John Ratey, Harvard professor of psychiatry, offers this opinion about emotional intelligence:

Emotional intelligence is an attractive concept because it can provide a convenient scapegoat for today's epidemics of violent crime, marital strife, and teenage drug abuse. Conversely, we'd like to believe that if we improve levels of emotional intelligence in the young they will be better equipped for life's trials. Much of the how-to advice that is supposedly a reflection of emotional intelligence, however, is just plain common sense. Obviously, being able to control rage or develop empathy, say, will enable a person to have better future success in life than someone who doesn't have these abilities.

There are two central questions in the debate over emotional intelligence: Can it really be measured in a meaningful way? And can it be "taught" as a skill to children and adults? We don't know the answers yet, but you can be sure there will be plenty of research in coming years to find out.

J. J. Ratey, A User's Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain. (New York: Pantheon Books (a division of Random House, Inc.), 2001), p. 251.

1		After having read about emotional intelligence, do you think improvement in it is likely to have positive results with respect to social relationships? Communication with others?
2		Is the concept of emotional intelligence completely obvious? Common sense?
3		Do you agree with Ratey that the essential questions regarding emotional intelligence are "Can it be measured in any meaningful way?" and "Can it be taught?" Do you think the elements of emotional intelligence are important enough, in and of themselves, that they should be taught?