DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM WITH PHONE OR TABLET 10 Managing Legal Risks in Early Childhood Programs This prefrontal cortex is associated with intellect or IQ. IQ is, in turn, associated with “hardheaded” thinking processes. Our IQ is tested as we proceed through our school years. Our IQ score predicts in many cases if and where we will go to college, whether we are perceived of as “bright” or “dim,” and certainly whether we qualify for MENSA, the exclusive organization requiring an IQ in the 98th percentile or above. Gut Decisions or “Thin-Slicing” Malcolm Gladwell (2005) challenged the assumption that using the executive function of our brains leads to the best decisions. Gladwell proposes instead that we make our best decisions by “thin-slicing.” He says: “Thin-slicing is not an exotic gift. It is a central part of what it means to be human. We thin-slice whenever we meet a new per- son or have to make sense of something quickly or encounter a novel situation. We thin-slice because we have to, and come to rely on that ability . . .” (p. 43). (See Appendix: Helpful Websites.) Thin-slicing is akin to making a “gut decision.” Gilkey, Caceda, and Kilts maintain that our best decisions are not made through our rational, executive function (2010, p. 23). Instead, wise decisions utilize all of our brain resources, including those identified with emotions and intuition: • Insula: is necessary for emotional processing. • Anterior cingulated cortex: enables us to make decisions based on our experience with and evaluation of prior experiences. • Superior temporal sulcus: allows us to anticipate other people’s emotions and thoughts by reading their and our own sensory stimuli. Using all of our brain resources is also known as “EQ” or “emo- tional intelligence” (Goleman, 1995). EQ, the ability to read people as well as we read books, draws on our intuition, intellect, sensory capac- ity, and other internal processes. The more mature we are emotionally, the greater the library of stored experiences we have from which to generate intuitive decisions. In fact, Cozolino in The Neuroscience of Human Relationships (2006) ar- gues that as we grow in experience, the more streamlined our decision making becomes. Irrational or Fear-Driven Decisions One of the brain’s earliest-developing components, the amyg- dala gland, is lodged deep inside the head. The amygdala served our COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL