Daniel Goleman

Daniel Goleman (born March 7, 1946) is an American psychologist, author, and science journalist. For twelve years, he wrote for The New York Times, reporting on the brain and behavioral sciences. His 1995 book Emotional Intelligence was on The New York Times Best Seller list for a year and a half, a bestseller in many countries, and is in print worldwide in 40 languages. Apart from his books on emotional intelligence, Goleman has written books on topics including self-deception, creativity, transparency, meditation, social and emotional learning, ecoliteracy and the ecological crisis, and the Dalai Lama’s vision for the future. Daniel Goleman grew up in a Jewish household in Stockton, California, the son of Fay Goleman (née Weinberg; 1910–2010), professor of sociology at the University of the Pacific, and Irving Goleman (1898–1961), humanities professor at Stockton College (now San Joaquin Delta College). His maternal uncle was nuclear physicist Alvin M. Weinberg.

Goleman graduated from Harvard University with PhD in Clinical Psychology but before attending Harvard he attended college at Amherst College where he graduated Magna Cum Laude with his undergraduate degree, and he attended the University of California, Berkeley through Amherst Independent Scholar program.Goleman studied in India using a pre-doctoral fellowship from Harvard and a post-doctoral grant from the Social Science Research Council. While in India, he spent time with spiritual teacher Neem Karoli Baba, who was also the guru to Ram Dass, Krishna Das, and Larry Brilliant. He wrote his first book based on travel in India and Sri Lanka.

Goleman then returned as a visiting lecturer to Harvard, where during the 1970s his course on the psychology of consciousness was popular. David McClelland, his mentor at Harvard, recommended him for a job at Psychology Today, from which he was recruited by The New York Times in 1984.

In 1993 Goleman co-founded the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning at Yale University's Child Studies Center, which then moved to the University of Illinois at Chicago. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) the organization’s mission is to introduce social and emotional learning into the education of students from preschool to high school. Social and emotional learning (SEL) entails the methods by which children and young adults develop and use the knowledge, attitudes, and abilities required to comprehend and regulate emotions, and accomplish constructive goals, empathize with others, form and sustain beneficial relationships, and make ethical choices. Goleman also co-founded Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations (CREIO) in 1996. The organization is dedicated to enhancing the understanding and application of emotional and social intelligence within organizations by fostering the creation and sharing of knowledge. Currently he co-directs the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. He is on the board of the Mind & Life Institute.