Emotional intelligence has received a great amount of attention in the past decade and has been widely discussed in both the psychological and academic worlds. Research that has been done over the last few years has failed to uncover evidence that emotional intelligence holds any more importance or validity than it did sixty years ago. Numerous books have been written on the subject in the past ten years suggesting, among other things, that emotional intelligence holds a much higher value in determining success in life than a traditional IQ. Some experts say emotional intelligence has become nothing more than a tool used to sell books and raise attendance at seminars.
             In early 1990 Dr. Peter Salovey and Dr. John D. Mayer published the first scientific works on emotional intelligence. These articles contained the first definition of emotional intelligence. Salovey and Mayer define emotional intelligence as the ability to "perceive emotion, to integrate it in thought, to understand it and to manage it." This definition, and the concept of emotional intelligence in general, has been changed to fit a popular version which has been stretched from the original and geared toward selling books, and countless other products.
             In his 1995 book Emotional Intelligence Daniel Goleman makes claims such as "at best IQ contributes about twenty percent to the factors that determine life success". In his book Emotional Intelligence: Science and Myth Gerald Matthews states that Goleman's version of emotional intelligence, and his claims to the weight it holds in determining success, have no scientific merit whatsoever. Others, including Dr. Mayer, a psychology professor in the department of psychology at the University of New Hampshire, claim that Goleman's entire body of work on the subject is unscientific and actually does more harm than good to the field. Goleman in fact, completed no scientific research on emotional...