Personality and Emotional Intelligence

Concepts and Definitions

Humanistic approach

flourished between 1940s and early 1970s. derives largely from ideas associated with existentialism and phenomenology and focuses on individuals’ capacity to make their own choices, create their own style of life, and actualise themselves in their own way. its approach is holistic

Psychodynamic approach

the psychological and psychiatric approach that views human behaviour from the standpoint of unconscious motives that mold the personality, influence attitudes, and produce emotional disorder. the emphasis is on tracing behaviour to its origins, as contrasted with the nosological approach, which concentrates on overt signs and symptoms of disorder.

Trait approach

approaches that explain personality in terms of internal charactersitics that are presumed to determine behaviour

Intuition

the act or process of acquiring knowledge without reasoning or inferring

Authority

a basis for accepting information because it is acquired from a highly respected source

Rationalism

the acquisiton of knowledge through reasoning. reasoning, however, does not always reflect reality. it is quite possible to reach contradicting conclusions by means of rational arguments

Empiricism

the acquisiton of knowledge through personal experience.

Scientific method

a set of procedures, guidelines, assumptions, and attitudes required for the organised and systematic collection, interpretation, and verification of data and the discovery of reproducible evidence, enabling laws and principles to be stated or modified

Objectives of Science, Description

to portray a situation or phenomenon accurately and parsimoniously

Objectives of Science, Explanation

to provide an explanation of the phenomenon or situation, including why it exists and what causes it

Objectives of Science, Prediction

to enable the anticipation of events prior to their actual occurrence

Objectives of Science, Control

to manipulate the conditions that determine a phenomenon. when the antecedent conditions are known, they can be manipulated to produce a desired phenomenon

Assumptions of science, Reality in nature

what we see, hear, feel, and taste is real and has substance

Assumptions of science, Rationality

there is a rational basis for the events that occur in nature, which can be understood through logical thinking

Assumptions of science, Regularity

events in nature follow the same laws and occur the same way at all times and places

Assumptions of science, Discoverability

not only is there uniformity and regularity in nature, but it is also possible to discover this uniformity

Scientism

the belief that science, and only science, describes the world as it is in itself, independent of perspective and with a concomitant elimination of the psychological dimensions of experience

Extraversion

the extent to which people prefer to be alone or with others

Neuroticism

the extent to which people experience negative emotions

Agreeableness

the extent to which people are pleasant and well-liked by others

Conscientiousness

concerns the manner in which people complete tasks (dilligently vs carelessly)

Openness to Experience

has been variously descrived as a dimension of creativity, culture, curiousity, intellectuality

Psychoticism

the extent to which people are tough-minded vs empathetic

Social Intelligence

the abilility to understand and mamage men and women boys and girls to act wisely in human relations

Operationalisation

the process of defining a concept or variable in a way that allows it to be measured or observed in a concrete and objective manner

Sampling domain

the population (universe) of objects (items) that are relevant to a particilar test or measure

Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI)

a constellation of emotional perceptions measured through self-report questionnaires and rating scales

Well-being factor of trait EI

the well-being factor essentially reflects the common core of the three facets it comprises i.e. Happiness, Optimism, and Self-esteem

Self-control factor of trait EI

the self-control factor essentially reflects the common core of the three facets it comprises i.e. Emotion regulation, Impluse control, and Stress management

Emotionality factor of trait EI

the emotionaility factor essentially reflects the common core of the four facets it comprises i.e. Emotion expression, Emotion perception, Empathy, and Relationships

Sociability factor of trait EI

the sociability factor essentially reflects the common core of the three facets it comprises i.e. Assertiveness, Emotion management, and Social awareness

Global trait EI

the global trait emotional intelligence score provides a snapshot of someone’s general emotional functioning

Pyschobionomy

a general system that aims to explain and utilise the laws govwrning the mind

Reliability

very broadly, the dependability of a measurement instrument; the degree to which it is consistent and free of measurement error

Validity

the property that a measurement instrument measures what it claimes to measure

Incremental validity

the improvement obtained by adding a particular procedure or technique to an existing combination of assessment methods, e.g does a new construct help us predict certain behaviours better than cognate existing constructs?

Meta-analysis

a quantitative technique for synthesisng the results of multiple studies of a phenomenon into a single result by combining the effect size estimates from each study into a single estimate of the combined effect size or into a distribution of effect sizes

Body image

the mental picture one forms of one’s body as a whole, including its physical charactersitcs (body percept) and one’s attitudes toward these characteristics (body concept). also called body identity

Behavioural genetics

the study of familial or hereditary behaviour patterns and of the genetic mechanisms of behaviour traits.