Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: a comparison of self-report and performance measures of emotional intelligence

Three studies used J. D. Mayer and P. Salovey's (1997) theory of emotional intelligence (EI) as a framework to examine the role of emotional abilities (assessed with both self-report and performance measures) in social functioning. Self-ratings were assessed in ways that mapped onto the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a validated performance measure of EI. In Study 1, self-ratings and MSCEIT scores were not strongly correlated. In Study 2, men's MSCEIT scores, but not self-ratings, correlated with perceived social competence after personality measures were held constant. In Study 3, only the MSCEIT predicted real-time social competence, again, just for men. Implications for analyzing how emotional abilities contribute to social behavior are discussed, as is the importance of incorporating gender into theoretical frameworks and study designs.     

Five domains of interpersonal competence in peer relationships

In three studies we investigated the utility of distinguishing among different domains of interpersonal competence in college students' peer relationships. In Study 1 we developed a questionnaire to assess five dimensions of competence: initiating relationships, self-disclosure, asserting displeasure with others' actions, providing emotional support, and managing interpersonal conflicts. Initial validation evidence was gathered. We found that self-perceptions of competence varied as a function of sex of subject, sex of interaction partner, and competence domain. In Study 2 we found moderate levels of agreement between ratings of competence by subjects and their roommates. Interpersonal competence scores were also related in predictable ways to subject and roommate reports of masculinity and femininity, social self-esteem, loneliness, and social desirability. In Study 3 we obtained ratings of subjects' competence from their close friends and new acquaintances. Relationship satisfaction among new acquaintances was predicted best by initiation competence, whereas satisfaction in friendships was most strongly related to emotional support competence. The findings provide strong evidence of the usefulness of distinguishing among domains of interpersonal competence.     

When your friends matter: The effect of White students' racial friendship networks on meta-perceptions and perceived identity contingencies

Prior research suggests that people expect to be perceived negatively in interracial interactions but positively in intraracial interactions. The present research demonstrates that an interaction partner's racial network of friends can moderate these expectations in interracial interactions but not intraracial interactions. Across two experiments, we led Black and White college students to believe they would have conversation with a White student on campus. The results revealed that Black students expected to be perceived more positively and anticipated a less challenging conversation, when their interaction partner had a racially diverse network of friends compared to a racially homogeneous network of friends. In contrast, White students expected to be perceived positively and anticipated few challenges in the conversation, regardless of their interaction partner's racial network of friends. The implications of racial friendship diversity are discussed.     

Emotional Intelligence and cognitive abilities – associations and sex differences

In order to expand on previous research, this cross-sectional study investigated the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and cognitive abilities in healthy adults with a special focus on potential sex differences. EI was assessed by means of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso-Emotional-Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), whereas cognitive abilities were investigated using the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS), which measures key aspects of cognitive functioning, i.e. verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, verbal fluency, attention and processing speed, and reasoning and problem solving. 137 subjects (65% female) with a mean age of 38.7 ± 11.8 years were included into the study. While males and females were comparable with regard to EI, men achieved significantly higher BACS composite scores and outperformed women in the BACS subscales motor speed, attention and processing speed, and reasoning and problem solving. Verbal fluency significantly predicted EI, whereas the MSCEIT subscale understanding emotions significantly predicted the BACS composite score. Our findings support previous research and emphasize the relevance of considering cognitive abilities when assessing ability EI in healthy individuals.     

Deconfounding the Effects of Local Element Spatial Heterogeneity and Sparsity on Processing Dominance

Black and White American college students were compared to determine how daily hassles, coping strategies, and social support related to depression. Although the mean intensity of hassles did not differ, Black students reported a higher frequency of hassles. Cumulative severity of hassles, defined in terms of both intensity and frequency was therefore higher for Black students. White students perceived more support from friends than from family, but the opposite held for Black students. Mean scores on type of coping (active problem solving, seeking social support, or avoidance) were similar, as were the reported levels of depression. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that the severity of hassles was directly related to depression for both groups. Race did not interact with any index of social support, except perceived family support, which was related to lower depression among Black students. There was no support for the notion that social support serves as a buffer against depression.     

