Recognizing when a friend or colleague feels sad, angry or surprised is key to getting along with others. But a new study suggests that being sensitive to people’s feelings may sometimes come with an extra dose of stress. This and other research challenge the prevailing view that emotional intelligence is uniformly beneficial to its bearer.

        In a study, psychologist Myriam Bechtoldt of the Frankfurt School of Finance and Management in Germany asked 166 male university students a series of questions to measure their emotional intelligence. For example, they showed the students photographs of people’s faces and asked them to what extent feelings such as happiness or disgust were being expressed. The students then had to give job talks in front of judges who displayed serious facial expressions. The scientists measured concentrations of stress hormones in the students’ saliva (唾液) before and after the talk.

        In students who were rated more emotionally intelligent, the stress measures increased more during the experiment and took longer to go back to baseline. The findings suggest that some people may be too emotionally clever for their own good, says Bechtoldt. “Sometimes you can be so good at something that it causes trouble,” she notes.

        Indeed, the study adds to previous research hinting at a dark side of emotional intelligence. A study published in 2002 in Personality and Individual Differences suggested that emotionally perceptive people might be particularly influenced by feelings of depression and hopelessness. Furthermore, several studies have implied that emotional intelligence can be used to manipulate others for personal gains.

        More research is needed to see how exactly the relation between emotional intelligence and stress would play out in women and in people of different ages and education levels. Nevertheless, emotional intelligence is a useful skill to have, as long as you learn to also properly cope with emotions—both others’ and your own, says Bechtoldt. For example, some sensitive individuals may assume responsibility for other people’s sadness or anger, which ultimately stresses them out. Remember, as Bechtoldt says, “you are not responsible for how other people feel.”

解析：C。根据题干中的a number of studies可定位至原文第四段最后一句。该句提到，此外，很多项研究也暗示情商可被用于操纵他人而谋求私利。C项与此相符，其中的take advantage of it对应原文中的can be used to manipulate others，benefit themselves对应原文中的for personal gains，故正确答案为C。

错项排除：原文中虽然提到了depression，但说的是情绪感知力强的人可能特别容易受到抑郁情绪的影响，而不是有抑郁症的人在情感上是不成熟的，A项中的emotionally immature为无中生有，故排除。原文中提到了dark side，说的是情商的消极一面，而不是生活的消极一面，B项利用文中细节词设置干扰，内容与原文不符，故错误。D项利用原文中的manipulate设置干扰，但选项内容在原文中无依据，故排除。