Hermione's Emotional Intelligence (was: poor Grangers)

[fanofminerva]

No: HPFGUIDX 130734

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "hettiebe" 
<carol_sutcliffe at y...> wrote:
> > Hermione has actually done quite well for a profoundly gifted 
child. 
> > She's learned how to read other people fairly well, as evidenced 
by
> > her understanding of Cho's complex emotions.  She's remarkably 
patient
> > with Harry's emotional outbursts and with putting up with 
teasing and
> > taunting, perhaps through long practice.  I can't help but 
expect her
> > to have an academic understanding of psychology, but not 
necessarily
> > be able to apply that understanding to herself; she'll still act 
like
> > a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old in book 6.
> >  
> > - Perdita Granger
> 
> I agree but would go further. I think Hermione exhibits a high 
degree 
> of emotional intelligence, not just in comparison to Harry and 
Ron, 
> which might be expected, but also in comparison to other girls her 
age. 
> The sheer embarrassment and confusion that is the daily lot of 
> teenagers that age tends to make them pretty self-obsessed. 
Hermione by 
> comparison demonstrates remarkable thoughtfulness and awareness of 
> others. I'm thinking here particularly of her role of go between 
for 
> Harry and Ron during Goblet of Fire and, as Perdita mentioned, the 
way 
> she handles Harry's temper in OoTP. 
> 
> She's more than just book smarts. No matter clever she was I doubt 
> Viktor Krum, her 'older man', would have been half so attracted to 
her 
> if she'd been as silly and giggly as the other girls in the run-up 
to 
> the Yule Ball. 
> 
> Hettiebe


Daniel Goleman literally wrote the book on "Emotional 
Intelligence."  I will name the characteristics of EQ and follow 
them with my opinion of Hermione.  I am curious of what others think.

Emotional Intelligence is defined as abilities such as...
(1) being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of 
frustrations --> I think Hermione demonstrates this in her continual 
pursuit of an answer to a question, such as going to the library on 
her own to research in detail topics/questions of interest; also 
demonstrated by her trying the use of a time-turner to learn even 
more.
(2) to control impulse and delay gratification --> I cannot recall 
much of her needing to do this, perhaps because she does it so much 
it is not noticeable; I certainly will defer this to others with 
more canon knowledge than I
(3) to regulate one's own moods and keep distress from swamping the 
ability to think --> I think we see Hermione doing this constantly.  
Her mood is very stable, with the occasional outburst but certainly 
within normal limits, or less than what would be expected for 
teenage girls his age.  We also see this is PS/SS and her ability to 
think in the face of danger.
(4) to empathize and to hope --> We see Hermione doing this 
continually, especially with Harry.

So, in summary, I see Hermione as being high both in generalized 
intelligence, academic abilities, and emotional intelligence.  She 
is still an adolescent with all the developmental tasks adolescents 
face.  Like Hettibe said, others tend to expect Hermione to act like 
a young adult and when she doesn't, it is very noticeable.

Julie