It’s widely believed that women are more emotional than men, with the macho man image one of calm composure and coolness.

Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images Newspapers have shown us that, as soon as women do anything intelligent, they are immediately propelled into the air. Many may see this as a compliment, but if it is, it’s quite a backhanded one. The more worrying occurrence is how often it’s said that women are more emotionally intelligent. Personality studies are a big part of psychology, but personality tests aren’t exactly used wisely. It often contradicts current understandings of intelligence (which is complex enough), it’s based on many unfounded assumptions, it can often be attributed more to personality than any facet of intelligence, and so on.īut even if there were a solid consensus on emotional intelligence being a genuine thing, this wouldn’t mean that it would be correctly applied by your average person. In many cases, you’d be forgiven for concluding that “emotional intelligence” is just a long-winded way of saying “emotional”, with reduced risk of upsetting said emotional person.īut emotional intelligence as a concept is far from scientifically accepted. But perhaps a more interesting aspect is the fact that he made an effort to limit any offence caused by highlighting how he has no problem with the fact that his wife has “a much higher degree of emotional intelligence”.Įven if we give Short the benefit of the doubt and assume he meant this completely sincerely and as a positive thing, it’s a very common viewpoint, and one that, when looked at closely, has some very negative foundations.įirst, the concept of “emotional intelligence” is widespread, but what does it even mean? That someone has a better understanding of their own emotions? Or those of other people? That they can control them better? You will find people invoking the term but using it to mean wildly different things.

So Short’s comments are ill-founded but, sadly, nothing out of the ordinary. Photograph: Steve Prezant/Getty Images/Image Source Women just can’t handle the pace of chess.

The Idiot Brain by Dean Burnett