While some have suggested that emotional intelligence is a concept that is distinct from other measures of cognitive skill, others have posited that emotional intelligence is nothing new, and is simply a measure of certain personality traits that have been studied for decades. This simplistic way of conceptualizing emotional intelligence is consistent with the critical thinking principle of .Occam's Razor

Martha participates in a research study in order to receive extra credit for her psychology class. when she arrives in the research office she is given a can of what looks and tastes like beer, but which actually contains no alcohol. in the adjoining room martha's classmate karen is also participating in the study. karen receives a can of alcoholic beer. if the experiment was designed to test the effects of alcohol on concentration, then who is exposed to the independent variable?