Carolyn MacCann

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.

Development of Emotional Intelligence: Towards a Multi-Level Investment Model

This paper examines the development of emotional intelligence (EI) in childhood. It is proposed that ambiguities in conceptualizing EI may be resolved by distinguishing multiple levels of emotion-regulation processes. Temperament, rule-based skill acquisition, and self-aware emotion regulation are differentiat-ed as potential sources of individual differences. We review empirical studies that demonstrate multiple mechanisms linked to these levels. Temperament is shaped by genes, interacting with environmental influences such as patterns of infant-caregiver interaction. Early, language-dependent skill learning is governed by reinforcement and modeling processes. Subsequent, insightful learning is influenced by emotional discourse with parents and others, and cultural factors. Cognitive abilities may also influence individual differences in emotional function. At the same time, the biological and sociocultural factors that influence EI interact in complex and interrelated ways. We conclude this article by proposing a tentative ‘investment model’ for emotional competencies in children that accommodates the multifaceted nature of EI. Lower-level competencies may provide a platform for developing more sophisticated emotion-regulation skills, with competencies becoming increasingly differentiated over time.

Exploring the validity of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) with established emotions measures.

Emotions measures represent an important means of obtaining construct validity evidence for emotional intelligence (EI) tests because they have the same theoretical underpinnings. Additionally, the extent to which both emotions and EI measures relate to intelligence is poorly understood. The current study was designed to address these issues. Participants (N = 138) completed the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), two emotions measures, as well as four intelligence tests. Results provide mixed support for the model hypothesized to underlie the MSCEIT, with emotions research and EI measures failing to load on the same factor. The emotions measures loaded on the same factor as intelligence measures. The validity of certain EI components (in particular, Emotion Perception), as currently assessed, appears equivocal.

Consensus scoring and empirical option weighting of performance-based Emotional Intelligence (EI) tests

Faces and Designs (N=102) from the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) were scored using five different consensual-scoring methods: proportion, mode, lenient mode, distance, and adjusted distance. The aim was to determine which scoring methods were superior in terms of reliability, discriminability (distribution shape), and validity. Where possible, the Method of Reciprocal Averages (MRA)—used previously on dichotomously scored aptitude tests (to improve reliability)—was applied to consensus scores. Psychometric analyses suggested that the most promising techniques were proportion and mode scoring, with MRA scaling ameliorating some potential weaknesses apparent with these forms of consensual-scoring. Faces and Designs showed weak correlations with pro-social personality dimensions, with crystallized intelligence, and with visualization abilities. The study concludes with suggested remedies for addressing measurement problems endemic to EI research.

Emotional intelligence is a second-stratum factor of intelligence: evidence from hierarchical and bifactor models.

This article examines the status of emotional intelligence (EI) within the structure of human cognitive abilities. To evaluate whether EI is a 2nd-stratum factor of intelligence, data were fit to a series of structural models involving 3 indicators each for fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, quantitative reasoning, visual processing, and broad retrieval ability, as well as 2 indicators each for emotion perception, emotion understanding, and emotion management. Unidimensional, multidimensional, hierarchical, and bifactor solutions were estimated in a sample of 688 college and community college students. Results suggest adequate fit for 2 models: (a) an oblique 8-factor model (with 5 traditional cognitive ability factors and 3 EI factors) and (b) a hierarchical solution (with cognitive g at the highest level and EI representing a 2nd-stratum factor that loads onto g at λ = .80). The acceptable relative fit of the hierarchical model confirms the notion that EI is a group factor of cognitive ability, marking the expression of intelligence in the emotion domain. The discussion proposes a possible expansion of Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory to include EI as a 2nd-stratum factor of similar standing to factors such as fluid intelligence and visual processing.

Just as smart but not as successful: obese students obtain lower school grades but equivalent test scores to nonobese students

Objective:The obesity epidemic in industrialized nations has important implications for education, as research demonstrates lower academic achievement among obese students. The current paper compares the test scores and school grades of obese, overweight and normal-weight students in secondary and further education, controlling for demographic variables, personality, ability and well-being confounds.Participants:This study included 383 eighth-grade students (49% female; study 1) and 1036 students from 24 community colleges and universities (64% female, study 2), both drawn from five regions across the United States.Measures:In study 1, body mass index (BMI) was calculated using self-reports and parent reports of weight and height. In study 2, BMI was calculated from self-reported weight and height only. Both samples completed age-appropriate assessments of mathematics, vocabulary and the personality trait conscientiousness. Eighth-grade students additionally completed a measure of life satisfaction, with both self-reports and parent reports of their grades from the previous semester also obtained. Higher education students additionally completed measures of positive and negative affect, and self-reported their grades and college entrance scores.Results:Obese students receive significantly lower grades in middle school (d=0.83), community college (d=0.34) and university (d=0.36), but show no statistically significant differences in intelligence or achievement test scores. Even after controlling for demographic variables, intelligence, personality and well-being, obese students obtain significantly lower grades than normal-weight students in the eighth grade (d=0.39), community college (d=0.42) and university (d=0.31).Conclusion:Lower grades may reflect peer and teacher prejudice against overweight and obese students rather than lack of ability among these students.

