Emotional Intelligence Is a Skill Worth Having

Since its inception, the concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has taken hold of people’s imagination. To the average person, it makes sense that navigating the world of emotions can be a valuable skill. To psychologists trying to predict life success, EI also captured the attention of researchers who believe that “book smarts” isn’t enough.

The interest in EI doesn’t mean that it’s actually all that well understood. Various theories emphasize that EI means you understand yourself, while others focus on how you read social signals. Which will get you further in life, then, becomes a debatable point.

Emotional Intelligence

Source: F.derakhshan, Wikimedia Commons / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license

A New Approach to EI

The latest entry into the EI debate comes from Victoria University’s Stjepan Sambol and colleagues (2025), who ask whether it’s self- or other-focused abilities that count in high-stakes situations. Defining EI ability as “a set of emotion-related cognitive skills,” they set out to compare which of these cognitive skills would be of greatest value in doing well on a set of real-life tasks.

Rather than just asking people to rate their own EI, the Victoria U. research team used an EI ability measure that taps into EI’s various facets. The measure, known as the Meyer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), includes scales that require test-takers to evaluate their own emotions, read the emotions of others from facial cue cards or pictures, manage emotions in themselves and others, and say how they would respond to various emotional scenarios. Compared to the “trait” EI measures that simply ask you to rate yourself as good or bad in emotional situations, the MSCEIT has you make judgments based on those abilities.

Now, the question becomes which parts of the MSCEIT would work better in real-time high-stakes laboratory tasks. We’ll look next at the specifics of their study.

Testing EI’s Role in Making High-Stakes Decisions

The online sample of 149 participants (average age 26) completed the MSCEIT among other questionnaires prior to completing three gambling games. Each game required participants to weigh the odds of winning, but with different approaches.

The Iowa Gambling Test (IGT) requires participants to choose cards from four decks to maximize their hypothetical earnings. Two decks involve high rewards but also high risks. You could win $100 but also potentially lose $1250 from cards in these decks. The other decks have lower rewards ($50) and lower losses ($250). As people go through their choices, it should become clear that it’s best to pick from the two low-reward, low-risk decks. If they do, this signifies that they’re better at “affective decision-making.”

The Balloon Analogue Risk-Taking Task (BART) also gives participants choices in which they try to maximize their earnings. They put hypothetical money down on how many pumps to inflate balloons before the balloon bursts. Unlike the IGT, which makes the odds clear at the outset, participants can only succeed at the BART if they learn from experience.

Finally, and perhaps most fun in a way, the Columbia Card Task (CCT) just has participants flip cards over in an 8-by-4 grid, with each card producing an unknown amount of gains or losses. Some trials have more payout-loss ratio cards than others. “Prudent” decision-making in the CCT means that people stop sooner on the trials that involve a higher chance of loss.

It's easy to see how participants could get emotionally wrapped up during these various tests, especially when they really don’t control what happens (such as in the BART). Those higher in EI should, the authors argue, have an edge when their feelings run high.

After controlling for other possible factors (such as memory), it was indeed the high EI participants who performed the best, especially on the CCT (which involved known risk) and the IGT (which involved learned risk).

But it wasn’t overall EI that proved crucial. Instead, only the MSCEIT scales involving the understanding of emotions saved the day. As the authors concluded, “This suggests that the capacity to interpret and anticipate emotional outcomes supports making strategic, goal-directed decisions, skills critical for navigating real-world contexts.”

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The Value of Knowing Yourself

Having a direct line of communication into your emotions, as this study suggests, is what will allow you to make better decisions in life. Think about the classic sales situation in which a salesperson is trying to convince you to spend more money than you think you can afford. Maybe it’s a washing machine with a bunch of bells and whistles you really don’t need, even though they’re neat. Taking stock of your emotions is, the Sambol et al. study suggests, what you should do. Maybe you’ll end up with the pricier choice anyhow, but it will be a decision based on rationality and not excitement.

It's worth noting that this study wasn’t about interpersonal situations at all, so the question remains as to whether you need both aspects of EI when reading someone’s body language. Maybe that salesperson wants what’s best for you, but maybe it’s all an act. At least you’ll know, if you draw on your intrapersonal EI, what you judge will be your best option.

To sum up, having insight into your feelings, especially when you’re under pressure, appears to be a skill worth having. Making decisions that determine your fate can be stressful, but reading your internal signals can ensure those decisions benefit your fulfillment.