscience and psychoanalysis together. This led to the emergence of neuropsychoanalysis, an interdisciplinary field that integrates psychoanalysis and neuroscience, and to the rise of the neuropsychoanalysis movement. It revived interest in Sigmund Freud as a historical figure, and was described by many as the Second Coming of Sigmund Freud.

Sigmund Freud

A leading pioneer of the neuropsychoanalysis movement, the figure most closely associated with the origin and formal development of neuropsychoanalysis is the neuropsychologist Mark Solms. Solms played a key role in founding the International Neuropsychoanalysis Society in the year 1999 and establishing the theoretical foundations of the field. Solms's works, The Neuropsychology of Dreams, published in 1997, Clinical Studies in Neuropsychoanalysis, published in 2000, and The Brain and the Inner World, published in 2002, are considered to be foundational books of neuropsychoanalysis.  

According to Solms, Sigmund Freud was a neurologist and had a scientific outlook. He also believed that Freud had the ambition to ground psychology in brain science, but could not go ahead with it, as the times were not right. From this perspective, for Solms, neuropsychoanalysis represents a continuation of Freud’s original ideas.

The contributions of Solms are mainly based on neuropsychological research on patients with brain damage. By examining how specific brain lesions affect consciousness, emotion, motivation, and self-awareness, Solms sought to identify neural systems and neuropsychological concepts that correspond to Freudian ideas.

Mark Solms

One of the findings of Solms is the role of the brain stem in what he termed core consciousness, which is the basic state of being conscious or awake. Damage to this region results in loss of consciousness, suggesting that consciousness is also associated with the deep, evolutionarily ancient brain structures, rather than only in higher cortical regions.

Solms also found that cortical regions, particularly the prefrontal cortex, are associated with reflective awareness, self-monitoring, and the capacity for introspection. He interpreted this distinction in Freudian terms - the unconscious consists of mental processes that operate outside reflective awareness, while conscious thought involves those processes that are accessible to awareness and self-reflection. This finding challenges the assumption that consciousness is primarily a cortical function and aligns with Freud’s emphasis on affective and motivational processes, rather than rational processes.

Solms also provided a neuroscientific basis for the instinctual drives suggested by Freud. According to Freud, behavior is influenced by the pursuit of pleasure and immediate gratification, which he referred to as the id impulses. In his research, Solms found that these pleasure-seeking and motivational drives have a neural basis - they are associated with the brain stem and the limbic system, brain regions that are involved in survival and emotions. Further, Solms suggested that dopamine, the neurotransmitter that plays a critical role in reward processing, is associated with many pleasure-seeking behaviors. 

Along with the id and the pleasure principle, Solms argued that the Freudian concept of the ego, which, according to Freud, mediates between instinctual demands and external reality, also has a neuroscientific basis. Solms suggested that impulse control and reality-based regulation have been linked to the frontal–limbic system, particularly the frontal lobe. Damage to these areas has been found to be related to heightened impulsivity, poor judgment, and disregard for social norms. 

Such behaviors are similar to what Freud had suggested to be a weakening of the ego. Solms argued that frontal lobe injuries impair the ability to remain reality-bound, causing individuals to respond to events primarily through their wishes and basic drives, which is similar to the failure of the ego, according to Freud. According to Solms, these findings indicate that the Freudian ideas of the pleasure principle and the id and the ego have a neuroscientific basis.

The Freudian concept of defense mechanisms, particularly repression, has also been explained from a neuroscientific basis. Freud described repression as a process by which threatening or unpleasant thoughts and impulses are kept out of conscious awareness. Solms suggested that neuropsychological studies indicate a neural basis for repression. In many cases of brain damage, it was found that damage to the right hemisphere of the brain has been associated with the repression of distressing information. When these regions are artificially stimulated, awareness of the repressed material often returns. Additionally, such patients frequently engage in confabulation, that is, fabricating explanations to rationalize uncomfortable facts. This is similar to what Freud called wish-fulfilling defenses.

Mark Solms is considered to be the central figure associated with neuropsychoanalysis. After Solms, the major figure associated with neuropsychoanalysis is the neuroscientist and psychobiologist Jaak Panksepp. His work in affective neuroscience created a link between psychoanalysis and neurobiology. His book Affective Neuroscience: The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions, published in 1998, is considered to be a foundational text of both affective neuroscience and neuropsychoanalysis.

Jaak Panksepp

Panksepp identified seven distinct subcortical neural circuits or basic emotional systems that govern primal affective states. He famously used all-capital letters to distinguish these raw, primary-process instincts from cognitive, higher-level feelings. These emotional systems are - SEEKING (the fundamental, foraging drive for exploration, anticipation, and engagement with the world), RAGE (the instinctual response to restraint, frustration, or attack), FEAR (the primal reaction to physical danger and threat), LUST (the neurobiological drive for reproduction and mating), CARE (the nurturing and attachment drive, particularly maternal instincts), PANIC/GRIEF (the intense distress signal of separation, directly to linked to the root of human grief and clinical depression), and PLAY (the rough-and-tumble instinct fundamental for social learning and joy).

Among the seven basic emotional systems, specifically, the SEEKING system has been influential within neuropsychoanalysis. This system, strongly associated with dopamine pathways, is involved in curiosity, desire, exploration, anticipation, and goal-directed behavior. Neuropsychoanalysts such as Mark Solms viewed this as closely resembling the Freudian concept of instinctual drives and the pleasure principle. Panksepp’s findings also supported the idea that emotions are not secondary to rational thought but are fundamental organizing forces of mental life. In this way, Panksepp’s findings provided a neuroscientific framework for Freud’s emphasis on motivation, emotion, and unconscious drives.

Similarly, the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio contributed significantly to the neuropsychoanalytic perspective through his research on emotion, decision-making, and consciousness. In his book Descartes Error, published in 1994, Damasio proposed his idea of the somatic marker hypothesis, which demonstrated that emotions play a central role in reasoning and judgment, challenging the traditional view that rational thought operates independently of affect. His studies of patients with damage to emotion-related brain regions showed that, despite intact intellectual abilities, such individuals often make poor decisions and exhibit socially inappropriate behavior. These studies demonstrated that emotion plays a crucial role in judgment, decision-making, and social behavior.

Antonio Damasio

The findings of Damasio proved to be significant for neuropsychoanalysis. These findings are consistent with Freud's claim that emotional and other non-rational processes exert a powerful influence on the decisions individuals make and the ways in which they respond to their environment. For the proponents of neuropsychoanalysis, such findings provide further evidence that psychological functioning cannot be understood through only reason and conscious awareness. 

Apart from Solms, Panksepp, and Damasio, the cognitive psychologist Daniel Schacter also made significant contributions to neuropsychoanalysis. Schacter made influential contributions through his work on memory systems, particularly implicit memory. Schacter introduced the idea of implicit memory in his influential paper Implicit Memory: History and Current Status, published in 1987. He later expanded the idea in his book Searching for Memory, published in 1996.

Daniel Schacter

According to Schacter, implicit memory is a type of long-term memory in which previous experiences affect perception, judgment, emotion, and behavior even when individuals are unable to consciously remember those experiences. His research demonstrated that memory and cognition are not always fully accessible to conscious awareness.

Neuropsychoanalysts suggest that the notion of implicit memory parallels Freud’s notion of the unconscious mind, particularly the idea that experiences can shape behavior without being consciously remembered. Although Schacter himself did not equate implicit memory with Freud’s unconscious mind, his work provided strong empirical support for the idea that conscious awareness represents only a limited portion of mental activity. For proponents of neuropsychoanalysis, such research suggested that contemporary cognitive psychology had begun to scientifically recognize forms of mental activity operating outside awareness, an idea that had long been central to psychoanalytic theory.

Neuropsychoanalysis turned out to be a significant development in the history of psychology. It emerged at a time when the influence of psychoanalysis was declining in mainstream academic psychology. The movement led to a growing interest in viewing psychoanalysis from a different perspective. As a movement, neuropsychoanalysis brings together insights from psychoanalysis, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology to understand the mind as both a psychological and biological phenomenon.

