Improv and

Emotional Intelligence:

BFFsLifestage, Inc

www.lifestage.org

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the expression

of a rich interplay of conscious feelings,

thought-action repertoires, and attitudes

“Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to engage our emotionality in effective ways in order to facilitate positive outcomes in our relationships.”“Emotional Intelligence In The Workplace: An Interview With Dr. Michael Rock” www.canadaone.com

Emotional Intelligence & Applied Improv: BFFS Emotional Intelligence:• Deals with the

emotional impact people have on one another;

• Is a skill and mind set for becoming aware of and managing emotions;

• Is a skill and mind set for navigating fear, especially fear of change;

Improvisation:• Occurs through interaction

and the impact people have on one another moment to moment;

• Grows out of emotional expression and emotional awareness;

• Operates out of the basic

tenet “follow the fear”;• Change and uncertainty are

central to the process

A key to good improvising is to be emotionally connected. Improvisers have great freedom to explore limitless options. Yet they must work together to create scenes and songs, and to do so, they need to be on the same page with the other actors. For this, they must rely on their emotional intelligence.Paul Zuckerman and Linda Gelman, “You Can’t Think And Act” Backstage, June 3, 2010

“Emotions are a signaling system”

“Emotional competence requires being able to pilot through the emotional undercurrents always at play rather than being pulled under by them.”Daniel Goleman, Working With Emotional Intelligence, Bantam Books, 1998

Improvisation is training in emotional competence

Research shows that the give and take that happens in the brain when jazz musicians improvise, for example, is "grounded in the same neural processes at play in every one of us when we engage in spontaneous self-expression, like a conversation with a friend.“Annie Murphy Paul, “What the Jazz Greats Knew About Creativity” TIME http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/21/learning-creativity-from-the-jazz-greats

Improv experiences promote deep learning through active

engagement

Using improvisation in education, training or personal growth settings will:Stimulate emotions;Attract attention;Encourage meaning making;Have immediate application to real-life situations;Create lasting memories of lessons learned;

Willdorf, N. “Masters of improvisation,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, 4 2000). 46 (37), p. A12.

Good improv grows out ofemotionally intelligent

interactions• Listen, connect and collaborate;• Make and keep agreements;• Act with generosity of spirit;• Maintain awareness of what others say and do;• Respond to what is happening rather than

imposing ideas;• Collaboration and co-creation rather than control;

Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up, Random House, 2005

"More active, concrete, experiential methods, such as role plays, group discussions, and simulations, usually work better than lecturing or assigned reading for social and emotional learning. The

Consortium For Research In Emotional Intelligence in Organizations

In order to reprogram neural circuits connecting emotions and the thinking processes, people need to actually engage in the desired pattern of thought, feeling, and action.

The exercises and activities in improvisation require people to interact with others to achieve a common objective - usually to tell a good story. The objective cannot be met if people don't work harmoniously together. In order to reach this goal, people develop the skills and understanding of what is required to work effectively together and how to enjoy it.

http://www.beyondanxiety.com/treatment/improv.php

The tensions of the creative process are the materials of

emotional growth

Improv principle #1:Take care of each other

Emotional Competence

grows through play“We don’t become socially competent by authority figures telling us how to behave-we gain those skills by interacting with our peers, learning what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable.”

“The Serious Need For Play”  Scientific American Mind Special Collector’s Edition, Winter 2014:

“One of the most remarkable of all human skills is our ability to flexibly adapt to nearly every imaginable circumstance. This ability arises in part from our capacity to regulate emotions that are engendered by the situations we face.” Kevin N. Ochsner & James J. Gross, “Thinking makes it so: A social cognitive neuroscience approach to emotion regulation” K. Vohs & R. Baumeister (Eds.), The Handbook of Self-Regulation (2003) Erlbaum: NJ.

Play has rules and structure. Within them, anything can happen

Improv is a training ground for developing situational awareness and responding effectively to unexpected and unpredictable situations.

“Discomfort is a very underrated feeling.“ Julia Louis-Dreyfuss

Emotional discomfort in a situation does not require emotional reactiveness;

Emotional intelligence is a mind skill set that involves the capacity to regulate emotions and choose how to express them; Getting uncomfortable is

necessary for growth

“As we incorporate the new stimuli and information from the improv activity, the activity itself mutates and recomposes in unknown directions. We trust our intuitive instincts to take us somewhere useful, interesting and challenging. We walk the tightrope of our own minds and hearts." ," Joseph Keefe, ImprovYourself: Business Spontaneity at the Speed of

Thought.

“Improvisation is teaching yourself new behavior, a new way to work, a new way to exist.”

Managing the uncertainty and tensions of change are core

competencies of both emotional intelligence and

improvisation

• Engaging in a creative process with other people;

• Trying new things based on mutual agreement;• Reflecting on the experience to stabilize the

cognitive shifts that have taken place;

Improv and EI occur within a framework of

social belonging“If your sense of belonging and self-esteem have been thwarted, you’ll try to reconnect. Excluded people actually become more sensitive to potential signs of connection, and they tailor their behavior accordingly. They will pay more attention to social cues, be more likable, more likely to conform to other people and more likely to comply with other people’s requests.” Kirsten Weir, “The Pain of Social Rejection” American Psychological Association, April 2012, Vol. 43, No. 4 https://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/04/rejection.aspx

Applied improvisation is a social-emotional experience:• Collaboration with

other people in the creation of something entirely new;

• Learning through participation;

• Being a moving part in something greater than self;

New information linked with social, emotional

events is more likely to be received, stored

and applied.

Emotions can be positive or negative, but either way they are powerful drivers of not only interactions but how the memory of the interaction - and the information - is stored.

Improv strengthens the capacity

for emotionally intelligent,

adaptable, novel responses to

stressful situationsThis tigress went into a depression and refused to eat after her litter of kittens died. These piglets needed a mother.

Improv is an opportunity to play with emotions through games and scenes – and to examine genuine emotions that arise through play

EI & Improv skill: Situational awareness

Situational awareness is the capacity to rapidly grasp an existing situation, let go of assumptions and become aware of preconceived ideas we impose on it, either unconsciously or consciously.

EI & Improv: Adapting without abandoning self

The capacity to take in the realities of a situation - not necessarily agree with or approve, but accept what is occurring – and respond creatively, can be learned through improvisation.

Working at the top of our intelligence: an improv principle that

parallels EI• Practice specificity;• Connect patterns;• Recognize themes; • Add your own unique wisdom into the mix,

weaving together the personal, political, and universal for improv that expands ideas;

• Develop individual strengths by focusing on co-creation;

“Good feelings spread more

powerfully than bad

ones.”Sigal Barsade, “The Ripple Effect: Emotional Contagion In Groups,” Working paper, Yale School of Management, 1998; Sigal Barsade and Donald E. Gibson, “Group Emotion: A View From The Top and Bottom,” in D. Gruenfeld et al (eds) Research on Managing Groups and Teams (Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1998)

Lifestage Trainings:Creative

ExperientialEvidence-Based

496 Smithtown Bypass Suite 202 Smithtown, NY 11787 www.lifestage.org

Contact Jude Treder-Wolff, LCSW, RMT, CGP at 631-366-4265 or bookings@lifestage.org