Is Emotional Intelligence a Real Ability that Is Helpful in Life?

While a superior IQ doesn't ensure success, wealth, or contentment in life, educational systems and society emphasize academic prowess while overlooking emotional intelligence—traits that significantly influence personal outcomes. Managing emotional life requires distinct competencies, much like mathematics or literacy, and proficiency in these skills explains why some individuals flourish while others with comparable intellect struggle (Goleman, 1995, p. 36).

Non-cognitive behaviors and experiences make humans compelling subjects of study. Though intelligence and cognitive capacities fascinate researchers, a purely logical existence lacks warmth, and experiencing love, suffering, desire, and diverse emotions constitutes a vital aspect of being human. Consequently, psychologists have extensively examined emotion over the past century. From this work emerged emotional intelligence—a concept that has permeated popular culture, with many viewing emotion-based reasoning as essential for sound decision-making and meaningful living (Goleman, 1995).

Definitions of emotional intelligence vary widely, with authorities sometimes disagreeing so fundamentally that it's uncertain whether they're describing the same characteristic (Matthews, Roberts, & Zeidner, 2004; Waterhouse, 2006). This chapter adopts the definition from leading researchers: "the capacity to reason, understand, and manage emotions," including the emotion system's ability to utilize emotion for enhanced thinking (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, 2008, p. 321). Advocates view this trait as comparable to other reasoning capabilities—just as verbal reasoning involves understanding language, emotional intelligence applies similar processes to emotions. Rather than regarding emotion as irrational or detrimental to clear thinking, people can leverage it to enhance life functioning (Mayer et al., 2004).

Leading authorities identify two components: reasoning with and about emotion, and employing emotion to strengthen thinking abilities (Mayer et al., 2008). People theoretically use emotional intelligence to recognize emotions in themselves and others, enhance decision-making, and regulate their own and others' emotional states. If genuine, this ability would prove valuable in situations requiring composure, interpersonal problem-solving, and addressing concerns of others, making it particularly relevant for workplace and personal contexts (Pesta et al., 2015).

While theorizing has merit, emotional intelligence's value depends on predicting actual outcomes. Proponents acknowledge this necessity (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Reported correlations with variables like job performance and social support appear modest, but most studies lack peer review or publication (Matthews et al., 2004; Waterhouse, 2006). Available research tends toward poor design and underwhelming findings (N. Brody, 2004). Published literature shows emotional intelligence as a weaker academic performance predictor than IQ (Siu & Reiter, 2009), with correlations of r = .23 for academic success and r = .28 for job performance versus intelligence's r ≈ .50-.70 for academics and r ≈ .25-.50 for job performance. Research on interpersonal outcomes like avoiding divorce or maintaining friendships has proven disappointing, with correlations rarely exceeding .30 (Mayer et al., 2004, 2008).

These weak correlations may reflect that emotional intelligence tests partially measure Big Five personality traits important for functioning (Matthews et al., 2004). Controlling for personality traits often reduces correlations to near-zero (N. Brody, 2004), suggesting relationships between emotional intelligence and outcomes stem solely from personality trait overlap. Controlling for intelligence similarly eliminates correlations with academic outcomes (Mayer et al., 2004), indicating emotional intelligence offers little novelty.

Like other proposed intelligences, emotional intelligence faces theoretical challenges questioning its existence. One issue: why must emotion management, perception, and utilization constitute an intelligence (Locke, 2005)? Expanding intelligence definitions risks diluting the term's meaning.

Fundamentally, there's no justification for why g cannot fulfill emotional intelligence's role. Research demonstrates g reasons about others' emotions and mental states (Coyle et al., 2018; Schlegel et al., 2020). If g handles verbal, spatial, and logical content, why not emotions? Emotional intelligence theorists cite unique neurological processing (Mayer et al., 2008), yet auditory and visual information also process uniquely while g integrates them.

Another problem involves claiming emotions provide informational input for conclusions (Mayer et al., 2008). However, this reverses causality—believing danger exists creates fear, not vice versa (Locke, 2005). Emotions are automatic and irrational, making them inherently unsuited for reasoning, a contradiction theorists haven't resolved.

Emotional intelligence possesses compelling aspects, potentially bridging intelligence and emotion research to illuminate human decision-making. It offers valuable perspectives on interpersonal challenges (Matthews et al., 2004), with evidence supporting elements like emotional self-regulation's importance during adolescence (Trentacosta & Shaw, 2009). However, research hasn't substantiated claims that emotional intelligence constitutes a genuine trait with significant real-world impact. Currently, "there is no empirical data supporting a causal link between EI and any of its supposed, positive effects" (Matthews et al., 2004, p. 189).

This dispute carries practical implications. Advocates promote interventions to enhance emotional intelligence in schools and corporations (Cook et al., 2018). If unreal or unimportant, these programs waste resources better spent on effective training. Proponents should moderate enthusiasm, strengthen research quality, and resolve theoretical contradictions (Waterhouse, 2006) before implementing such practices.

Whether emotional intelligence survives remains uncertain. Regardless, emotions remain crucial to human experience, and researching them advances understanding of humanity. Merging intelligence and emotion concepts would constitute a major psychological breakthrough, but until substantiated, skepticism about emotional intelligence's real-world significance is warranted.





From Chapter 26 of "In the Know: Debunking 35 Myths About Human Intelligence" by Dr. Russell Warne (2020)