Daniel Goleman: Biography Of The Author Of Emotional Intelligence
Daniel Goleman He is one of the most famous psychologists in recent years, due to the international best-seller of his book: Emotional Intelligence (1995).
Although the concept of emotional intelligence appears in literature thanks to the American psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer in 1990, it was Goleman who, thanks to the publication of his work, made this concept famous. Currently, emotional intelligence is applied in many fields (clinic, organizations, sports…) because it provides benefits for both mental health and performance (sports or work).
You can delve into his work in this article: “What is emotional intelligence?”
Currently, Daniel Goleman gives conferences for businessmen, teachers, psychologists and other groups of professionals but for many years he was a journalist in The New York Times, as he reported on brain science and behavior in the prestigious American newspaper. In his book Emotional Intelligence, he explains that the skills of self-knowledge, self-discipline, persistence or empathy are more important for life than IQ (IQ), and he states that ignoring these skills is a risk for us.
Therefore, we must teach children to develop these skills from an early age, because they are beneficial for their future. His work was the best-seller in the ranking The New York Times for a year and a half, with more than 5,000,000 books sold worldwide. Besides, It was also a best-seller in Europe, Asia and Latin America, and was translated into almost 30 languages
Daniel Goleman was born in Stockton, California, where his parents were college professors. His father taught literature at San Joaquin Delta College, while his mother taught sociology classes at the Universidad del Pacífico. Goleman, who was a great student, He graduated with a BA and PhD in Clinical Development of Psychology and Personality from Harvard University where he usually gives lectures and is a guest professor.
He currently resides in the Berkshires and is co-chair of the Emotional Intelligence in Organizations Research Consortium, which is located in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. This institution recommends the best practices for the development of emotional intelligence skills, and promotes rigorous research for greater effectiveness of emotional intelligence in the workplace and organizations.
Additionally, Goleman was a co-founder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) at the Yale University Child Studies Center (now at the University of Illinois at Chicago), which aims to help schools introduce emotional literacy courses, an important part of communicating emotions. Hundreds of schools around the globe have begun to implement these courses.
His beginnings as a writer: building a long life of success
When he was a student at Harvard University, his mentor was David McClelland, a renowned psychologist who developed the famous achievement theory. Thanks to him, Goleman began working at the famous PsychologyToday magazine. Although he wanted to be a teacher like his parents, writing caught his attention, and the magazine served as learning for the rest of his life and for his successful career as a writer and theorist.
His first book was “The Varieties of Meditative Experience”, 1977 (later called: “The Paths of Meditation”), in which he described the different meditative systems. In addition to this, Goleman has written the following works:
Obviously, his great work and for which he is recognized worldwide is the book of Emotional Intelligence which he wrote in 1995.
Awards and accolades
Daniel Goleman has received various awards for his writing, including an award for his career as a journalist from the APA (American Psychological Association). He was nominated twice for the Pulitzer Prize and has received numerous awards in recognition of his research and dissemination work.
Your contribution to Emotional Intelligence
As has already been said, Goleman made the term emotional intelligence famous when no one was talking about it, and since then, this construct has been widely accepted in different areas (business, clinic, education…).
If we stop to think about the significance of our emotions in our daily lives, we will quickly realize that there are many occasions in which they decisively influence our lives, even if we do not realize it. That’s why, Emotional intelligence is key to our mental well-being and our relationships with others
The psychologist Adrian Triglia in an article published months ago in Psychology and Mindstates that emotional intelligence helps people because:
You can learn more about the benefits of Emotional Intelligence in our article: “The 10 benefits of emotional intelligence”
