Jquery Validation: Call Valid without displaying errors?

Question

Hi,

Using JQuery Validation plugin, I am trying to call the .valid() method without the side-effects of displaying error messages on screen. I have tried a number of scenarios with no success, my latest being:

$('#signup').validate({
            showErrors: function() { return; },
            errorElement: "",
            errorClass: "",
            errorPlacement: function() { },
            invalidHandler: function() { },
            highlight: function(element, errorClass) { },
            unhighlight: function(element, errorClass) { }
        });

$('#displayPurposes').text("Valid: " + $("#EMailAddress_EmailAddress").valid());

Whilst the .valid() call is working correctly it is still causing side-effects of displaying error messages.

I don't want this to happen, help please.