Emotional Intelligence

Question 1

What are the 3 streams of EI?

Answer 1

• Stream 1: Ability measurements of ability model
  
  • Eg MEIS, MSCEIT, STEM/STEU, Emotional recognition assessments
• Stream 2: Self-Report measurements of ability model
  
  • SREIS, PEC, Schutte, TEIRA, Wong-Law
• Stream 3: Self-report measurements of mixed model
  
  • TEIQue, EQ-i

Question 2

What is the tripartite model of EI?

Answer 2

• An alternative conceptualisation of EI: Three ‘levels’ of EI
  
  1. Knowledge of Emotions: declaritive ability
  2. Ability to apply knowledge: procedural knowledge/skill. Ability EI but hard to measure
  3. Tendancy to use apply knowledge: typical behaviours, thoughts, feelings. Trait EI/personality.
• Emotionally intelligent behaviour = knowing what to do, how to do it and being willing to do it.

Question 3

What is the MSCEIT?

Answer 3

• The Mayor Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Scale, based on the four branch model.
• 8 scales, 2 for each branch
  
  • Emotional Perception: faces and pictures
    
    • tends to be very easy
  • Emotional facilitation: facilitation and sensation
    
    • tends to be weird
  • Emotional Understanding: blends and progressions
  • Emotional Management: management and relations
• Some effect of format vs topic: Multiple choice vs scale answers

Question 4

What are some alternative emotional perception and recognition tests?

Answer 4

• Emotional recognition was traditionally a separate construct to EI and has several established tests:
  
  • DANVA: test of faces and voices
  • MERT (and GERT): uses dynamic stimuli such as videos
  • JACBART: Each item has a neutral masking face before presentation.
  • Reading mind in eyes: shows only the eyes
• Test Issues:
  
  • Issues with ceiling effects (reduced variance) addressed by limiting viewing time, subtle expressions, partial info
  • Face Validity: does it resemble real life interaction?
  • Do they test the process more than the content? Inspection time is related to mental speed.
  • Low correlations between MSCEIT faces and JACBART
  • DANVA/MSCEIT higher but no discrimination between branches.

Question 5

What are the STEU and STEM alternative measurements?

Answer 5

• Situational test of emotional understanding (STEU)
  
  • Based on Roseman’s appraisal theory. 42 MCQ.
  • eg Unwanted situations stops, you are most likely to feel A,B,C (sometimes add context)
• Situational test of emotional management (STEM)
  
  • 44 MCQ based on situational judgement tests.
• Validity of the STEU/STEM: Research ok but not for major decisions
  
  • Reasonable internal consistency
  • Good evidence for convergent validity
  • Decent divergent validity with MSCEIT (but MC confound?)

Question 6

What is Roseman’s Appraisal theory?

Answer 6

Question 7

What are some considerations with EI measurements?

Answer 7

• Ceiling effects: for any test with high expert agreement, the right answer is reasonably obvious
  
  • Most ability-based EI test items are best at discriminating at the bottom end rather than the top end
• Possible construct-irrelevant variance of verbal ability / reading comprehension
  
  • However, multimedia assessment may overcome this
  • No diff in cognitive ability correlations for the MEMA (multimedia clips) vs MSCEIT management (text)
• Issues of cultural relativity / different social norms
  
  • Scoring may need to be re-normed for different countries/cultures

Question 8

How does EI fit into models of intelligence?

Answer 8

• MSCEIT authors proposed 3 criteria for EI to be an intelligence:
  
  1. EI branches relate to each other. Positive manifold demonstrates this.
  2. EI branches relate to intelligence. Also demonstrated.
  3. BUT EI is distinct from known measures. Contested since understanding EI strongly correlates with Gf/Gc
• Hierachical models of intelligence and EI: Overall the best fitting model has EI as a group factor in CHC theory.
  
  • Suggests EI has 3 primary mental abilities: Perception, Understanding, Management

Question 9

What were MacCann et al’s findings about EI in a hierachical intelligence model?

Answer 9

• MacCann et al used hierachical models to examine the 3 criteria
  
  • Found positive manifold across EI and G factors
  • Understanding shows strongest rs with all group factors of intelligence
  • Understanding stronger for Gf and Gc than other aspects of EI
• Determined best fitting model has EI as a group factor in CHC theory.
  
  • Suggests EI has 3 primary mental abilities: Perception, Understanding, Management

Question 10

What evidence was found by Schutte that that EI can be primed?

Answer 10

• Schutte and Malouff (2012): Priming emotional intelligence.
  
  • Had 7 writing priming tasks based on the 4 branch model (asked to think of a time in the past week when…), the measured EI.
  • Priming increased scores by about 1/2 SD.
  • Results larger for strategic (understanding + management) than experiential (perception + facilitation).
    
    • Differences only when n was larger (in 2nd study)

Question 11

What evidence was found that EI can be trained?

Answer 11

• Pool and Qualter; 11 weeks training (1 2hr class p/w) based on MSCEIT
  
  • Students provided theory, activities, essays etc
  • All branches of self-perceived EI improved (very large effect size)
  • Only understanding and management abilities improved (moderate to large)
• Nelis et al: Do these effects last? 4x2.5hr sessions over 4 weeks. Multiple measures.
  
  • 6 month follow up of effects showed they lasted over time
  • Largest effect for emotional management
  • Difference between self-perception and ability reduces over time

Question 12

What is the Hick Paradigm?

Answer 12

• Simple and choice reaction time tasks: Type of elementary cognitive task (ECT) to measure mental speed
  
  • “Jensen box” : Subject starts with finger on home button - when one of N lights come on subject releases home and presses response button.
• Separate Reaction Time (time till home button released) and Movement Time (time from release to pressing response button)
  
  • But there is a role of strategy in this (risk, anticipation etc)

Question 13

How can mental speed be calculated from the Hick paradigm?

Answer 13

• Hicks Law: Reaction time (RT) is a function of the number of alternatives.
  
  • This function is the same for everyone
  • RT varies with the log2 of the number of alternatives (linear with “bit” of info 2,4,8)
• Five possible measures of mental speed:
  
  • Overall mean RT
  • Mean RT at each number of alternatives
  • Intercept of the Hick function (reaction time to a single light)
  • Slope/Gradient of the Hick function
  • Variability of RT from trial to trial

Question 14

What is the relationship of the hick paradigm with intelligence?

Answer 14

• Jensen Metaanalysis: Theorised choice RT should relate to IQ more than simple RT (using ravens). Further hypothesised that
  
  • As # of choices increases correlation with IQ should increase
  • IQ should correlate with slope rather than intercept of Hick function.
• Findings:
  
  • Regular but very small increase in correlation with #choices
  • No difference between slope and intercept
  • Smaller relationship with slope than for less theoretically meaningful measures like mean

Question 15

What is the Inspection time paradigm?

Answer 15

• Inspection time paradigm: A visual (or auditory) discrimination task with stimuli presented together for a very short time.
  
  • Use orienting stimuli and backward masking stimuli
  • Measure the lowest inspection time till chance level accuracy.
  • Meant to remove physical speed from mental processing
• Correlation with IQ: Grudick and Kranzler meta-analysis (with IQ measured by ravens gf)
  
  • Found large correlation (-.51) with IQ, no sig diff between visual/auditory
  • Found significant difference in strategy use vs no strategy use.

Question 16

What are lagged panel models?

Answer 16

• A lagged panel models allow us to investigate the direction of causality between intelligence and inspection times.
• Deary lagged model study:
  
  • 108 school children tested 2 (2yrs apart). Measured RPM, vocab and auditory inspection time.
  • Found inspection time causes later intelligence.