The relationship of daily hassles, social support, and coping to depression in black and white students

Black and White American college students were compared to determine how daily hassles, coping strategies, and social support related to depression. Although the mean intensity of hassles did not differ, Black students reported a higher frequency of hassles. Cumulative severity of hassles, defined in terms of both intensity and frequency was therefore higher for Black students. White students perceived more support from friends than from family, but the opposite held for Black students. Mean scores on type of coping (active problem solving, seeking social support, or avoidance) were similar, as were the reported levels of depression. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that the severity of hassles was directly related to depression for both groups. Race did not interact with any index of social support, except perceived family support, which was related to lower depression among Black students. There was no support for the notion that social support serves as a buffer against depression.     

Can men and women be just friends?

We tested evolution‐based hypotheses about (1) sex differences in perceived benefits and costs of opposite‐sex friendship and (2) differences in perceived benefits of same‐sex friendships and opposite‐sex friendships. In the Preliminary Study (N= 400), an act nomination procedure was used to identify the benefits and costs of same‐sex friendships and opposite‐sex friendships. In Study 1, a total of 231 participants (100 men, 131 women) evaluated the frequency of occurrence of 100 benefits and costs in their closest same‐sex friendship or opposite‐sex friendship. In Study 2, a total of 229 participants (92 men, 137 women) evaluated how beneficial and how costly each would be if it were to occur in their closest same‐sex friendship or opposite‐sex friendship. Results supported several key hypotheses. Men perceived sex with their opposite‐sex friends as more beneficial than did women. Women reported receiving protection from their opposite‐sex friends more often than did men, and they perceived the protection as highly beneficial. Both men and women reported receiving information from opposite‐sex friends about how to attract mates, and they perceived this information as beneficial. The discussion focuses on whether these benefits reflect an evolved psychology of opposite‐sex friendship, or instead are incidental by‐products.     

Social support from a friend,perceived support,and social problem solving

This research combined experimental and correlational methods to investigate the effects of social support on social problem-solving effectiveness and perceived stress. During a wait period, college students were given the opportunity to work on practice items from a mildly stressful social problem-solving task, either alone or in the company of a close friend. Participants and friends were allowed to talk about the practice items but were not required to do so, and supportive transactions were tape recorded and content analyzed. All students then completed social problem-solving and perceived stress items alone. Participants who waited with friends did not show superior problem-solving effectiveness unless companions provided particular supportive behaviors. Participants with high perceived support scores rated the experiment as less stressful than those with low scores, but perceived support was not related to companions' actual supportive behaviors. The results were discussed in terms of implications for understanding the mechanisms of social support.     

Meaningful involvement in instrumental activity and well-being: Studies of older adolescents and at risk urban teen-agers

Meaningful involvement in instrumental activity, social support, and well-being were assessed in two studies. The first study focused on older adolescents enrolled in college (mean age, 18.8; N = 152), and the second on urban black male, and pregnant female, teen-agers (mean age, 17.1; N = 92), half of whom (N = 46) were school dropouts. In both studies, regression analyses indicated that meaningful instrumental activity was positively related to life satisfaction, independent of social support from friends and from parents. In addition, meaningful instrumental activity was positively related to self-esteem to a greater extent (a) for male than for female college students (Study 1); and (b) for school-attending than for school-dropout urban black males (Study 2). In Study 2, higher mean levels of meaningful instrumental activity were reported (a) by school-attending than by school-dropout urban adolescents; and (b) by black male teens than by pregnant female teens. The implications for future research and intervention are discussed.     

Measurement of ability emotional intelligence: Results for two new tests

Emotional intelligence (EI) has attracted considerable interest amongst both individual differences researchers and those in other areas of psychology who are interested in how EI relates to criteria such as well‐being and career success. Both trait (self‐report) and ability EI measures have been developed; the focus of this paper is on ability EI. The associations of two new ability EI tests with psychometric intelligence, emotion perception, and the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso EI test (MSCEIT) were examined. The new EI tests were the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM) and the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding (STEU). Only the STEU and the MSCEIT Understanding Emotions branch were significantly correlated with psychometric intelligence, suggesting that only understanding emotions can be regarded as a candidate new intelligence component. These understanding emotions tests were also positively correlated with emotion perception tests, and STEM and STEU scores were positively correlated with MSCEIT total score and most branch scores. Neither the STEM nor the STEU were significantly correlated with trait EI tests, confirming the distinctness of trait and ability EI. Taking the present results as a starting‐point, approaches to the development of new ability EI tests and models of EI are suggested.     

