# Read the first page of Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman Read the opening of Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman free, no signup. How human brains connect through empathy, attention, relationships, and social cues. - Page: https://uncovered.ink/read/social-intelligence-daniel-goleman - Genre: Social psychology - Year: 2006 - ISBN: 9781446472262 - Read it blind (cover and title hidden): https://uncovered.ink/?b=9781446472262&s=read-page - Buy: https://bookshop.org/a/125786/9781446472262 - Borrow: https://search.worldcat.org/search?q=9781446472262 ## The opening @@CHAP@@ PROLOGUE @@CHAP@@ Unveiling a New Science During the early days of the second American invasion of Iraq, a group of soldiers set out for a local mosque to contact the town’s chief cleric. Their goal was to ask his help in organizing the distribution of relief supplies. But a mob gathered, fearing the soldiers were coming to arrest their spiritual leader or destroy the mosque, a holy shrine. Hundreds of devout Muslims surrounded the soldiers, waving their hands in the air and shouting, as they pressed in toward the heavily armed platoon. The commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Hughes, thought fast. Picking up a loudspeaker, he told his soldiers to “take a knee,” meaning to kneel on one knee. Next he ordered them to point their rifles toward the ground. Then his order was: “Smile.” At that, the crowd’s mood morphed. A few people were still yelling, but most were now smiling in return. A few patted the soldiers on the back, as Hughes ordered them to walk slowly away, backward—still smiling. That quick-witted move was the culmination of a dizzying array of split-second social calculations. Hughes had to read the level of hostility in that crowd and sense what would calm them. He had to bet on the discipline of his men and the strength of their trust in him. And he had to gamble on hitting just the right gesture that would pierce the barriers of language and culture—all culminating in those spur-of-the-moment decisions. That well-calibrated forcefulness, combined with adeptness at reading people, distinguishes outstanding law enforcement officers—and certainly military officers dealing with agitated civilians. Whatever one’s feelings about the military campaign itself, that incident spotlights the brain’s social brilliance even in a chaotic, tense encounter. What carried Hughes through that tight spot were the same neural circuits that we rely on when we encounter a potentially sinister stranger and decide instantly whether to run or engage. This interpersonal radar has saved countless people over human history—and it remains crucial to our survival even today. In a less urgent mode, our brain’s social circuits navigate us through every encounter, whether in the classroom, the bedroom, or on the sales floor. These circuits are at play when lovers meet eyes and kiss for the first time, or when tears held back are sensed nonetheless. They account for the glow of a talk with a friend where we feel nourished. This neural system operates in any interaction where tuning and timing are crucial. They give a lawyer the certainty that he wants that person on a jury, a negotiator the gut sense that this is the other party’s final offer, a patient the feeling she can trust her physician. It accounts for that magic in a meeting where everyone stops shuffling papers, quiets down, and locks in on what someone is saying. And now science can detail the neural mechanics at work in such moments. @@CHAP@@ THE SOCIABLE BRAIN In this book I aim to lift the curtain on an emerging science, one that almost daily reveals startling insights into our interpersonal world. The most fundamental revelation of this new discipline: we are wired to connect. Neuroscience has discovered that our brain’s very design makes it sociable, inexorably drawn into an intimate brain-to-brain linkup whenever we engage with another person. That neural bridge lets us affect the brain—and so the body—of everyone we interact with, just as they do us. Even our most routine encounters act as regulators in the brain, priming our emotions, some desirable, others not. The more strongly connected we are with someone emotionally, the greater the mutual force. Our most potent exchanges occur with those people with whom we spend the greatest amount of time day in and day out, year after year—particularly those we care about the most. During these neural linkups, our brains engage in an emotional tango, a dance of feelings. Our social interactions operate as modulators, something like interpersonal thermostats that continually reset key aspects of our brain function as they orchestrate our emotions. ## Books with a similar feel - [Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell](https://uncovered.ink/read/outliers-malcolm-gladwell.md) - [The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, M.D. & Daniel Maté](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-myth-of-normal-gabor-mate-m-d-and-daniel-mate.md) - [When the Body Says No by Gabor Maté, M.D.](https://uncovered.ink/read/when-the-body-says-no-gabor-mate-m-d.md) - [Influence by Robert B. Cialdini](https://uncovered.ink/read/influence-robert-b-cialdini.md) - [The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.](https://uncovered.ink/read/the-body-keeps-the-score-bessel-van-der-kolk-m-d.md) - [Silent Spring by Rachel Carson](https://uncovered.ink/read/silent-spring-rachel-carson.md) --- Source: Uncovered (https://uncovered.ink). A short sample shown for reading and discovery. 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