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Does emotional intelligence stop us from being rude? Here’s what the science says

The Conversation · · 1156 words · By Irini Mavrou; Nicola McNab

The article discusses a 2025 study published in the Journal of Pragmatics regarding how Spanish-English bilinguals respond to workplace impoliteness. The researchers found that momentary mood and sociability were stronger predictors of responses than overall emotional intelligence, and that these patterns remained consistent across both languages.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://theconversation.com/does-emotional-intelligence-stop-us-from-being-rude-…

analyticsAnalysis

0%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 100%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

12 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

info Single Source 5
check_circle Corroborated 2
verified Verified 2
schedule Pending 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
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“In our 2025 study, published in the Journal of Pragmatics, we explored how bilingual people respond to workplace impoliteness.”
CORROBORATED
The claim is explicitly confirmed by both a cross-reference and a web search result from a source discussing the study's findings.
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web search NEUTRAL — Journal of Pragmatics: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Language Studies.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-pragmatics
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web search NEUTRAL — In our 2025 study, published in the Journal of Pragmatics, we explored how bilingual people respond to workplace impoliteness.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-emotional-intelligence-rude-sc…
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web search NEUTRAL — ... Along with the few studies on impoliteness in Arabic referred to in the literature review, this study is an exploratory attempt to deal with the topic of impoliteness in spontaneous colloquial Ara…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249930047_Impoliten…
+ 1 more evidence source
info
“We worked with 104 Spanish-English bilinguals.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The provided web search results for this claim are generic pages for 'Study.com' and timers, which are irrelevant to the specific study participants. No evidence confirms the number 104.
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web search NEUTRAL — Need a Study.com Account? Simple & engaging videos to help you learn Unlimited access to 88,000+ lessons The lowest-cost way to earn college credit
https://study.com/academy/login.html
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web search NEUTRAL — Free online study timer with focus sessions, short and long breaks, session log, and three built-in study methods: Pomodoro, 52/17, and 90-minute ultradian cycles.
https://www.forestfocustimer.com/study-timer/
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web search NEUTRAL — Feb 11, 2026 · Study.com's AI-powered Teacher Test Prep offers personalized learning experiences tailored to each user's unique strengths and areas for improvement, helping aspiring educators gain the…
https://www.facebook.com/StudyDotCom/
info
“Participants first completed a questionnaire measuring emotional intelligence.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While web results show other studies using emotional intelligence questionnaires, none of the provided evidence specifically confirms that *this* study's participants completed one, other than the implication from the general article context.
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web search NEUTRAL — , Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN), or Nurse Practitioner Studies (NP). Methods: Participants completed a demographics form (personal/school related variables including prior education and mindfuln…
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39243528/
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web search NEUTRAL — Participants completed questionnaires and responded to questions related to demographics, familiarity with mental illness, EI, and mental illness stigma.This study used the Trait Emotional Intelligenc…
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article…
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web search NEUTRAL — (2) Methods: In two cross-sectional studies (N = 246 in Study 1 and N = 186 in Study 2), participants completed a set of questionnaires measuring attachment styles, trait emotional intelligence, and l…
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/365345079_Attached_…
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“They were then placed in either a positive or negative mood, induced through videos designed to elicit emotional responses.”
CORROBORATED
The specific methodology of using videos to induce positive or negative moods is confirmed by both a general translation journal search and the specific article 'Does emotional intelligence stop us from being rude?'.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mood induction procedure. In order to induce either a positive or negative mood, participants were asked to watch one of two separate 2-minute video clips via YouTube prior to undertaking the translat…
https://translationjournal.net/January-2018/the-trick-was-to…
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web search NEUTRAL — They were then placed in either a positive or negative mood, induced through videos designed to elicit emotional responses. Finally, they responded to ten workplace scenarios involving impoliteness, i…
https://theconversation.com/does-emotional-intelligence-stop…
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web search NEUTRAL — The current study examined how mood affects the impact of false feedback on belief and recollection. In a three-session experiment, participants first watched 40 neutral mini videos, which were accomp…
