I thought the term emotional intelligence (EI) was very odd when I first heard it. I do think the parameters of EI are very important, which I believe are being able to read other people’s emotions, being self aware, and being empathetic. These skills help us when interacting within relationships and in society at large. The OP spoke only of emotional reactions, but EI the way I understand it is more complex than that.
I’m not sure who created the term and why they put the word intelligence in it. It always seemed like it was there so if your IQ wasn’t very high you could maybe have a different type of intelligence to feel good about. Not that there is anything wrong with average IQ, it’s been shown over and over again that there are other elements to success, and that high IQ on its own isn’t worth much. Another initial thought I had for the term was that the very brilliant people who maybe lack EI shouldn’t feel so superior, because they don’t do well in other firms of intelligence. Not that every person who is high IQ lacks EI, but maybe that’s the stereotype.
To have high IQ or EI both are dependent on environment, but I think EI is much more dependent on it than IQ, so in my opinion they differ in that way. Although, there are extremes in EI that people can be born with, and the brain is so hard wired that way that it is difficult or impossible to overcome.