Awasty’s Research Finds That Emotional Intelligence Isn’t Always an Advantage

In a new article in the Journal of Applied Psychology — the flagship journal in applied psychology and management research — Nikhil Awasty, assistant professor of organizational behavior, and his colleagues challenge a common belief in today’s workplaces: that being highly skilled at reading other people’s emotions is always a good thing. 

Their multi-study paper, “Ignorance May Be Bliss: How the Ability to Perceive Emotions Influences Attitudes and Behavior,” shows the story is more complicated, particularly when it comes to noticing negative emotions at work. 

Across three studies — an experiment with simulated coworker training, surveys of real coworker pairs, and a daily experience-sampling study with employees — the team distinguished between perceiving positive emotions and perceiving negative emotions in others. 

They found little evidence that being especially good at spotting positive emotions provides the expected boost to how people feel about their coworkers or their jobs. In contrast, being highly attuned to others’ negative emotions consistently carried a “curse.” These employees perceived more negativity around them, felt worse as a result, and ultimately reported lower satisfaction with their coworkers and work. 

The research also examined what happens next when people constantly pick up on negative emotional cues. Those better at perceiving negative emotions were more likely to withdraw from their work and engage less in helpful, discretionary behaviors toward colleagues. In other words, noticing every sigh, eye roll, or subtle expression of frustration doesn’t just shape perceptions — it can quietly diminish how much employees show up for one another. 

However, the study also offers a practical way forward. In the daily study, the researchers tested a simple intervention that asked some employees to intentionally focus on positive emotions in their work environment. This small shift helped buffer the downsides of being highly sensitive to negative emotions, suggesting organizations can coach people not just to “read the room” but to do so in ways that support their own well-being. 

For anyone working in teams, the message is both sobering and hopeful: emotional awareness is powerful, but not automatically beneficial. The research points to the importance of teaching employees how to direct their attention, manage exposure to negativity and intentionally notice what is going well — helping workplaces remain both high performing and psychologically healthy.