I was under the impression that emotional intelligence was largely debunked because it didn't correlate with any real meaningful outcome. If this exists as a good correlation it does mean we can use emotional intelligence to weed out the manipulative?
AKA People who can, do.
I believe the core of their result is that "Women do it more than men", not that "they do it".
To be specific for this context: "young women who would like to be manipulative but have low emotional intelligence stymied; forced to play nice."
Really does make you wonder how much more manipulation would go on in the world if everyone were charismatic and quick-witted.