Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: A comparison of self-report and performance measures of emotional intelligence.

Three studies used J. D. Mayer and P. Salovey's (1997) theory of emotional intelligence (EI) as a framework to examine the role of emotional abilities (assessed with both self-report and performance measures) in social functioning. Self-ratings were assessed in ways that mapped onto the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a validated performance measure of EI. In Study 1, self-ratings and MSCEIT scores were not strongly correlated. In Study 2, men's MSCEIT scores, but not self-ratings, correlated with perceived social competence after personality measures were held constant. In Study 3, only the MSCEIT predicted real-time social competence, again, just for men. Implications for analyzing how emotional abilities contribute to social behavior are discussed, as is the importance of incorporating gender into theoretical frameworks and study designs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Service with a smile: Do emotional intelligence, gender, and autonomy moderate the emotional labor process?

This survey study of 176 participants from eight customer service organizations investigated how individual factors moderate the impact of emotional labor strategies on employee well-being. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that gender and autonomy were significant moderators of the relationships between emotional labor strategies and the personal outcomes of emotional exhaustion, affective well-being, and job satisfaction. Females were more likely to experience negative consequences when engaging in surface acting. Autonomy served to alleviate negative outcomes for individuals who used emotional labor strategies often. Contrary to our hypotheses, emotional intelligence did not moderate the relationship between the emotional labor strategies and personal outcomes. Results demonstrated how the emotional labor process can influence employee well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mood regulation and emotional intelligence: Individual differences.

In 3 studies (Ns = 250, 83, 236), an examination of differences in how individuals experience their emotions (meta-emotion traits of clarity, attention, and intensity) led to the identification of 4 distinct types (overwhelmed, hot, cerebral, and cool). When mood was manipulated, the types differed in how they initially reacted to the emotional situation, how they regulated their mood and how they made judgments. In particular, one type of individual (the hot type) was more reactive to emotional situations than the others. Another type of individual (the overwhelmed type) regulated mood differently than the others, which led these individuals to make judgments that were also different. Overwhelmed individuals appeared unable or unwilling to avail themselves of critical affective information. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editors' note on debate concerning emotional intelligence.

This issue of Emotion opens with a feature that we intend to become a regular institution in the publication of the journal: an article followed by invited peer commentary. Our underlying principle for such commentary is to invite a small number of eminent scholars to provide brief comments on an article that is likely to generate debate. We believe this practice will serve to broaden the debate as well as to foster the exchange of arguments in an open and available forum. The debate in this issue focuses on the topic of emotional intelligence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A behavioral genetic study of trait emotional intelligence.

Numerous models of emotional intelligence (EI) have proposed the existence of hitherto undiscovered mental abilities, competencies, and skills. The theory of trait emotional intelligence suggests that the content domains of these models invariably contain permutations of personality traits. The two studies in this article examine the heritability of trait EI scores with a view to demonstrating empirically that the construct has a similar level of genetic influence as other personality traits. Study 1 was a family design of 133 high-school students and their parents. Regressions of offspring on midparent scores suggested median upper-limit heritability estimates of .18 at facet level, .25 at factor level, and .32 at the global trait EI level. Study 2 was a twin design (213 pairs of monozygotic [MZ] twins and 103 pairs of dizygotic [DZ] twins). It yielded median heritabilities of .42 for the facets, .44 for the factors, and .42 for global trait EI. Overall, our findings are in accordance with studies of the major personality dimensions and provide further empirical support for the conceptualization of EI as a personality trait. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time course of processing emotional stimuli as a function of perceived emotional intelligence, anxiety, and depression.

An individual's self-reported abilities to attend to, understand, and reinterpret emotional situations or events have been associated with anxiety and depression, but it is unclear how these abilities affect the processing of emotional stimuli, especially in individuals with these symptoms. The present study recorded event-related brain potentials while individuals reporting features of anxiety and depression completed an emotion-word Stroop task. Results indicated that anxious apprehension, anxious arousal, and depression were associated with self-reported emotion abilities, consistent with prior literature. In addition, lower anxious apprehension and greater reported emotional clarity were related to slower processing of negative stimuli indexed by event-related potentials (ERPs). Higher anxious arousal and reported attention to emotion were associated with ERP evidence of early attention to all stimuli regardless of emotional content. Reduced later engagement with stimuli was also associated with anxious arousal and with clarity of emotions. Depression was not differentially associated with any emotion processing stage indexed by ERPs. Research in this area may lead to the development of therapies that focus on minimization of anxiety to foster successful emotion regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional intelligence, not music training, predicts recognition of emotional speech prosody.

