Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to read and understand emotions in ourselves and others. It is said that emotional intelligence accounts for 80 percent of one’s success.

情商也稱EQ，是一種讀懂自身和他人情緒的能力。據說一個人的成功80%取決于情商的高低。

That’s almost certainly an exaggeration. But ever since the 1995 publication of US psychologist and science 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.

這一說法雖然略顯夸張。但是自從1995年美國心理學家兼科學作家丹尼爾？戈爾曼的暢銷書《情商：它為什么比智商更重要》出版以來，很多領導者和教育家都將情商視為解決諸多社會問題的關鍵。如今，在美國等西方國家，在中學、商學院和醫學院中情商教學隨處可見。

Anti-social behavior

反社會行為

EQ is important. But our enthusiasm for it has obscured a dark side, says a recent article in The Atlantic.

美國《大西洋月刊》近日刊登文章稱，情商固然重要，但是人們的趨之若鶩卻掩蓋了它的黑暗面。

Weapon of mass emotion

操縱大眾情緒的武器

Recent research and studies show that as people improve their emotional skills, they become better at manipulating others. When someone knows what others are feeling, they can tug at their heartstrings and motivate them to act against their own best interests.

最新研究表明，隨著人們情商能力的提高，他們會更擅長操縱他人。當一個人能了解別人的感受時，他就可以撩動他們的心弦，促使他們做出違背自身最大利益的行為。

Does this remind you of those “managers” at pyramid scheme companies? Hundreds of thousands of otherwise cautious and rational people have been brainwashed by their impassioned speeches and become bankrupt as a result.

這是否會令你聯想到那些非法傳銷公司的“經理”們？無數處事理智而謹慎的人被他們激情澎湃的演講洗腦，最后卻落得個傾家蕩產的下場。

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 scrutinize the message and remembered less of the content.

社會科學家已經開始研究情商的黑暗面。劍橋大學一項研究發現，當一名領導人充滿激情地演講時，聽眾不會太注意其傳達的信息，并且記住的內容也很少。

Researchers call this the “awestruck effect”， 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 capacity 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 devastating.

據《大西洋月刊》報道，研究人員將其稱為“敬畏效應”，但它也很容易被描述成“驚嚇效應”。善于掌控情緒的領導者會讓我們喪失辨別是非的能力。當他們產生謀私利的動機，或者他們的價值觀與我們的不合拍時，情商就會變成操控他人情緒的武器，其后果不堪設想。

Hidden agenda

隱藏的動機

This is consistent with another recent study from Kyoto University. According to The Huffington Post, the study shows that “people with high interpersonal EQ influence others’ emotions based on their own goals”。

該觀點與日本京都大學的一項研究成果不謀而合。據《赫芬頓郵報》報道，該研究表明：“高情商者會根據自己的目標去干擾他人情緒”。

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 one set of emotions while expressing another for personal gain. Emotionally intelligent people “intentionally shape their emotions to fabricate favorable impressions of themselves”， Kilduff’s team writes in the journal Research in Organizational Behavior. “The strategic disguise of one’s own emotions and the manipulation of others’ emotions for strategic ends are behaviors evident not only on Shakespeare’s stage but also in the offices and corridors where power and influence are traded.”

倫敦大學學院的馬丁？吉爾達夫教授帶領一支研究小組揭開了情商的黑暗面。該小組稱，人們為了謀取私利，會掩飾情緒，當面一套背后一套。情商高的 人“會故意給人留下對自己有利的印象”。吉爾達夫率領的研究小組在《組織行為研究》期刊中寫道：“采取策略來偽裝個人情緒，同時為了達到戰略目的而操控他 人情緒，這些行為不僅出現在莎翁的戲劇中，在交易權力和影響力的場所也十分常見。”

It seems that to better understand the dark side of EQ, we need look no further than Shakespeare’s Macbeth or its modern adaption on TV: House of Cards.

看來，要想更好地了解情商的黑暗面，我們只需看看莎翁名著《麥克白》或者它的現代電視劇版——《紙牌屋》就夠了。