The relationship between Facebook and the well-being of undergraduate college students

We investigated how Facebook use and attitudes relate to self-esteem and college adjustment, and expected to find a positive relationship between Facebook and social adjustment, and a negative relationship between Facebook, self-esteem, and emotional adjustment. We examined these relationships in first-year and upper-class students and expected to find differences between the groups. Seventy undergraduate students completed Facebook measures (time, number of friends, emotional and social connection to Facebook), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Student Adaptation to College Scale. First-year students had a stronger emotional connection to and spent more time on Facebook while they reported fewer friends than upper-class students did. The groups did not differ in the adjustment scores. The number of Facebook friends potentially hinders academic adjustment, and spending a lot of time on Facebook is related to low self-esteem. The number of Facebook friends was negatively associated with emotional and academic adjustment among first-year students but positively related to social adjustment and attachment to institution among upper-class students. The results suggest that the relationship becomes positive later in college life when students use Facebook effectively to connect socially with their peers. Lastly, the number of Facebook friends and not the time spent on Facebook predicted college adjustment, suggesting the value of studying further the notion of Facebook friends.     

Sex differences in the moral values of college students and their parents

A values survey eliciting judgments of the morality of 50 behaviors was administered to 93 college students and both of their parents. Among students, who were generally more lenient in their judgments than their parents were, sex differences were virtually nonexistent. By contrast, mothers were more severe in their judgments than fathers across a wide range of behavior. Students' subscale and total severity scores were generally positively, though modestly, related to the corresponding scores of both their parents, with mother-child correlations being somewhat higher than father-child correlations, and with strengths of relationships varying as a function of domain of judgment and sex of student.     

Ability EI as an intelligence? Associations of the MSCEIT with performance on emotion processing and social tasks and with cognitive ability

Associations among the MSCEIT, a broad-bandwidth measure of ability emotional intelligence (EI), self-report EI, social perception ability, psychometric intelligence and performance on inspection time (IT) tasks, which assessed the speed of processing of emotional and non-emotional information were investigated in two student samples (N=99, 199). The main findings were that MSCEIT scores were unrelated to fluid ability or speed of non-emotional information processing as assessed by IT, but evidence for associations of MSCEIT scores with crystallised ability was found. Positive associations were found between MSCEIT scores, self-report EI and some emotion/social task scores. The results suggest that EI as assessed by the MSCEIT has some properties of an intelligence and is more closely related to crystallised than to fluid ability. The relatively small MSCEIT/g _c correlations suggest that the MSCEIT is not a pure ability measure, although restriction of range in the samples used may also be relevant. More work, and the development of new measures, is required to determine whether performance EI has a fluid component.     

The Benefits of Transcending Self-Interest: Examining the Role of Self-Transcendence on Expressive Suppression and Well-Being

Research has taken a dim view of regulating emotions via expressive suppression. However, the impact of suppression may vary according to individuals’ interpersonal orientation. In two studies, we examined the effects of suppression under self-transcendent and self-interest orientations. Results revealed that (1) in everyday life, although dispositional suppression was related to lower psychological well-being, the costs associated with suppression were buffered among individuals with a self-transcendence orientation (Study 1); and (2) among individuals primed with a self-transcendence orientation, suppression of negative emotions in an interpersonal conflict situation led to lower levels of anger-related emotions and higher levels of perceived relational quality compared to emotional expression; however, among individuals primed with a self-interest orientation, suppression led to higher levels of anger-related emotions and lower levels of perceived relational quality compared to expression (Study 2). Together, results from the present study highlight the role of interpersonal orientation in moderating the effects of suppression on well-being.     