Is music training associated with greater sensitivity to emotional prosody in speech? University undergraduates (n = 100) were asked to identify the emotion conveyed in both semantically neutral utterances and melodic analogues that preserved the fundamental frequency contour and intensity pattern of the utterances. Utterances were expressed in four basic emotional tones (anger, fear, joy, sadness) and in a neutral condition. Participants also completed an extended questionnaire about music education and activities, and a battery of tests to assess emotional intelligence, musical perception and memory, and fluid intelligence. Emotional intelligence, not music training or music perception abilities, successfully predicted identification of intended emotion in speech and melodic analogues. The ability to recognize cues of emotion accurately and efficiently across domains may reflect the operation of a cross-modal processor that does not rely on gains of perceptual sensitivity such as those related to music training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aggressive behavior among Israeli elementary school students and associated emotional/behavioral problems and self-control.

This study aimed to identify aggression patterns among students, compare teachers' and students' reports on aggressiveness, and examine whether emotional and behavioral problems and self-control intercorrelate with aggression and can explain it among students. The study investigated 363 students aged 8 to 11 years and their 12 homeroom teachers in two elementary schools in central Israel. As expected, students reported higher verbal aggression than physical without gender differences in the general tendency. Also, students reported a higher rate of others' aggression toward them than their own aggression toward others. Similarities emerged between students' and teachers' reports. Four types of students were classified: the aggressive initiator (proactive), the aggressive responder (reactive), the passive victim, and a neutral type. An important outcome was the significant negative association of aggressiveness with self-control. Students with higher rates of self-control skills presented lower rates of aggressive behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using emotional intelligence to develop executive leadership and team and organizational development.

This case study explores how emotional intelligence (EI) was used to facilitate team and organizational cohesiveness. An organizational development (OD) consultant and an executive coach, both senior consultants, facilitated this engagement. An EI assessment and a team-building retreat served as the foundation for the process. In addition, the relationship between the executive coach and the OD consultant is examined, and comments from the CEO in this engagement and consultants are included. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0.

Does a recently introduced ability scale adequately measure emotional intelligence (EI) skills? Using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. R. Caruso, 2002b), the authors examined (a) whether members of a general standardization sample and emotions experts identified the same test answers as correct, (b) the test's reliability, and (c) the possible factor structures of EI. Twenty-one emotions experts endorsed many of the same answers, as did 2,112 members of the standardization sample, and exhibited superior agreement, particularly when research provides clearer answers to test questions (e.g., emotional perception in faces). The MSCEIT achieved reasonable reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis supported theoretical models of El. These findings help clarify issues raised in earlier articles published in Emotion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality differences between adjusted and maladjusted college students.

A "maladjusted" group (100 college Ss) were compared to a sample of the university student body (206 Ss) and to the adjusted counseling group (100 Ss) using an adjective check list (Gough) on which each S described himself. The ACL results were compared with psychologists' judgments and showed considerable agreement. Sex differences were noted and related to a possible social desirability factor. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Longitudinal effects of emotional labour on emotional exhaustion and dedication of teachers.

A great number of teachers find teaching fulfilling and are dedicated to it, but others feel emotionally exhausted, indicating that the interaction with pupils can be emotionally demanding. Emotional labor was shown to play an important role for the health of teachers. In a full two-wave longitudinal study over the period of 1 year, the effect of emotional labor on emotional exhaustion and dedication of 102 teachers was investigated. Teachers who were able to influence their emotions to feel the emotion appropriate in a situation (so called deep acting) felt significantly less emotionally exhausted after 1 year. From this result, deep acting can, thus, be characterized as health-beneficial. Once teachers felt emotionally exhausted, they used more surface acting. More dedicated teachers, on the contrary, did neither engage more in deep acting nor in surface acting at Time 2. This indicates that those teachers who are dedicated to teaching seem less likely to act. To prevent emotional exhaustion of teachers, the development of interventions to promote health-beneficial emotional labor is necessary. This can be achieved by fostering deep acting, which reduces emotional exhaustion over longer periods of time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New paradigms for assessing emotional intelligence: Theory and data.

This article describes the development and validation of 2 measures of emotional intelligence (EI): the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding (STEU) and the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM). Study 1 (N = 207 psychology students) examines multiple sources of validity evidence: relationships with EI, vocabulary, personality, and emotion-related criteria. Study 2 (N = 149 white-collar volunteers) relates STEU and STEM scores to clinical symptoms, finding relationships to anxiety and stress for both tests, and to depression for the STEM. It is concluded that new performance-based approaches to test development, such as the present ones, might be useful in distinguishing between test and construct effects. Implications for expanding theory and for developing EI interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between achievement-related motives and intelligence, performance level, and persistence.

