Jeremy Burrus

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.

When Both the Skilled and Unskilled are Unaware: Consequences for Academic Performance

The authors replicate Kruger and Dunning (1999) by demonstrating that the most unskilled students overestimate their skill level, whereas highly skilled students underestimate their skill level. Furthermore, this misestimation of skill is related to academic performance. Misestimation was positively related to first year college GPA, persistence to the fourth year of college, and graduation. At times, this effect can lead lower-ability students to perform just as well as, or better than, higher-ability students. Thus, misestimation of skill level appears to serve as a benefit for less-skilled individuals, but as a hindrance for highly-skilled individuals as they pursue academic goals.

A Multilevel CFA-MTMM Model for Nested Structurally Different Methods.

The numerous advantages of structural equation modeling (SEM) for the analysis of multitrait–multimethod (MTMM) data are well known. MTMM-SEMs allow researchers to explicitly model the measurement error, to examine the true convergent and discriminant validity of the given measures, and to relate external variables to the latent trait as well as the latent method factors in the model. According to Eid et al. (2008) different MTMM measurement designs require different types of MTMM-SEMs. Eid et al. (2008) proposed three different MTMM-SEMs for measurement designs with (a) structurally different methods, (b) interchangeable methods, and (c) a combination of both types of methods. In the present work, we extend this taxonomy to a multilevel correlated traits–correlated methods minus one [CTC(M − 1)] model for nested structurally different methods. The new model enables researchers to study method effects on both measurement levels (i.e., within and between clusters, classes, schools, etc.) and evaluate the convergent and discriminant validity of the measures. The statistical performance of the model is examined by a simulation study, and recommendations for the application of the model are given.

Exploring Adolescent Resilience Through the Lens of Core Self-Evaluations

Oprah Winfrey’s lifetime accomplishments are impressive by any measure. Named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people of the twentieth century, she hosted one of the world’s most watched television shows for 24 years (Academy of Achievement, 2011). She is also a film producer, runs her own magazine and cable television station, and was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in the movie The Color Purple. She has variously been the highest-paid performer on television, the richest self-made woman in America, and the richest African-American of the twenty-first century.

Equity, Egoism, and Egocentrism: The Formation of Distributive Justice Judgments

Previous research on distributive justice judgments has come to the conclusion that these judgments are often formed based on an equity norm, or a self-serving, egoistic motive (e.g., Adams, 1965; Greenberg, 1983). In this article, we propose egocentrism as a third mechanism for the formation of these judgments. In two experiments, above and beyond the influence of equity, perceptions of distributive justice were influenced by egocentrism. Furthermore, egocentrism at times overpowered the effects of egoism. When egocentric perception of contribution was high, results were consistent with the notion that distributive justice judgments are egoistic. However, the effect of egoism was reversed when egocentric perception of contribution was low. Additional analyses suggest that these results were due to egocentric attentional processes.

Teaching High School Students to Manage Time: The Development of an Intervention.

This article reports the results of a quasi-experimental study conducted to examine the efficacy of a new time management intervention designed for high school students. Participants were 149 students from a highly selective private high school in the northeastern United States who were in the ninth grade. Half of the students participated in a 5-week intervention, which involved an assessment of time management, feedback, and action plans, and 5 weekly homework assignments. After the intervention, academic advisors who were blind to condition rated student time management behaviors. Ratings were higher for the treatment group than for the control group. This difference reached significance for students who began the intervention low in time management skills. Implications and suggestions for improving the intervention are discussed.

Assessing Cross-Cultural Competence: A Working Framework and Prototype Measures for Use in Military Contexts

Working effectively with people from different cultures is critically important for U.S. Soldiers. However, there is evidence to suggest that a majority of Soldiers fall short in this ability (Baker and Hamilton in The Iraq study group report: The way forward – A new approach. Vintage, New York, 2006). Recently, this ability has been deemed cross-cultural competence (3C), which can be defined as, “set of knowledge, skills, and affect/motivation that enable individuals to adapt effectively in cross-cultural environments” (Abbe et al. in Cross-cultural competence in army leaders: A conceptual and empirical foundation (Study Report 2008–01). U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Arlington, VA, 2008, vii). The goal of the current chapter is to identify and address prior relevant 3C frameworks, discuss and define 3C and its constituent components, and provide a synthesis of the frameworks into one comprehensive framework that captures the construct’s dynamic, multifaceted nature. The chapter also provides a detailed explanation of constructs related to 3C, as well as corresponding measures or item types that have demonstrated greater resistance to faking or bias. The chapter concludes with a number of considerations researchers should bear in mind when developing assessments to measure 3C and other closely related noncognitive skills.

Psychosocial Skills: Essential Components of Development and Achievement in K-12

In this chapter we introduce an organizational framework for our discussion of psychosocial skills, borrowing from the prominent organizational taxonomy of personality, the five-factor model. Using the Big Five as a guide, we identify several psychosocial skills that we feel are important for K-12 students and group them under the trait to which we perceive them to be most highly related. We further divide the Big Five into the three categories of skills we feel are important for students in K-12: performance skills (“getting along with school”), interpersonal skills (“getting along with others”), and self-management skills (“getting along with yourself”). In addition to the Big Five, we conclude with a brief discussion of cross-cultural competence and its possible place within the psychosocial skills framework.

Social Beliefs and Attitudes: Personality and the Isms

Social attitudes and beliefs can have a powerful influence on how one interprets, and respond to, everyday events. Employing a factor analytic approach, Saucier (2000, 2013) has recently developed a taxonomy of social attitudes and beliefs which contains five dimensions. He labeled these dimensions ‘isms’ because words describing these attitudes and beliefs tend to end in ‘ism’ (e.g., fundamentalism, relativism, and materialism). The five dimensions of isms are: tradition-oriented religiousness, unmitigated self-interest, communal rationalism, subjective spirituality, and inequality-aversion. In this article we briefly discuss beliefs and attitudes more generally before discussing isms in detail. We then discuss the relationship of Big Five personality dimensions to isms and additional correlates of isms before providing a few areas for future research directions. The article concludes by making an argument that isms are a potentially very important, but highly under-researched, aspect of human individual differences.