Bellevue Community College Debilitative Emotions and Increasing Emotional Intelligence Journal

Exercise #1:  Debilitative EmotionsandIncreasing Emotional Intelligence Provide an analysis below which addresses the following questions (a minimum 350-words total length for this exercise not per question):

Step 1:  Briefly describe an “activating event” (p. 170) you experienced that led to debilitative emotions while interacting with another person.  (I understand that some may wish to select an event that produced relatively mild debilitative emotions and am not requiring that this be a traumatic event).  Identify any “amygdala triggers” (Emotional Intelligence Lecture click here) or emotional memory (p.162) which influenced this experience.   Be sure to identify the specific emotions you felt (i.e. fear, sadness, etc.) and explain how they meet the characteristics of intensity and/or duration for debilitative emotions described in your text (p. 158-159).

Step 2:  Describe your“self-talk” (p.170-171) regarding these emotions.

Step 3: Identify any fallacies (i.e. Fallacy of Approval or Fallacy of Catastrophic Expectations etc.) identified in the text (p. 164-169) that may be promoting yourdebilitating emotions and reappraise any irrational beliefs (p. 171) to minimize these emotions.  In other words, rather than seeking the person’s approval, what is another way to approach this situation?

Step 4:  As discussed on the last slide of the Emotional Intelligence lecture, identify the possible thoughts and feelings of the other person from their perspective (i.e. rather than “She kept telling me what to do because she is on a power trip” you would describe the other person was  “She frequently directed us on what to do at work as though she was concerned that it wouldn’t be completed and she appeared worried that she would be in trouble if it wasn’t perfect.”).

Step 5:  Briefly discuss how reducing your debilitative emotions and demonstrating empathy (as you did in Step 4) could help your emotional well-being, increase your EQ, and improve your relationship with the other person?

Please note a common error students make on this assignment is simply summarize the textbook concepts and not apply it to their experience.  There is no need to teach me the concepts and students should not focus on summarizing the content from the text or lecture. This assignment is designed for you to apply this knowledge to your behavior.

Exercise #2  Listening Assessment (350-word minimum total length for the exercise)

Step 1:  Read Chapter 8 and review the

Paraphrasing Lecture (13 min) click here

and

Effective and Efficient Listening Lecture (10 min) click here.

Step 2: Track your listening at work, school, and in your personal relationships for 3 days.  Identify the types of listening responses you demonstrated and the ineffective listening behaviors

Step 3:  Provide an analysis below which addresses the following questions (a minimum 350-words total discussion for all 4 answers not per question):

1.Identify two ineffective listening behaviors (p. 251-253) you demonstrated.  List them  below and provide brief examples to demonstrate your point:

2. Whichtypes of listening responses (i.e. supporting, analyzing etc. on p. 257-272)did you demonstrate and how did you follow or violate the guidelines provided in the text for giving each type of listening response?

3. Which listening responses listed on pages 257-272 could you choose more often to be a more effective listener?

4. When you review the content in the text and

lecture (click here)

on cultural differences (i.e. power distance, individualism/collectivism, high context/low context language, nonverbal cues) discussed in previous chapters, what could you do to engage in more culturally sensitive listening with individuals who are different from you?