Why Emotional Intelligence Is Probably Not as Important as You Think
Picture this. You're trying to explain why you're disappointed, not angry. But can you actually spell out the difference?
If you struggled with doing so, you’re absolutely not alone. But that’s exactly what emotional intelligence (EI) helps you with. This exercise gets right to the heart of EI - a concept praised in top leadership journals and continuously promoted in self-help by personal development experts. And even if you’ve certainly heard of EI, its meaning and importance might not be entirely clear. And no wonder: the research on emotional intelligence is fragmented, and many different models have been proposed to conceptualize it.
What exactly is EI?
Researchers have developed three families of models (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Petrides & Furnham, 2001; Goleman, 1995):
| Model | Core idea |
|---|---|
| Trait EI | Sees emotional intelligence as part of your personality—like optimism or confidence. |
| Ability EI | Views EI as reasoning with emotion (basically IQ-style problem-solving with feelings). |
| Mixed EI | Combines elements of Trait and Ability models—blending personality traits with skills like motivation and social competence. |
In this article, I will focus on ability EI, the leanest and most testable of the models.
The Four Emotional Intelligence skills
Psychologists Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer drafted the ability model during a coffee-shop brainstorm in New Haven back in the 1990s (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). They came up with four skills:
1. Perceiving Emotion Can you recognize the emotion you are feeling right now? Or detect the emotion of the person across from you based on their facial expression, body language, voice, or behavior? Example: “My teammate’s tone just tightened.”
2. Facilitating Thought
How do you prioritize where to direct your attention depending on your own and others’ emotions? Example: “Everyone in this meeting is in a good mood, maybe this is a good time to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming project.”
3. Understanding Emotion Can you label the emotion that you or someone else is feeling? Do you understand where it came from and what it might lead to? Without accurate labeling, it’s hard to regulate or use emotions effectively. Example: “That faint envy when they mention their ex is actually insecurity that came from me comparing myself to him. If I get lost in this feeling, it might push me to seek unnecessary reassurance.”
4. Managing Emotion How well can you regulate your own or someone else’s emotions, depending on the context and your goals? Example: “After the setback at work, morale is low, maybe I can draw attention to something we did well and propose a next step to rebuild confidence.”
These four skills can be measured using performance-based tests, similar to IQ tests (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 2002; Mayer et al., 2003). The stable test is the MSCEIT-2, a 94-item assessment that takes about 30 minutes (MHS, 2025). This is how a question might look:
“Imagine a friend feels discouraged about a failed presentation. Which emotional strategy would best help them move forward?”
Scores rely on consensus answers (what most people (or experts) pick) which keeps the tool practical. But it is also the source of a long-running debate: can there ever be a single right response to an emotional puzzle, especially across cultures? (Mayer et al., 2003; MacCann et al., 2004)
Now That You Know What EI Is, Does It Matter?
So can stronger emotional intelligence improve your performance, your well-being - or both? If your work involves regular emotional interaction (e.g., nursing, sales, hospitality, education, or counseling) emotional intelligence can give you a real, if modest, edge. Meta-analyses of these high emotional labor jobs show a correlation of about r = 0.24 between scores on ability-based EI tests (like the MSCEIT) and supervisor-rated job performance (Joseph & Newman, 2010; O’Boyle et al., 2011). That’s enough to nudge a median performer to just over the average.
But decades of data also show that EI is not the main driver of success at work. Cognitive ability (IQ) and personality (especially conscientiousness and emotional stability) explain a much larger share of performance. When IQ and Big Five traits are included in predictive models, EI typically adds just 1–2% extra explanatory power, and in analytical or solitary jobs (like coding or lab work), that contribution shrinks further (O’Boyle et al., 2011).
So why the hype?
Mixed models often blend in traits like optimism, self-esteem, or extraversion. These components inflate the predictive power of EI, making it seem more effective than it is when treated strictly as a set of reasoning skills (Landy, 2005). In summary, emotion skills matter most where emotions dominate the workday, but their impact is incremental, not game-changing.
What About Mental Health?
The research linking overall EI scores to mental health outcomes is mixed and less robust, again, largely because many EI measurements blend in personality traits. However, one specific branch of EI, emotion regulation, has a consistently strong, well-replicated connection to well- being and resilience (Gross, 2015; Aldao et al., 2010). This is especially relevant if you work in a high emotional labor profession, or score high in neuroticism (i.e., frequently experience negative emotions). What’s more, these regulation skills can be be trained. Here are three exercises/tools you can implement in your life today:
1. Reappraisal
Next time you feel stressed, pause and ask: “What else could this mean?”
Instead of “This is a disaster,” try thinking: “This is a challenge I can learn from.”
2. Acceptance
When a difficult emotion arises, silently name it. For example “I feel anxious” and breathe through it without trying to change it. Try visualizing the emotion like a passing cloud.
3. Attentional Shift
Set a 10-minute timer. Gently focus your attention on one neutral sensory detail, for example, your breath, a sound, or an object in the room. When your mind wanders, redirect your attention without judgment.
Conclusion
While emotional intelligence as a whole may not be a silver bullet, developing specific skills like emotion regulation can improve your overall well-being, especially in emotionally charged environments.
And unlike IQ, these are skills you can actually get better at.
References
Aldao, A., Nolen-Hoeksema, S. & Schweizer, S., 2010. Emotion-regulation strategies across psychopathology: A meta-analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(2), pp.217–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2009.11.004
Goleman, D., 1995. Emotional Intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Gross, J.J., 2015. Emotion regulation: Current status and future prospects. Psychological Inquiry, 26(1), pp.1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/1047840X.2014.940781
Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K.D. & Wilson, K.G., 1999. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change. New York: Guilford Press.
Joseph, D.L. & Newman, D.A., 2010. Emotional intelligence: An integrative meta-analysis and cascading model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(1), pp.54–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017286
Landy, F.J., 2005. Some historical and scientific issues related to research on emotional intelligence. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), pp.411–424. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.317
MacCann, C., Roberts, R.D., Matthews, G. & Zeidner, M., 2004. Consensus scoring and empirical option weighting of performance-based emotional intelligence tests. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(3), pp.645–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00123-5
Mayer, J.D. & Salovey, P., 1997. What is emotional intelligence? In: P. Salovey & D. Sluyter, eds. Emotional Development and Emotional Intelligence: Educational Implications. New York: Basic Books, pp.3–31.
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P. & Caruso, D.R., 2002. Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) User’s Manual. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.
Mayer, J.D., Salovey, P., Caruso, D.R. & Sitarenios, G., 2003. Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0. Emotion, 3(1), pp.97–105. https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.3.1.97
Multi-Health Systems (MHS), 2025. MSCEIT® 2 brochure. Toronto: MHS Assessments.
O’Boyle, E.H., Humphrey, R.H., Pollack, J.M., Hawver, T.H. & Story, P.A., 2011. The relation between emotional intelligence and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32(5), pp.788–818. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.714
Petrides, K.V. & Furnham, A., 2001. Trait emotional intelligence: Psychometric investigation with reference to established trait taxonomies. European Journal of Personality, 15(6), pp.425–448. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.416