The proponents of neuropsychoanalysis claim to provide scientific evidence for many of the Freudian ideas. They re-examined Freudian concepts such as the unconscious, instinctual drives, ego regulation, and repression in light of contemporary neuroscience, suggesting that such concepts are not mere speculation. In this way, they also claimed to associate subjective experiences with neuroscience. Critics, however, argue that neuropsychoanalysis is only suggesting neuroscientific correlates of Freudian concepts, which cannot be viewed as supportive evidence. They also argue that suggesting neuroscientific correlates oversimplifies Freudian ideas.

The neuropsychoanalysis movement has been debated among scholars, especially with respect to providing scientific evidence of Freudian concepts. Nevertheless, the re-examination of Freudian concepts in light of contemporary neuroscience has renewed interest in the scientific study of psychoanalytic ideas. It thus gave a different perspective to Freudian psychoanalysis, which is why it is described by neuropsychoanalysts as the Second Coming of Sigmund Freud.

This article can also be found on the blog - History of Psychology

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The concept of self-actualization, over the years, has gained a lot of popularity. It has made experts as well as lay persons from varying backgrounds to be highly interested in the idea. The popularity of the concept is reflected in its usage in a wide range of areas such as teaching, counseling, health care, leadership, and management.

The pioneer of humanistic psychology, Abraham Maslow, in the mid-20th century (1950s to 1960s), popularized the concept of self-actualization in the context of his theory of personality and motivation. According to Maslow, self-actualization is an innate tendency. It is the tendency of individuals to realize and fulfill their true potential and abilities. It is the desire to become more and more what one idiosyncratically is and to become what one is fully capable of becoming.

Abraham Maslow

This suggests that the concept of self-actualization is about individuals being unique in their own way. The state of self-actualization, according to Maslow, is not about being a better person. Instead, it is about being the person that one is supposed to be, which indicates that every individual is unique in their own way. Thus, for every individual, the idea of self-actualization is going to be different from the other.

Self-actualization is about individuals reaching their full existential capacity. It is not about achievement or becoming an extraordinary individual. It is actually about personal growth and fulfilling one’s potential to the highest level possible, whatever the endeavor may be. It is an intrinsic unfolding process, which does not rely on any rewards system. Further, self-actualization is not about striving for specific goals or reducing a deficiency. It is about striving for stimulating and challenging tasks and events, and by doing so, enriching one’s life. Instead of accepting life as it is, self-actualization involves constantly seeking new challenges, and avoiding secure and routine behaviors and attitudes. Maslow’s description of the concept of self-actualization was a moving away from the causal tradition in psychology. Maslow opposed the existing deterministic perspectives of psychoanalysis and behaviorism. He suggested that behavior is not driven by a cause, something that has already existed. Behavior, instead is driven by a future state that the individual is striving for. This is called teleology or the teleological perspective. For Maslow, self-actualization is a future state that individuals strive for and it is not a cause that has already existed. It is not something that is pushing the individual, but it is actually pulling the individual. This makes self-actualization describe behavior from the teleological perspective, which is a shift from the traditional physical sciences approach (determinism) that psychology had been following. Like Maslow, the humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers also emphasized on self-actualization. Around the same time as that of Maslow, Rogers suggested that self-actualization is innate, and it is the greatest motivating factor of individuals. Rogers believed that people have an innate tendency to enhance themselves. According to Rogers, self-actualization or the actualizing tendency (as he referred to it) is an active, controlling drive towards the fulfillment of potential, which helps in maintaining and enhancing the self. Rogers, further, suggested that human beings have a tendency to always seek new experiences and avoid environments that lack stimulation. From his clinical experiences, Rogers suggested that people have a directional tendency to grow and have new and varied experiences. Additionally, Rogers suggested that human beings are basically good. Human beings develop this innate goodness when society is helpful. According to Rogers, people are not able to develop their innate goodness due to faulty socialization patterns. In this regard, Rogers suggested unconditional positive regard to be very important. If parents or caregivers show unconditional positive regard then the child grows into a healthy individual. Therefore, according to Rogers society and socialization patterns play a role in self-actualization. Rogers suggested that self-actualization is the highest level of psychological health. He referred to self-actualized people as psychologically healthy individuals or fully functioning persons. Rogers described the fully functioning person as actualizing and not actualized because he believed that growth never ends - it is always a work in progress. Rogers believed that his concept of self-actualization is similar to that of Maslow. In describing the concept of self-actualization, Maslow borrowed Carl Jung’s idea of the self archetype and the transcendent function. Archetypes are archaic, generalized, emotionally toned collections of associated images derived from the collective unconscious (aspects of the unconscious that have its roots in the ancient past of the entire species). In the early to mid-20th century, Jung suggested that the self archetype is innate and has the potential of being realized in everyone. It involves a process called the way of individuation and leads towards self-realization.  According to Jung, the way of individuation is a process by which individuals become the definite, unique being that they are. It is about fulfilling the peculiarity of the individual. Jung, therefore, suggests that the self is the final goal of striving. This self-realization does not come easily. The person has to go through a wide range of experiences and make many efforts to resolve conflicts within the psyche. The self, according to Jung, becomes a unifying force by the transcendent function. The transcendent function works towards the ideal goal of perfect wholeness. It reveals the essential person by the production and unfolding of the original, potential wholeness. Apart from Jung’s self archetype, the concept of self-actualization used by Maslow has also been found to be similar to Alfred Adler’s idea of striving for superiority. According to Adler, striving for superiority is the innate, ultimate drive of human beings to realize their full potential. In the early 20th century, Adler suggested that striving for superiority is a fundamental human need - people strive to feel superior to overcome their feelings of inferiority and inferiority complex. This striving for superiority is not in the sense of social status and dominance. It is rather an urge for completion and perfection. Adler suggested that striving for superiority is the final goal of all humankind. It unifies personality and makes all behaviors comprehensible. Adler also suggested that striving for superiority is a way to compensate the feelings of inferiority and weakness. People are always pushed by the need to overcome inferiority and pulled by the desire for completion and wholeness. Even though the concept of self-actualization was popularized by Maslow, the term was originated by the neuropsychiatrist, Kurt Goldstein. Goldstein had a holistic approach. He was one of the major proponents of the holistic movement at the beginning of the 20th century. He criticized the reductionist approach and atomization in neurology that existed at that time. He opposed experiences to be viewed in terms of smaller components.  He rejected the localization theory (each brain area has specific functions), suggesting that the brain functions as a whole, and if damage occurs in one brain area other areas take over the functioning of the missing brain area. The holistic approach of Goldstein led him to introduce the concept of self-actualization. Self-actualization, according to Goldstein, is a striving for completeness. It is the organic principle by which individuals become more fully developed and complete. Goldstein, in the 1930s, suggested that self-actualization is the main motive of human nature. It is the creative trend of human nature. Human beings are governed by the strong tendency to actualize their potential.  According to Goldstein, each individual has certain potentialities, which are expressed through interests, preferences, and aptitudes. The fulfillment of these potentialities is finding a way towards completeness and represents self-actualization. Goldstein, further, suggested that even though self-actualization is a universal phenomenon, the process differs from person to person. This is because people differ with respect to their innate potentialities. These differences direct them in their own ways towards growth, development, and self-actualization. It also differs because of the different environments and cultures that they may belong to. The concept of self-actualization is a part of Goldstein’s organismic theory. The organismic theory views the individual in totality and emphasizes the integration of personality. It is about viewing individuals in terms of a holistic and unified experience and viewing any event in the context of the organism. Goldstein applied the Gestalt approach to his organismic theory. Gestalt psychology suggests that the mind has a tendency to organize experience into configurations and wholes. It emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than the sum of its parts, indicating that consciousness or experience as a whole cannot be reduced to smaller components.  The organismic theory formed the basis of Gestalt therapy. Gestalt therapy is a form of therapy that focuses on the individual’s present, in-the-moment experiences rather than examining the past. It also involves taking responsibility and understanding the context of the person’s life. Self-actualization is a widely known concept in the discipline of psychology. The concept was popularized by the humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow, but it was the neuropsychiatrist Kurt Goldstein who had originated the idea. Goldstein applied the Gestalt theory and used the findings of his studies of patients with brain damage in introducing the term.  Additionally, Maslow’s description of self-actualization has been found similar to Carl Rogers’s idea of actualizing tendency, Carl Jung’s concept of the self archetype, and Alfred Adler’s idea of striving for superiority. The concept of self-actualization, therefore, provides a link between the fields of neuroscience, Gestalt psychology, humanistic psychology, and psychoanalysis. This article can also be found on the blog History of Psychology

