Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to read and understand emotions in ourselves and others. It is said that emotional intelligence makes up 80 percent of one’s success.
Ever since the 1995 publication of US writer Daniel Goleman’s best-seller, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ, EQ has been seen by leaders and educators as the solution to many social problems. In some Western countries such as the US, emotional intelligence is now taught widely in secondary, business and medical schools.
EQ is important. But our enthusiasm for it has hidden a dark side, says a recent article in The Atlantic.
Recent research and studies show that as people improve their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating (操控) others. When someone knows what others are feeling, they can motivate them to act against their own best interests.
Does this remind you of those “managers” at pyramid scheme (传销) companies? Hundreds of thousands of otherwise cautious and rational (理性的) people have been brainwashed by their impassioned speeches and become bankrupt as a result.
Social scientists have begun to document this dark side of emotional intelligence. A study by the University of Cambridge found that when a leader gave an inspiring speech filled with emotion, the audience was less likely to look over the message and remembered less of the content.
Researchers call this the “awestruck effect” (敬畏效应), but it may just as easily be described as the dumbstruck effect, says The Atlantic article. Leaders who master emotions can rob us of our ability to reason. If they have self-serving motives, or their values are out of step with our own, emotional intelligence becomes a weapon of manipulation and the results can be destroyed.
Another recent study from Kyoto University shows that people with high interpersonal EQ influence others’ emotions based on their own goals.
A research team led by University College London professor Martin Kilduff shed more light on this dark side of emotional intelligence. According to them, emotional intelligence helps people disguise (伪装) one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Emotionally intelligent people “intentionally shape their emotions to leave favorable impressions of themselves”, Kilduff’s team writes in the journal Research in Organizational Behavior.
It seems that to better understand the dark side of EQ, we need to look no further than Shakespeare’s Macbeth or its modern adaption on TV: House of Cards.
59. Which of the following statements about EQ is NOT true according to the passage?
A. Many westerners have a good knowledge of EQ.
B. EQ plays an important role in solving social problems.
C. EQ can help you read and understand emotions in yourself and others.
D. If a person has a high level of EQ, he will surely succeed in everything.
60. The underlined sentence in the last paragraph but one means that the research team __________.
A. made clear the dark side of EQ B. hid the positive side of EQ
C. understand the positive side of EQ D. discovered the dark side of EQ
61. What can we learn from the last paragraph?
A. Macbeth was adapted from House of Cards.
B. House of Cards helps us understand the dark side of EQ better.
C. The dark side of EQ is shown neither in Macbeth nor in House of Cards.
D. To understand the dark side of EQ better, we’d better not refer to House of Cards and Macbeth.
62. What does the passage mainly talk about?
A. The dark side of EQ. B. The importance of EQ to readers.
C. The definition of EQ. D. The positive and negative aspects of EQ.