Training and development efforts in industry have not always distinguished between cognitive learning and emotional learning, but such a distinction is important for effective practice. For instance, consider the example of the engineer whose career was stymied because he was shy, introverted, and totally absorbed in the technical aspects of his job. Through cognitive learning, he might come to understand that it would be better for him to consult other people more, make connections, and build relationships. But just knowing he should do these things would not enable him to do them. The ability to do these things depends on emotional competence, which requires emotional learning as well as cognitive learning.
Emotional incompetence often results from habits deeply learned early in life. These automatic habits are set in place as a normal part of living, as experience shapes the brain. As people acquire their habitual repertoire of thought, feeling, and action, the neural connections that support these are strengthened, becoming dominant pathways for nerve impulses. Connections that are unused become weakened, while those that people use over and over grow increasingly strong. When these habits have been so heavily learned, the underlying neural circuitry becomes the brain’s default option at any moment – what a person does automatically and spontaneously, often with little awareness of choosing to do so. Thus, for the shy engineer, diffidence is a habit that must be overcome and replaced with a new habit, self-confidence.
Emotional capacities like empathy or flexibility differ from cognitive abilities because they draw on different brain areas. But with social and emotional competencies, additional brain areas are involved, mainly the circuitry that runs from the emotional centers – particularly the amygdala – deep in the center of the brain up to the prefrontal lobes, the brain’s executive center. Effective learning for emotional competence has to re-tune these circuits.
Cognitive learning involves fitting new data and insights into existing frameworks of association and understanding, extending and enriching the corresponding neural circuitry. But emotional learning involves that and more – it requires that we also engage the neural circuitry where our social and emotional habit repertoire is stored. Changing habits such as learning to approach people positively instead of avoiding them, to listen better, or to give feedback skillfully, is a more challenging task than simply adding new information to old.
Motivational factors also make social and emotional learning more difficult and complex than purely cognitive learning. Emotional learning often involves ways of thinking and acting that are more central to a person’s identity. A person who is told, for instance, that he should learn a new word processing program usually will become less upset and defensive than if he is told that he should learn how to better control his temper or become a better listener. The prospect of needing to develop greater emotional competence is a bitter pill for many to swallow. It thus, is much more likely to generate resistance to change.
What this means for social and emotional learning is that one must first unlearn old habits and then develop new ones. For the learner, this usually means a long and sometimes difficult process involving much practice. One-day seminars just won’t do it.
A better source of guidance comes from research that examines social and emotional change processes more directly. This research suggests a set of guidelines for the design of effective social and emotional learning. These guidelines point to
components that are additive and synergistic; to be effective, social and emotional learning experiences need not adhere to all of these guidelines, but the chances for success increase with each one that is followed.
Emotional incompetence often results from habits deeply learned early in life. These automatic habits are set in place as a normal part of living, as experience shapes the brain. As people acquire their habitual repertoire of thought, feeling, and action, the neural connections that support these are strengthened, becoming dominant pathways for nerve impulses. Connections that are unused become weakened, while those that people use over and over grow increasingly strong. When these habits have been so heavily learned, the underlying neural circuitry becomes the brain’s default option at any moment – what a person does automatically and spontaneously, often with little awareness of choosing to do so. Thus, for the shy engineer, diffidence is a habit that must be overcome and replaced with a new habit, self-confidence.
Emotional capacities like empathy or flexibility differ from cognitive abilities because they draw on different brain areas. But with social and emotional competencies, additional brain areas are involved, mainly the circuitry that runs from the emotional centers – particularly the amygdala – deep in the center of the brain up to the prefrontal lobes, the brain’s executive center. Effective learning for emotional competence has to re-tune these circuits.
Cognitive learning involves fitting new data and insights into existing frameworks of association and understanding, extending and enriching the corresponding neural circuitry. But emotional learning involves that and more – it requires that we also engage the neural circuitry where our social and emotional habit repertoire is stored. Changing habits such as learning to approach people positively instead of avoiding them, to listen better, or to give feedback skillfully, is a more challenging task than simply adding new information to old.
Motivational factors also make social and emotional learning more difficult and complex than purely cognitive learning. Emotional learning often involves ways of thinking and acting that are more central to a person’s identity. A person who is told, for instance, that he should learn a new word processing program usually will become less upset and defensive than if he is told that he should learn how to better control his temper or become a better listener. The prospect of needing to develop greater emotional competence is a bitter pill for many to swallow. It thus, is much more likely to generate resistance to change.
What this means for social and emotional learning is that one must first unlearn old habits and then develop new ones. For the learner, this usually means a long and sometimes difficult process involving much practice. One-day seminars just won’t do it.
A better source of guidance comes from research that examines social and emotional change processes more directly. This research suggests a set of guidelines for the design of effective social and emotional learning. These guidelines point to
components that are additive and synergistic; to be effective, social and emotional learning experiences need not adhere to all of these guidelines, but the chances for success increase with each one that is followed.