Human Abilities

1. Human Abilities III: Emotional Intelligence?

2. Reading • Start with Ch. 10 in Cooper (QOL) • Article and websites on QOL

3. Learning Objectives • Following the lecture & reading you should be able to:– • Show an understanding of the reasons for developing the concept of emotional intelligence (EI) • Describe the models (Meyer & Salovey, Goleman) and assessment of EI • Comment on some problems with EI

4. Definition(s) • “… a type of social intelligence that involves the ability • to monitor one’s own and other’s emotions, • to discriminate among them, and • to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions.” • “…noncognitive skills, capabilities, and competencies that influence a person's ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures”

5. History of EI • Developed from the concept “Social Intelligence” as identified by E.L. Thorndike (1920) • “the ability to act wisely in human relations.” • Emotional intelligence (EI) first described in 1990 as one component of social intelligence (Meyer & Salovey) • Popularized by Daniel Goleman and his 1985 bestseller “Emotional Intelligence” • “EI can matter more than IQ”

6. ctnd “The rules for work are changing. We’re being judged by a new yardstick: not just by how smart we are, or by our training and expertise, but also by how well we handle ourselves and each other” (Goleman, 1998, p. 3). • The New Yardstick--Emotional Intelligence-- is our potential to gain personal and social competencies.

7. Some Arguments • Traditional intelligence tests have only mid-sized correlations with relevant life criteria • People who are equally cognitive competent can differ in their career and life • Emotions are used destructively by some and not others • Emotions have evolved and have survival value in different species • Emotional information can be read better by some people; while others don’t understand people. • Intelligence about emotions and informed by emotions must exist • Emotions contains information about relationships • When a person’s relationship with somebody or an object changes, so changes their emotions • EI refers to ability to recognize the emotions and their relationships and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them

8. Approaches • Ability models (e.g., Salovey & Mayer) • see EI as a sort of standard intelligence • argue EI meets criteria for traditional intelligence • “mixed” models (e.g., Bar-On, Goleman) • mix intelligence with attributes like independence, flexibility, self-actualization, reality testing • correlate +vely with positive mood, self-esteem,negatively with depression, neuroticism • low with ability tests of EI

9. Mayer & Salovey model • Four branches/skills of EI, accuracy concerning • Perceiving emotions • Using emotions to facilitate thought • Understanding emotions • Managing emotions (enhances personal growth and social relations) • Hierarchy: perception => management

10. Goleman’s five EI’s • Self-awareness – understand who we are. • Symptoms (of lacking social skill): e.g., anxiety • Managing moods – ability to control one’s mood. • Symptoms: impulsive, irrational • Motivation – ability to keep hopeful • Symptoms: bad grade, depression • Empathy – ability to understand others • Symptoms: cruel, cold-blooded, commit serious crimes • Social Skills – fill into group. • Symptoms: dropout, social outsider.

11. Assessment of EI: Self-reports • Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (Bar-On, ’97) • Interpersonal capacity (emotional self-awareness), interpersonal skills (e.g., empathy),adaptability (e.g., problem solving), stress management, motivational & general mood factors (happiness) • Emotional Intelligence Scale-EIS (Schutte et al, ‘98) • 33 items covering emotion expression, regulation & management forming a single factor, based on Salovey & Meyer (90) model • Goleman Emotional Quotient - EQ (‘85) • 10 scenarios, representing Goleman’s five areas of EI

12. Assessment of EI • Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale -MEIS (Meyer, Caruso, & Salovey, ‘99) • Perceive,assimilate,understand & manage emotions, 12 scales, accuracy of answers determined by “consensus scoring” • MSCEIT (Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence test) • Currently developed, see website psychometrically improved version

13. Branch 1: perceiving emotions • in faces, landscapes, designs Faces: To what extent are the following emotions expressed in the face (1= no; 5 = extreme): Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust, & excitement

14. sample • happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, disgust, & excitement (1= no; 5 = extreme)

15. general consensus scoring Frequency distribution in large sample Score based on relative frequencies derived in large sample, e.g., 1000 900 800 700 1 = .03 2 = .12 3 = .17 4 = .21 5 = .47 600 931 500 400 300 429 230 200 54 246 100 0 1 2 3 4 5 no extreme Anger

16. Branch 2: facilitating thought • synesthesia, sensations, facilitation Facilitation: what moods best accompany or assist specific cognitive tasks / behaviours? e.g., What mood might be helpful to feel when generating new ideas while brainstorming in a group? sadness,surprise, jealousy, neutral mood, happiness (1 = definitely not useful, 5 = definitely useful)

17. Branch 3: understanding emotions • Blends, progressions, transitions, analogies Blends: resentment, anger, anticipation, and pride are all parts of _______? (a) spite, (b) rage (c) jealousy, (d) malice,(e) envy Analogies: “Lively” is to “calm” as: (a) anger is to terror, (b) dislike is to indifference, (c) anxiety is to nervousness, (d) guilt to disgust, (e) envy is to jealousy

18. Branch 4: managing emotions • Emotion management, Emotional relationships Management: respondents judge the actions that are likely to affect feelings of a person in a story e.g., It is after midnight and Tom has still before he goes to bed. How well would each action help him finish the work before bed? (5 actions) Relationships: similar judgements, about emotions influencing other people’s emotions

19. Problems with scoring • What if more people agree on 4 than on 5? • Do the uncertain get higher scores than the ones that are sure about their (correct) answer? • No “difficult” items; • Prevents items discriminating among top scorers • Susceptible to effects of answer style • tendency to middle or extremes affects scoring • Scoring needs to be done by a company

20. Unresolved issues • What is the structure of EI? • Is there a single emotional intelligence. Is it uni- or multidimensional? Varied outcomes. • How is it best measured? • Self- / peer-reports, ability test? • Is it truly different from established concepts? • E.g., can EI be distinguished from abilities & personality? • Empathy & P? Alexithymia?, verbal reasoning? • Correlations EI & IQ often low. • Does it matter more than IQ? • Is there incremental validity? Does EI predict anything after controlling for the effects of IQ (and personality).

21. Summary • You should now be able to:– • Discuss the status of EI in relation to ability and personality concepts • Describe the model by Meyer & Salovey and the different assessment approaches