How Feelings Make Us Smarter
- Length
- 48 min
- Published
- 10 August 2026
- Language
- English
- Text from
- the audio
- Transcribed
- 27 September 2026
Summary
Psychologist Peter Salovey of Yale University talks with host Shankar Vedantam about how emotions, far from being obstacles to rational thinking, actually fuel our decisions and social skills. Salovey, who co-created the concept of emotional intelligence with Jack Mayer, illustrates the idea through stories about Bill Clinton reading a room and his own experience renaming Yale's Calhoun College. He explains how emotional intelligence can be measured, predicts outcomes in friendships, school, and work, and can be improved throughout life using skills like the RULER framework.
Key points
- Peter Salovey and Jack Mayer coined the concept of emotional intelligence while painting Salovey's living room.
- Emotional intelligence is measured with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Scale (MSCEIT), an ability-based test rather than a self-report.
- Higher emotional intelligence predicts more friendships, more pro-social behavior, less drug and alcohol use in adolescents, and better workplace performance reviews, promotions, and raises.
- As Yale president, Salovey initially kept the name of Calhoun College but changed it to Grace Hopper College after an emotional conversation with a student who said she didn't want to live in 'a shrine to slavery.'
- fMRI research shows the brain regions involved in emotion and in thinking are densely connected, challenging the idea that cognition and emotion are separate.
- The RULER acronym, developed by Marc Brackett, stands for Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions.
- Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence can be improved over a lifetime; Salovey suggests reading literature, viewing art, listening to music, and theater as ways adults can practice.
- Emotions provide useful data—like a 'sixth sense'—that people should pay attention to rather than ignore.
- Bobby Fischer's 1967 walkout from the Sousse Interzonal Tournament illustrates how brilliance can coexist with emotional ineptness.
Questions it answers
00:00Fischer's walkout
How can genius coexist with emotional failure?
Bobby Fischer, a 24-year-old grandmaster rumored to have an IQ of 180, withdrew from the 1967 Interzonal Tournament in Sousse, Tunisia, while in first place after organizers refused his scheduling demands. His career was marked by constant relational friction and violations of social norms.
- Fischer threw away years of work in a fit of frustration.
- He could see a dozen chess moves ahead but struggled with basic social and emotional moves.
01:55Emotions as fuel
Are emotions obstacles to rational thinking?
Research suggests the idea that emotions are primitive vestiges blocking reason is profoundly wrong. Emotions are central to our ability to understand, attend, and prioritize—they are food and fuel for the journey.
- Emotions help us understand, attend, and prioritize.
- Peter Salovey studies how emotions shape decisions and behavior.
02:57Clinton's handshake
What does skillful emotion management look like in person?
When Salovey, then dean, nervously met President Clinton, Clinton recalled their earlier encounter—Salovey had cut off Clinton's limo that morning—to put him at ease. Clinton read Salovey's nervousness and managed his emotions in real time.
- Clinton had reviewed the people he was going to meet in his car.
- Reading another person's anxiety and responding to it is a core emotional skill.
07:53Renaming Calhoun College
How did empathy change Salovey's decision about Calhoun College?
Salovey initially kept the name with contextual plaques, but after student protests, a worker breaking a stained glass window, and a student saying she didn't want to live in 'a shrine to slavery,' he experienced a moment of emotional understanding. The college was renamed Grace Hopper College.
- The student from South Carolina said she could handle the name but not a shrine to slavery.
- An emotional conversation created a moment of clarity that shifted his thinking.
18:42Origins and measurement
How was emotional intelligence discovered and measured?
Salovey and Jack Mayer coined the term while painting Salovey's living room. They developed the MSCEIT, an ability-based test that predicts how strangers rate interactions, number of friendships, pro-social behavior, and reduced risky behavior in adolescents.
- People are poor judges of their own emotional intelligence, so ability tests are used.
- Higher MSCEIT scores predict less drug and alcohol use and less delinquent behavior.
25:45Workplace advantages
Why does emotional intelligence matter at work?
In an insurance company study, the MSCEIT predicted performance reviews, promotions, and raises. At an investment bank, bankers realized that since everyone was smart, emotional skills—inspiring others, managing one's own and a group's emotions—were the differentiator for becoming managing directors.
- People who regulate their own emotions have a huge workplace advantage.
- fMRI scans show emotion and cognition brain regions are densely connected.
33:41The RULER framework
What skills make up emotional intelligence training?
Marc Brackett's RULER acronym teaches Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions, taught to kids from kindergarten through high school. Regulating includes managing your own emotions and sometimes others', such as telling a joke before a talk.
- Labeling involves mapping emotion words onto pleasant-unpleasant and active-calm dimensions.
- Expression varies by culture—joy at accomplishment is acceptable in America but embarrassing in Japan.
37:58Improving your skills
Can adults increase their emotional intelligence?
Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence can improve over a lifetime, even just through aging and life experience. Salovey suggests reading great literature, viewing art, listening to music, and theater, plus role-playing emotionally evocative situations to practice regulation.
- Emotions are data—a 'sixth sense'—that people should pay attention to rather than ignore.
- These skills work like muscles: the more you practice, the more natural they become.
Notes
The Case for Emotion
The episode opens with chess grandmaster Bobby Fischer withdrawing from the 1967 Interzonal Tournament in Sousse, Tunisia, while in first place—a demonstration that intellectual brilliance can coexist with profound emotional ineptness. Peter Salovey argues that emotions are not obstacles to rational thinking but are central to understanding, attending, and prioritizing.
Reading a Room
Salovey recounts meeting President Clinton, who noticed his nervousness and referenced their earlier encounter (Salovey had accidentally cut off Clinton's limo) to put him at ease—a demonstration of managing another person's emotions.
The Calhoun College Story
As Yale's president, Salovey initially decided to keep Calhoun College's name while adding contextual materials, despite student protests, including a town hall where students showered him with fake cash. A dining hall worker broke a stained glass window depicting African-Americans picking cotton. A conversation with a student from South Carolina—who said she could handle the name but not living in 'a shrine to slavery'—triggered empathy and clarity. The college was renamed Grace Hopper College.
Measuring Emotional Intelligence
Salovey and Jack Mayer coined the term while painting Salovey's living room. Their ability-based test, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Scale (MSCEIT), predicts how strangers rate people in interactions, number of friendships, pro-social behavior, lower adolescent drug and alcohol use, and workplace outcomes like promotions and raises. At an investment bank, bankers themselves identified emotional skills—not analytic ones—as the differentiator for becoming managing directors. fMRI studies show emotion and cognition brain regions are densely connected.
Building the Skill
Marc Brackett's RULER framework teaches kids five skills: Recognizing, Understanding, Labeling, Expressing, and Regulating emotions. Unlike IQ, emotional intelligence improves with age and practice. Adults can strengthen it through literature, art museums (such as the emotion-focused museum in Santander, Spain), music, and theater. Salovey compares these skills to muscles and suggests role-playing emotionally evocative situations, treating emotions as data—a 'sixth sense' worth attending to.
Transcribed automatically from the audio. Summary and notes written by AI from the transcript, so check anything important against the recording.
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