大学生一般两性交往中的性别角色差异

为探讨大学生一般两性交往中的性别角色差异,用相关量表对311名大学生进行调查。结果显示,男性化、女性化量表与一般两性交往量表得分均存在显著正相关;不同性别的性别角色类型分布有显著差异;在一般两性交往质量量表总体得分上,性别的主效应不显著。性别角色类型的主效应非常显著,其中双性化和男性化类型者的得分显著高于女性化和未分化类型者,性别和性别角色无交互作用。这表明大学生的性别角色与一般两性交往质量密切相关。     

Romantic Commitment and the Perceived Availability of Opposite-Sex Persons: On Loving the One You're With1

This article reports a study that examined whether perceptions of the availability of members of the opposite sex are related to commitment to romantic relationships among students at two colleges. Analyses of students' anonymous questionnaire responses reveal that students who perceived that there were relatively few members of the opposite sex on their college's campus were more committed to their romantic relationship, considered their relationship to be more attractive, and invested more in it compared with other students. These relations involving the perceived opposite-sex ratio did not vary as a function of the length of the romantic involvement or the students' gender, race, or college. The perceived opposite-sex ratio was significantly related to the actual opposite-sex ratio, but the latter was not significantly related to commitment, investments, or perceived attractiveness of the relationship. Considering the sample as a whole, the students overestimated the availability of opposite-sex persons. It is concluded that perceptions of the availability of persons of the opposite sex may affect the dynamics of relationships between men and women. Implications of the findings for social exchange theories are discussed.     

Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice

Two studies tested the prediction that group identification (importance of the group in the self-concept) moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-evaluative emotions (depression and self-esteem). In Study 1, women low in gender identification experienced less depressed emotion and higher self-esteem if a negative evaluation was due to sexism than when it was not. The self-evaluative emotions of women high in gender identification were not buffered by attributions to sexism. In Study 2, ethnic identification and depressed emotions were positively related when Latino-Americans read about pervasive prejudice against the ingroup but were negatively related when they read about prejudice against an outgroup. Both studies demonstrated that for highly group identified individuals, prejudice against the ingroup is a threat against the self. Thus, the self-protective strategy of attributing negative feedback to discrimination may be primarily effective for individuals who do not consider the group a central aspect of self.     

External Validity of Matching on Physical Attractiveness for Same and Opposite Sex Couples1

The external validity of the hypothesis that couples come to be matched on physical attractiveness was examined for same and opposite sex pairs of college students in a wide range of natural settings and types of relationships. Correlations between ratings of couples by observers revealed evidence of matching for male friends and for opposite sex friends, dating, and committed couples. No evidence was found for female friends. The implications of these findings for fear of social rejection and exchange explanations of the matching hypothesis and for the normal development of interpersonal relationships are discussed.     

Assessment and Prediction of Stress-Related Growth

This article reports the development of the Stress-Related Growth Scale (SRGS) and its use in a study examining determinants of stress-related positive outcomes for college students. Study 1 analyses showed that the SRGS has acceptable internal and test-retest reliability and that scores are not influenced by social desirability. Study 2 analyses showed that college students' SRGS responses were significantly related to those provided by friends and relatives on their behalf. Study 3 analyses tested the determinants of stress-related growth longitudinally. Significant predictors of the SRGS were (a) intrinsic religiousness; (b) social support satisfaction; (c) stressfulness of the negative event; (d) positive reinterpretation and acceptance coping; and (e) number of recent positive life events. The SRGS was also positively related to residual change in optimism, positive affectivity, number of socially supportive others, and social support satisfaction, lending further support to the validity of this new scale. Results have implications for current theory on stress-related positive outcomes.     

Social conflict, social support, and psychological distress: evidence of cross-domain buffering effects.

A longitudinal study examined the relative and joint effects of perceived social support and social conflict on psychological distress in 228 college students. Women had higher perceived social support from roommates and friends and less conflict with roommates than did men; there were no gender differences in level of conflict with friends or psychological distress. Roommate conflict predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from friends. Friend conflict also predicted increases in psychological distress over time; this effect was attenuated by high levels of perceived social support from roommates. These results show the importance of negative and positive aspects of social experiences to emotional functioning and the importance of compensatory social support for individuals facing social conflicts.