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Meaning in life is often considered to be a vague and abstract concept, which has been difficult to define. Usually, meaning in life has been conceptualized as a coherent sense of identity, an understanding of the self, the world, and life in general, goal-directedness, or a sense of purpose in life. It has also been described as a cognitive construct that helps in discovering significant aspects of life.

Having a sense of meaning in life has been found associated with positive emotions, increased self-esteem, lesser depressive symptoms, and a greater sense of wellbeing. Over the years, different psychologists have given their perspectives on the concept of the meaning in life. These differing perspectives help in getting a better understanding of the concept of meaning in life. It also gives an understanding of how the concept has developed throughout the years, within psychology.

Alfred Adler

In his book, Adler further emphasizes that the meaning in life lies in communication, and not being in isolation. If this does not happen then the individual has unpleasant experiences. By suggesting this, he was again giving emphasis on contributing to the life of others. He also suggested that in contributing to the life of others, the individuals develop, and enhance their skills and abilities. In order to feel significant, Adler suggested that individuals should be significant to others.

Therefore, according to Adler, meaning in life can be experienced by making a contribution to the life of others. In this regard, later on, in 1939, Adler introduced his concept of social interest, which is about helping others - being respectful and considerate - to strive for a better society.  

Rollo May

The unhealthy communal orientation, according to May, results from unhealthy individualism, which involves a lack of sense of community and hyper-competitiveness, leading to interpersonal antagonism and separation from others. This unhealthy individualism eventually leads to a feeling of emptiness, loneliness, and a sense of meaninglessness. Therefore, according to May, having a healthy communal orientation gives meaning in life and helps in avoiding the experience of meaninglessness.

Around the same time as Rollo May, the existential psychologist, Viktor Frankl suggested that meaning in life is one of the major goals that drive human behavior. He referred to this as the will to meaning. This will to meaning, according to Frankl is innate.

Victor Frankl

The third type of meaning, according to Frankl, is associated with the approach towards suffering and events that cannot be changed. In such instances, Frankl suggested that meaning could be derived from compassion or even humor. This type of meaning is the transcendental nature of human experience and is associated with the feeling of dignity in suffering. It is this derived meaning that helps individuals to survive their experience of suffering.

Frankl, further, suggested that it is the will to meaning that helps people to overcome the existential vacuum, which involves a sense of emptiness or blandness, and hopelessness in life. It is a sense of alienation and an inexplicable feeling of loneliness that a person experiences. It is from this idea that Frankl originated his logotherapy. Logotherapy is a therapeutic approach that helps individuals to find meaning in life. Logotherapy is known as the third school of Viennese psychotherapy – the first school being the approach of Sigmund Freud, and the second school being the approach of Alfred Adler.

These early perspectives of meaning in life led to the high popularity of the concept. It allowed psychologists to conduct extensive research on the notion of meaning in life. This is reflected in the more recent perspectives on meaning in life.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

The second aspect of meaning in life, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is resolution in the pursuit of the goal. This means that having purpose is not enough. Individuals should be having an expression of intentionality. Csikszentmihalyi suggested that there should be a striving for the goal that individuals have and that their intent should be transferred into some action.

Finally, the third aspect of meaning in life, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is a sense of
harmony that results from the other two aspects, that is, having purpose as well as being able to act upon it. Individuals who have purpose and work towards achieving that, have their thoughts, feelings, and actions in congruence. Such individuals, Csikszentmihalyi suggested experience a deep sense of inner harmony, which eventually gives them meaning in life.

