Trái tim thông minh

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David Brooks argues that over time, people (especially men) have become more emotionally intelligent (trí tuệ cảm xúc) and that this shift might be responsible for a significant portion of our cultural progress.

In the 1930s and 1940s, the researchers didn't pay much attention to the men's relationships. Instead, following the intellectual fashions of the day, they paid a lot of attention to the men's physiognomy (các đặc điểm của bộ mặt con người; nét mặt; diện mạo; kiểu mặt; gương mặt; nghệ thuật xét đoán tính tình một người qua các đặc điểm của mặt người đó; thuật xem tướng mặt.) Did they have a "masculine" body type? Did they show signs of vigorous genetic endowments?

But as this study -- the Grant Study -- progressed, the power of relationships became clear. The men who grew up in homes with warm parents were much more likely to become first lieutenants (trung úy) and majors (thiếu tá) in World War II. The men who grew up in cold, barren (cằn cỗi (đất); không có quả (cây); hiếm muộn, không sinh đẻ (đàn bà); không đem lại kết quả) homes were much more likely to finish the war as privates (binh nhì).

Body type was useless as a predictor of how the men would fare in life. So was birth order or political affiliation. Even social class had a limited effect. But having a warm childhood was powerful. As George Vaillant, the study director, sums it up in "Triumphs of Experience," his most recent summary of the research, "It was the capacity for intimate relationships that predicted flourishing in all aspects of these men's lives."

Bài trước: Thật sững sờ