https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/publications/the-eff…
info
“Finally, they responded to ten workplace scenarios involving impoliteness, in both Spanish (their first language) and English (their second language).”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results for this claim are dictionary definitions of 'participant' and do not provide evidence for the specific study's methodology regarding ten workplace scenarios.
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web search NEUTRAL — Definition of participant noun in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/englis…
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web search NEUTRAL — The participants in an activity are the people who take part in it. 40 of the course participants are offered employment with the company.
https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/partici…
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web search NEUTRAL — "Participants" is the plural form, referring to multiple individuals. "Participant's" is the singular possessive form, indicating something belonging to one participant.
https://ludwig.guru/s/participants
verified
“There were no significant correlations between overall emotional intelligence scores and the types of responses participants produced.”
VERIFIED
The specific finding that there were no significant correlations between overall EI scores and response types is explicitly stated in the web search result 'Does emotional intelligence stop us from being rude?'.
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web search NEUTRAL — High emotional intelligence includes emotional recognition of emotions of the self and others, using emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, discerning between and labelling different fe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence
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web search NEUTRAL — A central hypothesis was that people with higher emotional intelligence would handle impoliteness more constructively. That did not happen. There were no significant correlations between overall emoti…
https://theconversation.com/does-emotional-intelligence-stop…
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web search NEUTRAL — Many of humanity’s greatest problems stem not from a shortfall of technical or financial intelligence, but what we term emotional intelligence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgUCyWhJf6s
verified
“While overall emotional intelligence did not predict responses, one facet did: sociability.”
VERIFIED
The web search result 'Does emotional intelligence stop us from being rude?' explicitly confirms that while overall EI didn't predict responses, the facet of sociability did.
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web search NEUTRAL — High emotional intelligence includes emotional recognition of emotions of the self and others, using emotional information to guide thinking and behavior, discerning between and labelling different fe…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence
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web search NEUTRAL — While overall emotional intelligence did not predict responses, one facet did: sociability. This trait is linked to confidence in social interaction and assertiveness.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-emotional-intelligence-rude-sc…
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web search NEUTRAL — Sometimes emotions don’t make sense, and sometimes being emotional doesn’t mean you're emotionally intelligent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6_J7FfgWVc
info
“Less sociable participants were more likely to stay silent in the face of impoliteness, whereas more sociable ones tended to respond, often assertively.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results provided for this claim are completely irrelevant (discussing silent letters, wealth, and golddiggers) and do not mention the study's findings on sociability and silence.
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web search NEUTRAL — For many, wealth seems like an unmitigated good – the more of it you have, the better. But there are downsides, write Paul Piff and Angela Robinson.
https://www.weforum.org/stories/2016/10/wealth-can-make-us-s…
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web search NEUTRAL — Are women or men more likely to be golddiggers?“Narcissists, psychopaths, higher mate value, and a high population density were linked to gold digging,” they continued, noting that the self-serving lo…
https://nypost.com/2026/04/20/lifestyle/study-reveals-how-to…
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web search NEUTRAL — Who else wants a Silent Letter Day?#MichaelMcIntyre celebrates 25 years of stand-up comedy with a special recording of Macnificent, his latest worldw...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrJv_wUEKko
info
“Participants in a negative mood produced more offensive counter-attacks, while those in a positive mood showed greater acceptance of impoliteness.”
SINGLE SOURCE
The claim is only supported by a cross-reference ('Phys'), with no independent web search results confirming this specific mood-response correlation.
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cross reference SUPPORTS — Participants in a negative mood produced more offensive counter-attacks, while those in a positive mood showed greater acceptance of impoliteness.
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-emotional-intelligence-rude-sc…
help
“the offensive replies produced by those in a positive mood were sometimes more direct, blunt, and strongly worded.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found after searching for this specific claim.
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“responses were strikingly similar in both languages.”
PENDING
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“all participants had an upper-intermediate and above proficiency level in English”
PENDING
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.