How Did the Pandemic
影响人们的
Emotional Intelligence?

How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact people’s emotional intelligence? This graph tells a clear story – global emotional intelligence trends looked good from 2017 to 2019… and then 2020 happened:

情绪智力（EQ）几乎全面下降。在一年以压力，孤独和恐惧为主的一年中，这并不令人惊讶。但是，仔细研究这些数据揭示了大流行如何影响特定年龄段和人口统计学的一些令人着迷的细微差别，以及为什么我们重新投资于过去一年我们共同失去的一些情绪智力技能绝对至关重要。

Pandemic Pummels Optimism: Did You Feel Burnt Out in 2020?

The emotional intelligence skill that saw the biggest decrease in 2020? Exercise Optimism, which is defined as the ability to see options. It went down 5%. And,正如我们报道了工作的未来，诸如协作，想象力和冒险之类的相关技能在全球范围内都超过10％（2021 State of the Heart study).

看着神经生物学，这种下降是有道理的。当我们感到压力时，我们会在生物学上编程，以较少创造力，不同情，远见卓识。实际上，身体会关闭这些系统，因为它缩小了其焦点，保守能量，并专注于手头的威胁。

但是，这种趋势有两个大问题：

首先是，我们的压力反应系统演变为应对有形的临时威胁（例如老虎在丛林中跟踪您）而不是长期存在的威胁。当我们一次经历几周或几个月的高压力时，它会导致疲惫和倦怠 - 正是已经发生的事情。

The second problem is that optimism is really important. It’s strongly correlated with important outcomes like making good decisions, having quality relationships, working effectively and maintaining mental and physical wellbeing. In fact, people with high optimism are 8x as likely to score high in these outcomes. What is arguably the most important emotional intelligence skill went down the most in 2020. Interestingly, though, it didn’t go down equally for everyone.

乐观的损失使年轻人最困难

One interesting caveat: when it came to optimism, the pandemic hit younger people much harder than older age groups:

As you can see, people over 45 experienced a slightincrease。请注意，这是来自一个巨大的全球，随机样本（more about the research). Why would the pandemic have impacted younger people’s optimism more intensely than older people’s?

Joshua Freedman, one of the researchers who leads the study, hypothesized that it may be due to adults’ higher levels of structural stability: While the work setting changed, work continued. While family responsibilities changed, parents still took care of kids. Older adults have more of these “anchors,” while younger people had their lives more thoroughly upended and experienced more chaos. Further research would help us better understand how different age-groups experienced the pandemic, which could assist people in building back better.

但是，在2020年，跨年龄段的一种情商技能都提高了。它是什么？

一个单一的离群值：什么情绪智力技能变得必不可少？

On this graph, which line is moving in the opposite direction of the others in 2020?

在这项研究中衡量的8个核心情绪智力技能中，只有1个在2020年提高：Apply Consequential Thinking, which is the ability to evaluate the costs and benefits of choices. We all got plenty of practice strengthening those muscles this year:

Is it safe to go to the grocery store? To see my friends and family? To celebrate Christmas together? To eat at a restaurant?

Like never before, the pandemic conditioned us to make these calculations – to weigh the pros and cons of things we used to take for granted. If we used this competency well, hopefully it helped to keep us and our loved ones safe. It has also recalibrated our entire disposition in a way that presents long-term risks: A heightened sense of caution is valuable in a crisis, yet over time it will limit innovation & creativity. This competency pushes us away from risks and toward safety — which often means retreating. That’s understandable under high stress. Playing it safe has its advantages in a pandemic, but also definitely comes at a cost.

And as many countries enter a new phase of the pandemic, it’s time to intentionally choose a new attitude of hope and optimism. “We have to readjust to being open to possibilities and the unknown, as opposed to just playing it safe all the time,” Freedman says. “While millions of people are still suffering, and dozens of countries are facing vaccine shortages, we might have an end in sight. While we have difficult work to do to care for people and heal, perhaps now we can begin to dream again of a better future.”

And considering the massive problems we face globally, it’s not just dreaming for the fun of it. It’s dreaming to come up with a new normal that significantly moves the needle in a better direction.

A New Normal: How to exercise optimism for a better future

When the term “new normal” surfaced in 2020, it had a decidedly negative connotation: Things aren’t going back to how they were. Get used to it. Accept it. Masks are in. Crowds are out. Et cetera, et cetera. “New normal” meant we have less options, just on a more permanent basis.

But now, as much of the world reawakens, “new normal” can take on a much more positive tone. A pause like this – as painful as it’s been – is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To change habits. To make intentional choices about how we want to live. To dream up new ways to collaborate – to see new options instead of cruising on autopilot. We may never have a blank slate again quite like 2021.

您将如何利用乐观来充分利用这段过渡时间？

There’s no shortage of issues on which to focus our attention: climate change, racial injustice, economic inequality. They are all unique, yet interconnected. The strongest link between them? They won’t change if we just go back to what we were doing – the same ways of thinking, acting and feeling that have failed to address these issues for so long. They will continue to worsen, unless we act. That’s where optimism, imagination, and collaboration come in. Those muscles atrophied as we narrowed our focus on one particular crisis in 2020, but now, they are more important than ever.