Dark Side to Emotional Intelligence.

When Daniel Goleman published the book Emotional Intelligence in 1995, few had heard of the term.

In academic circles, it was a new concept — a theory formed by two psychologists, John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey.

They posited that just as people have a wide range of intellectual abilities, they also have a wide range of emotional skills that profoundly affect their thinking and actions.

Fast forward to today. You’ll find references to emotional intelligence just about everywhere, most of them positive: how emotional intelligence can make you a better leader, a better employee or even a better spouse or parent.

What you don’t see very often are references to the negative aspects of emotional intelligence. But it’s important to remember that emotional intelligence, much like “traditional” intelligence, is not inherently virtuous. It’s a tool.

In other words, emotional intelligence can be used for good or evil.

This is the dark side of emotional intelligence: using one’s knowledge of emotions to strategically achieve self-serving goals. Much as a person possessing a brilliant intellect could become an accomplished detective or a criminal mastermind, one with a superior emotional quotient has a choice between two very different paths: using their influence to help or to harm.

Scientists have become more interested in this dark side in recent years. For example:

• In 2010, a group of scientists found that individuals who demonstrated certain narcissistic traits (in essence, a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, self-focus and self-importance) made better first impressions on their peers by using humor and charming facial expressions.
  That is to say: people with their own interests at heart are more talented at gaining others’ support, at least at first.

• A 2011 study indicated that “Machiavellians” (people who show a tendency to manipulate others for personal gain) who rated high in knowledge of emotion-regulation were more likely to engage in deviant actions, such as publicly embarrassing someone at work.

• A 2013 study found that those who tended to exploit others for personal gain were also good at reading those peoples’ emotions, especially negative ones.

Read more: https://time.com/5300642/dark-side-emotional-intelligence/