Emotional Intelligence(EI) is a myth and is more a simplification of existing proven brain functions into something flashy and new that thought leaders use.

Roberts et al. (2001) came to the conclusion that there is a poor reliability of the Multi-Factor Emotional Intelligence Scale test being reliable and valid.

Furthermore, they concluded that there may be no objective answers to EI tests because the correct answers are scored based on group consensus. They also stated that EI does not qualify as intelligence. It looks more or less like EI measures some form of the need to belong to a group.

Emotional intelligence looks like a congregation of Altruism as a personality trait, true empathy, and crystalline intelligence also known as IQ or g(working memory).

Emotional intelligence is a marketing hoax

The tests used do not measure more than the need to belong, according to Roberts et al. (2001).

Mayer & Mitchell (1998) also show examples of emotional intelligence that are sentences of already known and proven brain functions.

• "Knowing that helping someone may make oneself feel better" – is a personality trait called Altruism measured in the Big 5 or HEXACO test that is used all over the world to define and describe human personality and mental illness.

• "Being able to analyze an emotion and identify its parts and how they combine" – Is true empathy. Created by you watching another person with your left eye and your mirror neurons in your right hemisphere mimicking the eye muscles around the other person's eyes. Your eye muscles will then create the same emotion in you making you feel the same emotions as the other person. This is measured by the EQ test.

• "Having knowledge (and remembering analysis) of prior instances of feelings" – Also known as memory and extraction of memory by relaxing and using the right hemisphere to find patterns through Gestalt and Crystalline IQ.

• "Being able to perceive emotions in faces" – again, this is the definition of true empathy in the right hemisphere tested with the EQ test.

Believing and spreading the notion that Emotional Intelligence is real is like saying that water has memory.

Read neuropsychology, neuroscience, and personal psychology

If you want to understand yourself and others, then start reading books and research about neuropsychology, neuroscience, and personality psychology.

It's never been easier to learn more than 99% of people.

• Watch Andrew Huberman

• Read Paul Ekman

• Read Gad Saad

• Read Lisa Feldman Barrett

• Read Dr. Iain McGilchrist

• Read Jaak Panksepp

• Read David J. Anderson

• Read David Eagleman

• Read about Empathy

• Read about IQ

• Read about Gestalt

• Read about Dark Tetrad personality

• Read Anna Machin

To be a critical thinker you always need to verify anything any scientist says in a podcast or a book.

It's not optional. It's a requirement.

Always search for any reference at https://scholar.google.com and set aside time to read the whole paper and not only the abstract.

Tip #1: Conflict of interest in research papers

When you read a scientific paper. Always scroll down to the section "Conflict of interest". Who paid for the research? A rule of thumb. If the section does not exist. They are hiding it. If the section does not have a clear title. They are hiding that it is bought and paid for results, just like in this paper about COVID-19 vaccines, where there is a conflict of interest since the researchers got jobs at the pharma companies. Those papers results you always ignore.

Tip #2: Never believe what a scientist is saying

You always have to search for and validate the subject before you spread it to others, or you will be a useful idiot who spreads made-up marketing schemes.

Tip #3: You will be more confident speaking the truth

My father used to tell me: "Son. No one can take away your knowledge. Focus on learning things so that you know what you're talking about professionally."

If you fail at validating information or rumors you will label yourself a useful idiot not capable of discerning what is actual truth and what is a hoax. Don't be that one person who spreads other people's marketing schemes that they make money on and at the same time ridicule you for believing their lie.

Follow this method, even if it's time-consuming, and you will sleep better at night as a critical thinker filled with more knowledge than 99% of all humans.

Go be a smart person just by verifying everything.

More resources

• “The Master and His Emissary” by Dr. Iain McGilchrist

• “The Matter With Things” by Dr. Iain McGilchrist

• “Affective Neuroscience” by Jaak Panksepp

• “How Emotions Are Made” by Lisa Feldman Barrett

• “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–DSM-5” by American Psychiatric Association

• “How To Get People To Do Stuff” by Susan Weinschenk

• “Livewired” by David Eagleman

• “Emotional Awareness” by Paul Ekman

• “Emotions Revealed” by Paul Ekman

• “The Nature of The Beast” by David J. Anderson

• “The Parasitic Mind” by Gad Saad