Emotional Intelligence

Humanistic Approach

• Roots: Philosophical schools of existentialism and phenomenology.

• Key Principles:

  • Emphasizes free will, personal worth, and the need for self-actualization.

  • Focuses on individuals realizing their potential.

• Impact: Primarily in clinical psychology and counseling.

• Major Figures:

  • Kelly, Rogers, and Maslow (known for Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).

• Limitations:

  • Overemphasizes personhood and self-actualization, often at the expense of social and genetic determinants of personality.

  • Rejects the scientific method as a valid way to study the human mind, arguing that the mind is self-aware and cannot be studied objectively.

Psychodynamic Approach

• Origins: Freud’s psychoanalytic theory.

• Key Principles:

  • Focuses on unconscious drives and conflicts.

  • Influential in psychotherapy, though its role in mainstream psychology is limited.

• Major Figures:

  • Freud, Jung, Adler, Horney, and Erikson.

• Limitations:

  • Nebulous constructs: Concepts like psychic energy and thanatos are not clearly defined.

  • Clinical effectiveness has been questioned since Eysenck’s 1952 paper.

  • The theory is too general and vague, making it difficult to test and falsify.

Trait Approach

• Key Principles:

  • Personality is a constellation of dispositions that influence how people think, feel, and behave.

  • Advantages:

    • Based on a vast body of empirical evidence.

    • Explicit, testable, and falsifiable.

    • Results are replicable.

    • Provides useful descriptions and assessment tools for research and clinical purposes.

• Limitations:

  • Strong on description but weak on prediction and explanation.

  • Same variance can be conceptualized in many ways, leading to multiple competing theories.

  • Weak on explaining the origins of traits (e.g., where does extraversion or conscientiousness come from?).

Scientific Method vs. Scientism

• Scientific Method:

  • A logic of inquiry used to solve problems and acquire knowledge.

  • Steps:

    1. Develop a theory.

    2. Form a hypothesis.

    3. Design an experiment and operationalize variables.

    4. Conduct the experiment and test the hypothesis.

    5. Interpret the results.

    6. Feed back and amend the theory if necessary.

  • Objectives:

    • Description: Accurately portray a phenomenon.

    • Explanation: Explain why the phenomenon occurs.

    • Prediction: Anticipate events before they occur.

    • Control: Manipulate conditions to produce desired outcomes.

• Scientism:

  • The belief that only science can describe the world as it is.

  • Ignores the limitations of science, such as the deceptive nature of human senses and the mind’s inability to understand ultimate reality.

  • Tends to be dogmatic, institutionalized, and materialistic.

Giant 3 theory

• Giant Three:

  • H.J. Eysenck, J.A. Gray, C.R. Cloninger, M. Zuckerman, A. Tellegen.

  • Focuses on three major dimensions:

    1. Extraversion: Preference for being alone or with others.

    2. Neuroticism: Tendency to experience negative emotions.

    3. Psychoticism: Tough-mindedness.

  • Advantages:

    • Strives to explain why individuals differ.

    • Bridges psychology and biology.

    • Consistent with animal research findings.

    • May support pharmacological interventions.

  • Disadvantages:

    • Less comprehensive than the Big Five.

    • Overemphasizes biological factors at the expense of social and cognitive factors.

    • Limited scope for socio-educational interventions.

Big Five theory

• P.T. Costa Jr., R.R. McCrae, L.R. Goldberg, O. John.

• Focuses on five major dimensions:

  1. Extraversion: Sociability.

  2. Neuroticism: Emotional stability.

  3. Agreeableness: Pleasantness and likability.

  4. Conscientiousness: Task completion.

  5. Openness-to-Experience: Creativity, curiosity, intellectuality.

• Advantages:

  • More comprehensive coverage of personality.

  • Offers detailed descriptions and assessments.

  • Dominant in the literature, facilitating accumulation of evidence.

• Disadvantages:

  • Psychometric issues: Some factors are internally heterogeneous.

  • Weak in explaining findings, often relying on semantic (thesaurus-based) accounts.

  • Evidence of factors beyond the Big Five, raising questions about comprehensiveness.

