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：A。根据题干中的sensitive individuals可定位至原文最后一段。该段倒数第二句提到，一些敏感的人可能会因为他人的悲伤或愤怒情绪而归咎于自身，结果导致自己倍感压力。作者随后提出建议：要记住，你不用为他人的感受负责（you are not responsible for how other people feel）。A项与此相符，故为正确答案。

错项排除：B项在原文中无依据，故排除。C项利用原文中的learn to also properly cope with emotions设置干扰，但这并不是作者的建议，故排除。文章作者建议敏感的人不用为他人的感受负责，并没有建议他们帮别人处理生活中的烦恼，故D项排除。