title: Is emotional intelligence an advantage? An exploration of the impact of emotional and general intelligence on individual performance.
abstract: Emotional intelligence is an increasingly popular consulting tool. According to popular opinion and work-place testimonials, emotional intelligence increases performance and productivity; however, there has been a general lack of independent, systematic analysis substantiating that claim. The authors investigated whether emotional intelligence would account for increases in individual cognitive-based performance over and above the level attributable to traditional general intelligence. The authors measured emotional intelligence with the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS; J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. R. Caruso, 1997). As measured by the MEIS, overall emotional intelligence is a composite of the 3 distinct emotional reasoning abilities: perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions (J. D. Mayer & P. Salovey, 1997). Although further psychometric analysis of the MEIS is warranted, the authors found that overall emotional intelligence, emotional perception, and emotional regulation uniquely explained individual cognitive-based performance over and beyond the level attributable to general intelligence.
authors.affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University, USA.
authors.forename: Laura Thi
authors.initials: LT
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.forename: Susan L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Kirby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007361:Intelligence Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012107:Research Design; D012649:Self Concept; D012737:Sex Factors; D012938:Social Perception; D015206:Southwestern United States; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*