Emotional Intelligence Relates to Well‐Being: Evidence from the Situational Judgment Test of Emotional Management

BACKGROUND This research was conducted to examine whether people high in emotional intelligence (EI) have greater well-being than people low in EI. METHOD The Situational Test of Emotion Management, Scales of Psychological Well-being, and Day Reconstruction Method were completed by 131 college students. RESULTS Responses to the Situational Test of Emotion Management were strongly related to eudaimonic well-being as measured by responses on the Scales of Psychological Well-being (r=.54). Furthermore, the ability to manage emotions was related to hedonic well-being, correlating with both the frequency of experienced positive affect and the frequency of experienced negative affect, as measured by the Day Reconstruction Method. CONCLUSION Two aspects of these results suggest a relationship between EI and well-being. First, the observed relationship between ability EI and psychological well-being is the largest reported in the literature to date. Second, this study is the first use of the Day Reconstruction Method to examine the relationship between well-being and EI. Results are discussed in terms of the potential for training emotion management to enhance well-being. Methodological advances for future research are also suggested.

Aesthetic Emotions and Aesthetic People: Openness Predicts Sensitivity to Novelty in the Experiences of Interest and Pleasure.

There is a stable relationship between the Openness/Intellect domain of personality and aesthetic engagement. However, neither of these are simple constructs and while the relationship exists, process based evidence explaining the relationship is still lacking. This research sought to clarify the relationship by evaluating the influence of the Openness and Intellect aspects on several different aesthetic emotions. Two studies looked at the between- and within-person differences in arousal and the emotions of interest, pleasure and confusion in response to visual art. The results suggest that Openness, as opposed to Intellect, was predictive of greater arousal, interest and pleasure, while both aspects explained less confusion. Differences in Openness were associated with within-person emotion appraisal contingencies, particularly greater novelty-interest and novelty-pleasure relationships. Those higher in Openness were particularly influenced by novelty in artworks. For pleasure this relationship suggested a different qualitative structure of appraisals. The appraisal of novelty is part of the experience of pleasure for those high in Openness, but not those low in Openness. This research supports the utility of studying Openness and Intellect as separate aspects of the broad domain and clarifies the relationship between Openness and aesthetic states in terms of within-person appraisal processes.

Models of Cognitive Ability and Emotion Can Better Inform Contemporary Emotional Intelligence Frameworks

Emotional intelligence (EI) stands at the nexus between intelligence and emotion disciplines, and we outline how EI research might be better integrated within both theoretical frameworks. From the former discipline, empirical research focused upon whether EI is an intelligence and what type of intelligence it constitutes. It is clear that ability-based tests of EI form a group factor of cognitive abilities that may be integrated into the Cattell–Horn–Carroll framework; less clear is the lower order factor structure of EI. From the latter discipline, research linking EI with theoretical frameworks from emotion research remain relatively sparse. Emotion regulation and appraisal theory may be key to explain how EI may reflect different processes. We propose a research agenda to advance the EI study.

Development of a Forced-Choice Measure of Typical-Performance Emotional Intelligence

Self-report ratings of emotional intelligence (EI) can be faked in high-stakes situations. Although forced-choice administration can prevent response distortion, it produces ipsative scores when scored conventionally. This study (n = 486) develops an 18-item EI rating scale assessing emotion perception, understanding, and management. We compare validity evidence for: (a) a single-stimulus rating scale; and (b) a forced-choice assessment scored with conventional methods versus item response theory (IRT) methods. The single-stimulus items showed acceptable fit to a three-factor solution, and the forced-choice items showed acceptable fit to the IRT solution. Correlations with criterion variables (ability and self-reported EI, Big Five personality, loneliness, life satisfaction, and GPA) were obtained for 283 participants. Correlations were in the expected direction for the single-stimulus and the IRT-based forced-choice scores. In contrast, the conventionally scored forced-choice test showed the expected correlations for emotion management, but not for emotion perception nor understanding. Results suggest that IRT-based methods for scoring forced-choice assessments produce equivalent validity to single-stimulus rating scales. As such, IRT-based scores on forced-choice assessments may allow EI tests to be used for high-stakes applications, where faking is a concern.