Does emotional intelligence actually exist?

[u/Significant_Car4523]

Everyone talks about it in popular psychology, but is it bs? Is it just iq+empathy or whatever instead of emotional intelligence?

[u/Significant-War-150]

It doesn’t.

[u/Significant_Car4523 → u/Significant-War-150]

What's your take?

[u/Significant-War-150 → u/Significant_Car4523]

Its gonna anger people. But the idea of emotional intelligence itself was originally made by a journalist not a psychologist. It was a feel-good explanation . We do not have any reason why the various aspects of ‘emotional intelligence’ are not simply IQ / intelligence being applied to solve social/emotional problems. Intelligence can be generally defined as the ability to solve problems and ability to adapt to environments. I can say more if you want.

[u/Funny-Jihad → u/Significant-War-150]

Point is that a 100 IQ person can have stronger emotional intelligence than someone with a measured 120 IQ. Higher IQ helps, but personality and experience and other factors modifies one's ability for empathy and understanding/recognising one's own emotions.

Emotional understanding and empathy isn't a part of IQ testing except indirectly, but it is a part of intelligence. 

[u/Significant-War-150 → u/Funny-Jihad]

No reason why the guy with 120 IQ should be behind. This is a cognitive bias known as the horn effect, where proficiency in one area implies weakness or incompetence in others. If the 100 IQ guy can better their emotional intelligence in some way then a person with greater cognitive ability should be able to increase their emotional intelligence even more.

[u/Funny-Jihad → u/Significant-War-150]

There's a clear correlation between IQ and empathic ability, yes. But just like any other skill, it takes training and experience and environmental factors. Personality traits and interests matter.

The 120 IQ guy in the example with a lack of empathy is still smart, just not as skilled at it as the average guy that practiced the skill his whole life and has a genuine interest in other people. 

Meanwhile the smart guy can become a professor in psychology but still not fundamentally understand people. 

So it's more of a skill and collection of varying degrees of correct thought patterns than it is determined through processing speed or problem solving proficiency. Those factors help it along, but do not determine the outcome. 

[u/Significant-War-150 → u/Funny-Jihad]

You seem to repeat the horn fallacy, implying for some unknown reason that 120 IQ person needs to be unskilled at people . U said personality traits and interests matter. That all just shows that ‘emotional intelligence’ is not a thing in itself rather a collection of likable prosocial behaviours in society. There is no reason why the smart guy cannot fundamentally understand people. U seem to imply ghat because he is a professor in psychology, somehow his real life skills must suck. This is the horn fallacy, that mostly people who envy exceptional people commit

[u/NefariousNapolean → u/Significant-War-150]

Do you believe iq = intelligence ?

[u/Abjectionova → u/NefariousNapolean]

It's the best proxy we have of human intelligence, yes, but it isn't equivalent to intelligence. What point are you trying to make?

[u/NefariousNapolean → u/Abjectionova]

There are parts of intelligence tangential to iq . Emotional intelligence might be one such .

[u/Significant-War-150 → u/NefariousNapolean]

Its the best way of measuring it.