Michael Steger

The presence of meaning is the degree to which people find their life to be significant and meaningful. It is about the extent to which people find their lives to be significant as well as the extent to which they find their life to be purposeful.

The search for meaning is the degree to which people engage themselves in the search for meaning. It is about the efforts that people put in, while they try to comprehend the significance and purpose of their lives.

With Steger suggesting two dimensions, more recently, psychologists have been emphasizing on viewing meaning in life in terms of multiple dimensions. In recent times, a tripartite view of meaning in life has emerged. According to the tripartite view, meaning in life has three distinct but related dimensions – comprehension, purpose, and mattering.

Comprehension is the extent to which people perceive a sense of coherence in their life. People who are high on comprehension have more clarity about their life and feel that their life makes sense. People who are low on comprehension experience their life as being incoherent and unclear.

Purpose is the degree to which people feel that they have valued goals and have direction in life. People who are high on purpose have a clear sense of their goals in life, they feel motivated and enthusiastic and have a greater sense of direction in life. People who are low on purpose, experience a sense of aimlessness and disengagement.

Finally, mattering is the extent to which individuals feel their existence is significant and that they are valued in the world. People who are high on mattering, feel that their significance has a lasting value. People who are low on mattering feel that their existence is of no significance and that their life matters to nobody.

The tripartite view attempts to give a better understanding of the concept of meaning in life. In 2017, social and positive psychologist Login George, along with health psychologist, Crystal Park, developed a scale to measure meaning in life, on the basis of these three dimensions. The tripartite view has, thus, helped in making the notion of meaning in life more refined.

Meaning in life is a concept that has been widely studied in psychology. In recent times, it has emerged to be a significant construct in positive psychology as well as cognitive psychology. From initially being viewed as a general, abstract concept to more recently being viewed as a multidimensional, refined construct, meaning in life has been described in many ways.

Over the years, some of the ways in which meaning in life has been suggested to be derived from are - making significant contributions to the society, being concerned about the welfare of others, being able to overcome suffering and emptiness, having purpose in life, feeling coherence, and feeling significant in life.

This article can also be found on the blog History of Psychology

Rationality is the idea of being in accordance with reason and logic. When rationalistic explanations are given for human behavior, emphasis is given on logical, systematic, and intelligent thought processes. Rationality opposes the usage of emotions and other elements that are generally considered to be irrational, such as superstition, in explaining behavior and events.

The idea of rationality can be traced back to rationalism. Rationalism is the philosophical belief that knowledge can be gained by engaging actively in systematic mental activity. The rationalists believed that the mind actively interacts with information and derives some meaning out of it, suggesting that the mind is active.

Further, the rationalists believed that many of the processes involved among human beings are innate. They suggested that innate mental structures, operations, or abilities are involved in analysing thought.

The rationalists also felt that the idea of truth cannot be determined by merely experience and beliefs. According to them, conclusions about truth must be ascertained by making logical deductions and analysis, emphasizing a rational system in arriving at truth.

Baruch Spinoza

Rene Descartes

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz

In opposition to rationalism, a number of scholars felt that an emphasis on intellect and rationality is too dry to understand the essence of human nature. This idea is referred to as irrationalism, and emerged as a reaction against the Age of Reason, in the 19^th century. Proponents of irrationalism believed that instead of logic and intellect, there should be an emphasis on the unique human experiences, feelings and emotions, and the will.

The idea of irrationalism was strongly represented in romanticism or the Romantic movement, which gave emphasis to subjectivity. Scholars within this philosophy believed that in going with the idea of rationalism, somewhere, the individual human gets lost. They, thus, felt that in explaining human behavior, feelings and emotions, give a lot more meaning. This is what is said to be the Romantic movement.

Friedrich Nietzche

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Soren Kierkegaard

The debate of rationalism versus irrationalism has been continuing for years. It is even prevalent in contemporary psychology, where it has been found that psychologists often favoring either rationalism or irrationalism. A good example of this debate can be found in the modern concept of intelligence.

Lewis Terman

Theodore Simon

Alfred Binet

The widely used intelligence tests, starting from the Binet-Simon test, developed by the psychologist Alfred Binet and physician Theodore Simon, in 1905, the Stanford-Binet test, developed by Lewis Terman, in 1916, and the Weschler scales, first published in 1955, developed by the psychologist David Weschler, all were modelled on the conception of intelligence being associated with logic and reason. These tests popularized the notion of intelligence quotient (IQ), first coined by William Stern, which has been extensively used in evaluating people in terms of having specific skills, being fit for a job, or even diagnosing for a psychological disorder.                           

William Stern

The earlier notion of intelligence can be viewed as more of a representation of the philosophy of rationalism. A number of psychologists found this notion of intelligence to be very limited. Moreover, they felt that intelligence being measured by the existing intelligence tests is more about academic abilities, and may not be useful in everyday life.

Peter Salovey

John Mayer

These disagreements of describing intelligence completely in terms of logic and reason, eventually led to the emergence of the concept of emotional intelligence. In 1990, the term emotional intelligence was introduced by the social psychologist, Peter Salovey and personality psychologist, John Mayer. They defined emotional intelligence as the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.

Howard Gardner

Gardner, through his theory of multiple intelligences, was opposing the early notion of intelligence that psychologists had found to be too simplistic and limited in scope. There have been other psychologists, much before Gardner, who have been trying to describe intelligence beyond academic abilities.

Edward Thorndike

David Wechsler

Like Thorndike, intelligence theorist David Weschler, also gave a broader perspective of intelligence. In 1944, Weschler defined intelligence as the global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment. Weschler also differentiated between intellective and non-intellective elements of intelligence – intellective elements include academic abilities, and non-intellective elements include affective, personal, and social factors.

Both Thorndike and Weschler were describing intelligence that was different from the earlier notions. They were still not completely dissociating intelligence from rationality, which can be reflected in Thorndike’s description of “acting wisely” and Weschler’s description of “to think rationally”. However, they were also describing intelligence in ways that was not just limited to academic abilities.

It was these initial diversions from the early notions of intelligence that eventually led Salovey and Mayer to come up with the concept of emotional intelligence. It is quite clear that the term used by Salovey and Mayer comprises of two words that are said to be the opposite of each other – “emotion” and “intelligence”.

Emotions have often been described as disturbances, something that is disorganized and chaotic, and leads to a loss of control. It has also been suggested that emotions distort judgment. Emotions, in this way, are the opposite of logic and reason. This difference between emotions and rationality can be traced back to the rationalism versus irrationalism debate.

By introducing a term like “emotional intelligence”, Salovey and Mayer brought together these two opposing perspectives, that is, rationalism and irrationalism. This is further reflected in their definition of emotional intelligence, which talks about monitoring one’s own and others’ emotions, and using it to guide one’s thinking and actions. The latter part of this statement is representing aspects of rationality.

Further, emotional intelligence involves understanding one’s emotions, which enhances self-awareness, helps in not being overwhelmed by the situation, allowing proper decision making. Additionally, emotional intelligence involves the understanding of the emotions of others, which allows having positive personal and social interactions, managing conflict, and thus, helping in not making erratic and inappropriate judgments.  

In a way, Salovey and Mayer in describing something like emotional intelligence are suggesting to use emotions in an intelligent manner. Accordingly, the emotions that have often been said to distort judgment, if used properly, if channelized in the right direction, can actually be used to enhance judgment. Therefore, emotional intelligence can perhaps be viewed as a concept that is merging the two opposing philosophical perspectives of rationalism and irrationalism.

The debate of rationalism versus irrationalism has been going on for years. Rationalism, the philosophy emphasizing logic and reason, and irrationalism, the philosophy emphasizing the use of emotions, have been viewed as strong oppositions. However, the emergence of the concept of emotional intelligence has brought these two opposing philosophies together, in the sense that one compliments the other. It can therefore be said that the concept of emotional intelligence takes a mid-way path of the rationalism versus irrationalism debate.

This article can also be found on the blog - History Of Psychology