Test Anxiety and Need for Achievement are related to intelligence, performance level (exam grades), and persistence (time spent in exams). Ss were 146 college students. Test Anxiety is negatively related to intelligence (p     

Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: Assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias.

Although it is well-established that vulnerability to negative emotion is associated with attentional bias toward aversive information, the causal basis of this association remains undetermined. Two studies addressed this issue by experimentally inducing differential attentional responses to emotional stimuli using a modified dot probe task, and then examining the impact of such attentional manipulation on subsequent emotional vulnerability. The results supported the hypothesis that the induction of attentional bias should serve to modify emotional vulnerability, as revealed by participants' emotional reactions to a final standardized stress task. These findings provide a sound empirical basis for the previously speculative proposal that attentional bias can causally mediate emotional vulnerability, and they suggest the possibility that cognitive-experimental procedures designed to modify selective information processing may have potential therapeutic value. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional intelligence as a standard intelligence.

The authors have claimed that emotional intelligence (EI) meets traditional standards for an intelligence (J. D. Mayer, D. R. Caruso, & P. Salovey, 1999). R. D. Roberts, M. Zeidner, and G. Matthews (see record 2001-10055-001) questioned whether that claim was warranted. The central issue raised by Roberts et al. concerning Mayer et al. (1999) is whether there are correct answers to questions on tests purporting to measure EI as a set of abilities. To address this issue (and others), the present authors briefly restate their view of intelligence, emotion, and EI. They then present arguments for the reasonableness of measuring EI as an ability, indicate that correct answers exist, and summarize recent data suggesting that such measures are, indeed, reliable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional plasticity: Conditions and effects of improving emotional competence in adulthood.

This study aimed to investigate (a) whether it is possible to increase emotional competence (EC) in adulthood; (b) whether this improvement results in better mental, physical, and social adjustment; (c) whether this improvement can be maintained 1 year later; and (d) whether these benefits are accompanied by a reduction in stress-hormone secretion (i.e., cortisol). One hundred and thirty-two participants were randomly assigned to an EC-enhancing intervention (in group format) or to a control group. Participants in the intervention group underwent a specifically designed 15-hr intervention targeting the 5 core emotional competencies, complemented with a 4-week e-mail follow-up. Results reveal that the level of emotional competencies increased significantly in the intervention group in contrast with the control group. This increase resulted in lower cortisol secretion, enhanced subjective and physical well-being, as well as improved quality of social and marital relationships in the intervention group. No significant change occurred in the control group. Peer reports on EC and quality of relationships confirmed these results. These data suggest that emotional competencies can be improved, with effective benefits on personal and interpersonal functioning lasting for at least 1 year. The theoretical implications of these results as well as their practical implications for the construction and the development of effective emotional competencies interventions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parents' emotional availability and infant emotional competence: Predictors of parent-infant attachment and emerging self-regulation.

One-year-old infants (N=62) and their mothers and fathers were observed in free play and teaching sessions in order to examine parents' emotional availability and the infant's emotional competence. Mothers were more emotionally available than fathers, and infants exhibited more effortful attention with mothers than with fathers. Similar relations between parental emotional availability and infant emotional competence were found for mother-infant and father-infant dyads. Change in parental emotional availability covaried with change in infant emotional competence. Individual differences in parental emotional availability and Infant emotional competence were more consistent across contexts than across parents. Infant effortful attention at 12 months was a mediator between maternal emotional availability at 12 months and toddler situational compliance at 16 months. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral activation for moderately depressed university students: Randomized controlled trial.

Although depression is prevalent among university students, limited and dated research has examined the efficacy of behavioral interventions in treating this population (C. Lee, 2005). On the basis of a modified version of the Behavioral Activation Treatment for Depression (BATD; D. R. Hopko & C. W. Lejuez, 2007; C. W. Lejuez, D. R. Hopko, & S. D. Hopko, 2001) that involved a structured single-session intervention and 2-week treatment interval, the authors conducted a randomized controlled trial comparing individualized BATD and a no-treatment control for university students with moderate depression symptoms (N = 30). Outcome measures assessed depression, environmental reward, social support, and somatic anxiety. Relative to the control group, repeated measures analyses of variance and reliable change indices indicated that the BATD group had significantly greater reductions in depression and increased environmental reward at post-treatment that were associated with strong effect sizes. A statistical trend suggested that BATD also may show promise toward increasing social support. Given current conditions in many academic institutions that include high demand for mental health services, limited personnel, and time restrictions, brief and parsimonious interventions like BATD may represent a viable treatment option. Study limitations and future directions are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)