📌 Key takeaways
- Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, understand, use and manage emotions in oneself and others.
- Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book popularised EI, claiming it could matter more than IQ for success.
- Ability-based EI has modest but real links to wellbeing and social outcomes, though it overlaps with personality and is harder to measure than IQ.
- The ability model has the best scientific case; popular "mixed" models blur EI with personality traits.
What is emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to perceive, understand, use and manage emotions in oneself and others. Salovey and Mayer defined it as a set of measurable abilities.
How did it become famous?
Daniel Goleman’s 1995 book popularised EI, claiming it could matter more than IQ for success. That broad claim went beyond the original research.
What does the evidence show?
Ability-based EI has modest but real links to wellbeing and social outcomes, though it overlaps with personality and is harder to measure than IQ.
Is EI a true intelligence?
The ability model has the best scientific case; popular "mixed" models blur EI with personality traits. It is a useful but contested construct.
🧭 Explore Intelligence
📅 Last updated: 2026-06-18 · ✔ Reviewed by the All-Lifes editorial team · About · Methodology