I am an open-minded skeptic of the idea of emotional intelligence. I think that most of what psychologists call “emotional intelligence” is a mix of personality traits (van der Linden et al., 2017), perhaps with a little bit of cognition thrown in.

But I am open to changing my mind. I think that finding a way to bridge emotions and cognition would be an important breakthrough in understanding both concepts. As I stated in my book, In the Know: Debunking 35 Myths About Human Intelligence:

If it is possible to merge the concepts of intelligence and emotion, then it will be a major breakthrough in psychology. But until that breakthrough is substantiated, it is best to be skeptical about emotional intelligence and its real-world importance.

Warne (2020, p. 233)

Claims from Emotional Intelligence Advocates

In the popular literature, it is common to find claims that emotional intelligence is as important or more important than general intelligence (e.g. Goleman, 1995). Scholarly authors are much more careful in their claims but still often say that emotional intelligence has some influence on important outcomes in work and everyday life (e.g., Mayer et al., 2004).

So far, the predictive power of emotional intelligence tests is not impressive. For example, a huge meta-analysis (n = 42,259) found that the correlation between emotional intelligence scores and academic achievement was just r = .20 (MacCann et al., 2020). Incremental validity (i.e., the ability of emotional intelligence scores to provide unique information beyond IQ and personality) is very low (Amelang & Steinmayr, 2006), which even adherents of emotional intelligence theory admit (Mayer et al., 2004).

Adherents to emotional intelligence theory state that emotions are an important part of a person’s cognition. They also state that understanding others’ emotions and navigating the emotional complexities of social situations are important behaviors that are manifestations of emotional intelligence (Mayer et al., 2008). These claims are intriguing because they have the potential to bridge the gap between thinking and feeling.

The Ultimate Test of Emotional Intelligence Theory

I am willing to acknowledge the premise that there may be situations in life where emotions are extremely important. I also recognize that there are environments in which the cognitive abilities measured by IQ are less important than they are at school or in some workplaces. These facts do not mean that emotional intelligence is real, though. If emotional intelligence is a real ability, then it should matter a lot in situations where emotions are highly salient and important. Therefore, the best test of emotional intelligence theory will be to measure the predictive power of emotional intelligence scores for long-term outcomes in these situations.

The best situation in which emotions may matter more than cognition is long-term romantic relationships, especially marriage. Emotions are highly intertwined in the formation and maintenance of marriages. Often the foundations of these relationships is not fully rational, and living with someone day-in and day-out requires navigating one’s own emotions and the emotions of one’s partner. Marriage is the ideal social setting for emotional intelligence to manifest itself.

Therefore, the best test of emotional intelligence theory will be a longitudinal study that measures individuals’ emotional intelligence (preferably in both partners in a relationship) and follows up several years later to determine whether the individuals divorced or if the relationship dissolved. If emotional intelligence is real and important, then higher emotional intelligence scores should be a strong predictor of lower rates of divorce or relationship dissolution.

Surprisingly, I cannot find any evidence that anyone has actually studied whether emotional intelligence predicts this major life outcome. This research design would be a strong falsifiability test for emotional intelligence — and yet no one has ever bothered to conduct it.

A Challenge for Emotional Intelligence Advocates

So, I am throwing down the gauntlet. To convince skeptics that emotional intelligence exists and is important, advocates must demonstrate in a large longitudinal dataset that emotional intelligence is a better predictor of divorce than IQ and personality traits. If they cannot do this, then emotional intelligence has, at best, trivial relevance to human behavior. If the advocates of emotional intelligence want to convince skeptics like me, this type of evidence is essential.

Until emotional intelligence can show strong predictive power in the exact type of situation that it should be most relevant for, then scientists’ default belief should be the null hypothesis: that emotional intelligence does not exist or is not an important construct. I eagerly await the results of such a study.

Postscript

[Update: April 9, 2026] As I have thought about this issue for the past few days, I realized how truly puzzling it is that there is no research on whether emotional intelligence predicts divorce. The emotional intelligence researchers are clearly interested in understanding how the ability predicts important outcomes. Based on their own theories, emotional intelligence should be more impactful in relationships than in the areas where they have conducted research, like school and the workplace. So why haven’t they done that research yet? It is like a company that has chosen not to move into its most lucrative market. It really is a strange situation.

References

Amelang, M., & Steinmayr, R. (2006). Is there a validity increment for tests of emotional intelligence in explaining the variance of performance criteria? Intelligence, 34(5), 459-468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.03.003

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Bantam Books.

MacCann, C., Jiang, Y., Brown, L. E. R., Double, K. S., Bucich, M., & Minbashian, A. (2020). Emotional intelligence predicts academic performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 146(2), 150-186. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000219

Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2004). Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychological Inquiry, 15(3), 197-215. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1503_02

Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2008). What is emotional intelligence and what does it predict? In P. C. Kyllonen, R. D. Roberts, & L. Stankov (Eds.), Extending intelligence: Enhancement and new constructs (pp. 319-348). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

van der Linden, D., Pekaar, K. A., Bakker, A. B., Schermer, J. A., Vernon, P. A., Dunkel, C. S., & Petrides, K. V. (2017). Overlap between the general factor of personality and emotional intelligence: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 143(1), 36-52. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000078

Warne, R. T. (2020). In the know: Debunking 35 myths about human intelligence. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108593298