Conformity, EI and Decision Making

Here is something else off of Jack Mayer's webpage. He is describing what he, Peter Salovey and David Caruso think is the "high EI person":

Solving emotional problems likely requires less cognitive effort for this individual.

If we consider how easy it is to go along with the masses, or just keep doing whatever your parents and teachers taught you to do, and if we think of how the MSCEIT test is scored, then this statement makes perfect sense.

I would suggest, though, that a truly emotionally intelligent person would very possibly give more thought to the things which others take for granted. When nearly everyone in a country jumps on the war bandwagon, for example, and has no problem supporting a leader who promotes war as a good way to improve the world, it might be the most emotionally intelligent people who disagree and who struggle with decisions such as whether to openly disagree with family members, colleagues and business associates, or even whether to move out of a country rather than be part of a war machine.

My idea of an emotionally intelligent person differs from most of those who write about EI. I believe that instead of "solving problems" by conforming or maintaining the status quo, I suspect the truly emotionaly intelligent person is the one who who thinks a great deal and who feels deeply about things. In fact, I suspect they are just the kind of people I dedicated my 1996 book to... those who are told they "think too much" and are "too sensitive.""

But I suggest that neither of these accusations are true. I suggest these are very likely the true emotional geniuses of the world.

S. Hein
Salta, Argentina
June 8, 2006

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Editorial 72 about how the MSCEIT test is scored and how "correct" answers were selected