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

The Conversation · 🇦🇺 public Australia · May 19, 2026 · 1156 words · By Irini Mavrou; Nicola McNab

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

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.

Propaganda risk 0%

Claims checked 12

Techniques found 0

Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center83%

Right17%

6 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

We often assume that how we respond to a rude comment says something stable about us: our personality, our culture, even the language we are speaking.

Why it matters

If someone reacts calmly, we presume they are a patient person.

Common ground

If they snap back, we might assume they are short-tempered.

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

Follow-up questions

What concrete event or decision sits underneath the headline: Does emotional intelligence stop us from being rude? Here’s what the science says?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Participants in a negative mood produced more offensive counter-attacks, while those in a positive mood showed greater acceptance of impoliteness?
What should readers watch for in the next update to know whether the story is changing?

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

analyticsAnalysis

Propaganda Score

confidence: 100%

Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 12 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 5

verified Verified 2

check_circle Corroborated 2

schedule Pending 2

help Insufficient Evidence 1

info

Claim 1: “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…

info

Claim 2: “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

verified

Claim 3: “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

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Claim 4: “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…

help

Claim 5: “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.

verified

Claim 6: “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?'.

travel_explore

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

info

Claim 7: “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_…

schedule

Claim 8: “responses were strikingly similar in both languages.”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 9: “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

Claim 10: “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

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Claim 11: “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

schedule

Claim 12: “all participants had an upper-intermediate and above proficiency level in English”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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.