Civility is an Emerging Niche in Emotional Intelligence

A wide range of organizations are beginning to address the increase of incivility that is becoming pervasive throughout American society. State Bar Associations and local governments are some of the organizations taking the lead in providing basic training in “civility”. What is civility? Civility is behavior in public that demonstrates respect for others and that entails curtailing one’s own immediate self-interest, when appropriate. Civility toward strangers requires that we behave in certain ways toward people who may mean nothing to us, and whom we are unlikely ever to encounter again, in the interest of hearing their thoughts; and, Civility involves holding back in the pursuit of one’s own immediate self-interest – we desist from doing what would be most pleasing to us for the sake of harmonious civil discourse with others, even strangers. Since no universally agreed training/curricula for “civility” currently exists, the range of interventions includes the following: ethics, spirituality, emotional intelligence, anger management and etiquette.