The Myth of Emotional Intelligence - why EI died
Author: Stephen J. Morgan

EI or EQ has become a very fashionable term, but one which has sadly failed to take off in the way that its originators or exploiters had originally imagined. “Emotional Intelligence”, was a flashy, catchy term, which surely just couldn’t fail to capture the imagination of the majority of us disturbed masses. But it never really did and it remains a sort of fringe issue, which elicits interest, but which few people take up seriously, especially in the business world.

Why? Could it be that the peasants are a bit more savvy than the knaves thought or at least have a stronger sense of instinct which saves them from being duped? True most people like the idea of EI, but they tend to sense something is missing, not quite right and/or they are not quite sure how it would be applied or fit in with the modern business world. They are all right, because the theory and often practise of Emotional Intelligence is shot through with holes.

The first problem with “Emotional Intelligence” is that there are no group of psychologists who have ever agreed on what “emotions” are. Secondly, the thousands leagues of academia are still at loggerheads over what exactly “intelligence” is. So how can you define “Emotional Intelligence”, if one hasn’t yet defined what emotions or intelligence are? Clearly some people have leapfrogged this problem by just defining “Emotional Intelligence” as they like. They like the term, so they just give it a definition which will sell it.

The next problem is that there are at least three substantial (and many other versions) of EI floating around, each of which is criticizing the other for being things like being unscientific or simply “personality tests” instead of true EI tests. None of them believe that their test is a true test of emotional intelligence. In other words there doesn’t just seem to be not just a lack of unanimity, but quite considerable theoretical and practical animosity within the EI community.

Another interesting problem stems from analyses of the population studies made to “norm” the EI of the local population. Luckily the figures, which emerged very sensitively showed little overall difference between men and women. However, certain differences were found in areas between nationalities, but were quietly discounted. Rather surprisingly, it turned out that Israelis were the most emotionally intelligent people in the world! Maybe we should all be living like them. It would be interesting to do a similar study on the Taliban.

A key selling point of EI is that it is something, which can be developed. Unlike IQ or personality, which is considered fixed by adulthood, the ideas pushed are that you can go on developing your EI forever. Indeed, for this reason, it is becoming increasing popular as an approach in US schools. It looks like a perfect model for mass-producing polite shiny citizens responsible to their employer and society. A sort of EI production line for kiddies. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work like that. Even among the well-heeled American middle classes, not quite everything is rosy at home and not all of these problems can be ironed out at school. And EI is not a psychological theory or proven instrument in these cases.

Masses of research from dysfunctional families suggest that one in 10 American children and teens suffers from mental illness and the the results of trauma and lack of love, bonding, affection and security in the early years (and even in the womb) can affect an adult for life and that, it is in the very first months of a baby’s life that the fundamental foundations of ones adult emotional health, life, behaviours and intelligence are grounded. These studies are not done on “white trash”, but also on the hidden regimes of neurosis, alcoholism and dysnfunctionality in respectable middle America. Is “Emotional Intelligence” sufficiently equipped, researched and verified as a theory and practice to deal with developing children. Especially is it capable of dealing with the most common mental health problems like attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety disorders, depression, personality disorders, substance abuse, and eating disorders? In other words is the new EI fashion at schools really the coaching or teaching of something which has insufficient credibility and which appears unable to diagnosis or link results accurately and which we have little or no idea of the effects thereof?

And what about the adults? Up to one in five people suffer from neurosis, PTSD, psychopathology and personality disorders. 19 million American suffer severe depression, Up to 2 million Americans belong to an estimated 2,500 mind-control cults in the USA. Has EI the answers for dealing with such an epidemic? The fact is that the panacea is a myth.

Another interesting factor is the debate over whether EI fits in with the idea of evolution. The world famous expert on intelligence Gardner makes it a specific requirement for defining an intelligence, as to whether it has evolved with humanity over time. There seems to be no evidence to suggest that human emotional intelligence has evolved at all in the last 500,000 years since the development of the modern species of human. No doubt the savage made the same emotionally intelligent decision not to steal somebody else’s wife, for fear of death as most people do for other things today. In fact, if we take a look at the world, despite the gigantic advances in technique and science, ask yourself, whether humanity is really more emotionally intelligent than at the times of the Scottish clans, Greek senators, Crusaders or Conquistadors? If we look at the 20th century, with the Holocaust, 2 World Wars, the genocide in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, etc, is humankind more emotionally intelligent today than in the past?

The fact has been established that we have a triune brain. At the base, we have the reptilian brain stem, above that the mammalian limbic system and then very recently on top we have developed a rational, cognitive system called the neocortex, which differentiates us from the rest of the animal kingdom and allows us to use our IQ to make scientific advances like the atom bomb and build the wonders of civilization we see around us. Unfortunately we have a tendency to confuse this technical brilliance with emotional progress, when it is clearly not the case. We are basically reptiles with PhDs. And one only has to look at recent history to recognize that.

The fact is, that whenever, times get hard and struggle for each against all for the basic necessities of life begins anew, the neocortex tends to get overridden by the limbic/reptilian system and we end up with things like individual or mass murder, rape, the Nazis and wars and civil unrest. In truth civilization and our daily lives are little more than a Mask. We wear a mask all day, at work, at home and in social settings. Take away the basic necessities and the mask drops and the face of the reptile bears its snarling teeth. The mask just makes life a little more pleasant during pleasant times. We need a break from violence and like to take some pleasure also. However, if we really want to turn to face ourselves, then think of all those social occasions when you would have liked to rip the eyeballs out of that person’s head.

Finally, the big thrust of “Emotional Intelligence” is towards business. EI is pushed as a performance improver without parallel. The only problem is, does big business in fact want emotionally intelligent employees? Do companies want workforces who are emotionally intelligent and, therefore, more assertive, self-confident, with higher self-esteem, greater independent, and worse still possess the ability to judge the management about its own emotional intelligence, ask questions about its conduct and pose questions about whether their boss is emotionally immature or emotionally unhealthy? The big question is in fact, is EI capitalist friendly at all?

One of the reasons I believe EI has flopped as a concept is that nobody wants to have some sort of emotional police running around the office all day. Do we want to be constantly analysing each other over our under or over reactions, behaviours and attitudes? Do we want some sort of emotional tyranny running our daily lives? The truth is Emotional intelligence is nothing but old wine in new bottles. Moreover, people are a bit fed up with all these new Dr Solve-all solutions to psychological problems. The majority just get on with dealing with life as they always have done, with all its imperfections.

The best, which can be said about Emotional Intelligence is that, although it is misnamed, it at least characterizes and identifies certain social skills, which are indeed useful in everyday life and puts them into a box, which we have been dipping into since time immemorial.








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