Background & Milestones in EI Research

• Thorndike (1920): Introduced the concept of social intelligence.

• Gardner (1983): Proposed multiple intelligences, including intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence.

• Salovey & Mayer (1990): First academic model of emotional intelligence.

• Goleman (1995): Popularized EI with his bestseller.

• Petrides et al. (1998-): Developed the trait emotional intelligence research program.

Operationalization of EI

Trait EI vs. Ability EI:

• Trait EI: Focuses on emotional self-perceptions and is measured via self-report questionnaires.

• Ability EI: Focuses on cognitive-emotional abilities and is measured via maximum-performance tests (e.g., recognizing emotions in faces).

• Challenges:

  • Subjectivity of Emotions: Emotions are inherently subjective, making it difficult to develop objective measures of EI.

  • Self-Report Bias: Self-report measures of EI may be influenced by social desirability or response biases.

Trait Emotional Intelligence (Trait EI)

• Definition: Trait EI is defined as a constellation of emotional self-perceptions assessed via questionnaires and rating scales.

• TEIQue (Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire):

  • Structure:

    • 15 Facets: Adaptability, assertiveness, emotion perception, emotion expression, emotion management, emotion regulation, impulse control, relationships, self-esteem, self-motivation, social awareness, stress management, empathy, happiness, optimism.

    • 4 Factors: Well-being, self-control, emotionality, sociability.

    • Global Trait EI Score: An overall measure of emotional self-efficacy.

  • Applications:

    • Clinical: Used to assess emotional functioning in individuals with mental health issues.

    • Educational: Used to identify students who may need additional emotional support.

    • Occupational: Used in recruitment and employee development to assess emotional competencies.

4. Correlates of Trait EI

• Positive Correlates:

  • Conscientiousness: Individuals with high trait EI are more likely to be conscientious and reliable.

  • Mental Health: High trait EI is associated with lower levels of anxiety and depression.

  • Job Satisfaction: Employees with high trait EI report higher levels of job satisfaction.

  • Prosocial Behavior: Individuals with high trait EI are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors, such as helping others.

• Negative Correlates:

  • Anxiety: Low trait EI is associated with higher levels of anxiety.

  • Psychopathology: Individuals with low trait EI are more likely to experience mental health issues.

  • Job Stress: Employees with low trait EI report higher levels of job stress.

Interpretation of TEIQue Scores

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• Perceptions vs. Abilities: Trait EI measures emotional self-perceptions, not actual emotional abilities.

• Situational Specificity: The adaptive value of trait EI depends on the context. For example, high assertiveness may be beneficial in a leadership role but problematic in a collaborative team setting.

Applied Impact of Trait EI

• Job Performance: Trait EI is a strong predictor of job performance, often outperforming traditional measures like IQ and conscientiousness.

• Teen Self-Harm: Low trait EI is linked to dysfunctional coping styles, which increase the likelihood of self-harm and suicide ideation.

• Asperger’s Syndrome: Individuals with Asperger’s show significant differences in trait EI profiles compared to typically developed individuals.

• Behavioral Genetics: About 40% of the variance in trait EI scores is genetically determined.

Trait EI Training

• Nelis et al. (2011): An 18-hour training regime showed lasting changes in trait EI, with effects persisting for at least 6 months.

• Ruttledge & Petrides (2012): A 7-week cognitive-behavioral intervention improved trait EI in disruptive adolescents.

Gender Differences in Trait EI

• Global Trait EI: No significant gender differences.

• Facet Level:

  • Females score higher on relationships, emotion expression, and emotion perception.

  • Males score higher on stress management and assertiveness.

EI Stereotypes

• IQ Estimates: Males tend to overestimate their IQ compared to females.

• EI Estimates: Females tend to overestimate their EI compared to males.

• Parental Estimates: Both genders estimate their father’s IQ as higher than their mother’s, but their mother’s EI as higher than their father’s.

Conclusion

• Trait EI is a comprehensive and reliable measure of emotional perceptions, with significant implications for job performance, mental health, and interpersonal relationships.

• The TEIQue is widely used in clinical, educational, occupational, and experimental contexts, providing valuable insights into emotion-related individual differences.