Assessing the predictive validity of emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence has become a fashionable topic in the popular press, and has been heralded as an effective predictor of successful performance. However, little empirical evidence has borne out these claims. The present study was conducted in order to determine the relationship of emotional intelligence, cognitive ability, and personality with academic achievement. Emotional intelligence was assessed using the EQ-i (total EQ-i score and five EQ-i composite factor scores). Both cognitive ability and personality (in terms of extraversion and self control) were significantly associated with academic achievement. None of the EQ-i factor scores, nor the total EQ-i score, was significantly related to academic achievement.     

Incremental validity of a measure of emotional intelligence

After the Schutte Self-Report Inventory of Emotional Intelligence (SSRI; Schutte et al., 1998) was found to predict college grade point average, subsequent emotional intelligence (EI)-college adjustment research has used inconsistent measures and widely varying criteria, resulting in confusion about the construct's predictive validity. In this study, we assessed the SSRI's incremental validity for a wide range of adjustment criteria, pitting it against a competing trait measure, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Costa & McCrae, 1992), and tests of fluid and crystallized intelligence. At a broad bandwidth, the SSRI total score significantly and uniquely predicted variance beyond NEO-FFI domain scores in the UCLA Loneliness Scale, Revised (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrono, 1980) scores. Higher fidelity analyses using previously identified SSRI factors and NEO-FFI item clusters revealed that the SSRI's Optimism/Mood Regulation and Emotion Appraisal factors contributed unique variance to self-reported study habits and social stress, respectively. The potential moderation of incremental validity by gender did not reach significance due to loss of power from splitting the sample, and mediational analyses revealed the SSRI Optimism/Mood Regulation factor was both directly and indirectly related to various criteria. We discuss the small magnitude of incremental validity coefficients and the differential incremental validity of SSRI factor and total scores.     

Concurrent and incremental validity of three trait emotional intelligence measures

This study explored concurrent and incremental validity of three trait emotional intelligence measures: the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale, Multidimensional Emotional Intelligence Assessment, and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. A total of 307 participants were drawn predominantly from community and student populations. Concurrent criterion validity of the measures varied depending on whether emotional intelligence (EI) was assessed as a lower, middle or higher level construct, with validity coefficients being larger for the former. In all cases, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire was the superior predictor of multiple psychological criteria. At the higher level of assessment, incremental validity beyond (a) age, gender and the Big Five, and (b) the remaining two EI measures, was also superior.     

Evidence for the criterion validity and clinical utility of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory

In this study, the authors evaluated aspects of criterion validity and clinical utility of the grandiosity and vulnerability components of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) using two undergraduate samples (N = 299 and 500). Criterion validity was assessed by evaluating the correlations of narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability with established indices of normal personality traits, psychopathology and clinical concerns, and pathological personality traits. Overall, the pattern of correlations supported the convergent and discriminant validity of grandiose and vulnerable conceptualizations of pathological narcissism as measured by the PNI. Clinical utility was assessed by evaluating the extent to which clinicians without specific training in pathological narcissism as well as clinicians with expertise in pathological narcissism could accurately predict the correlates of PNI grandiosity and vulnerability with normal and pathological personality traits and psychopathology. The r(contrast-cv) coefficient provided a global index of accuracy in clinicians' predictions that was more fully elaborated by examining systematic discrepancies across groups. Overall, novice and expert clinicians were generally able to predict criterion correlations, with some exceptions (e.g., counter to predictions, pathological narcissism was negatively associated with treatment resistance). These results provide further evidence regarding the validity and utility of the narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability constructs as measured by the PNI.     

The construct of general intelligence

The construct of general intelligence is discussed in a number of different contexts. The fundamental empirical basis for it is the positive trend among the smallest correlations among cognitive measures. Differences among factor models which recognize this in different ways are discussed. Evidence for the general factor in intelligence is also found in the difficulty in finding evidence for differential validity of tests from one criterion to another. Performance on Piagetian tasks reflects mainly general intelligence. Individual differences in aural comprehension of language anticipate later individual differences in intellectual development. Selective forces which produce differences among schools operate largely on the general factor. To the extent that there is a genetic contribution to individual differences on cognitive tests, it appears to be to the general factor variance. Social class differences among whites appear to be largely on the general factor, but black-white differences require other dimensions. Although the general factor is, in a sense, real, it is not interpreted as an entity within the organism. Instead it is an abstraction resulting from the many genes, the many environmental pressures, and the many neural structures involved in the wide variety of human behaviors which can be labelled cognitive or intellectual.     

The construct validity of burnout

Considerable confusion exists in the burnout literature about the similarities and separateness among the constructs of burnout, depression and job satisfaction. This study examined the construct validity of burnout using Campbell & Fiske's multitrait-multimethod approach. The constructs of burnout, depression and orderliness (chosen as a discriminant construct) were assessed by three types of self-report instruments. Data were analysed for 181 females and 139 male faculty members who spent at least 50 per cent of their time in teaching. Results indicated that measures of burnout largely met Campbell & Fiske's criteria for construct validity: burnout measures possessed adequate to good internal reliability and convergent validity. However, burnout measures also correlated substantially with measures of depression. Results are discussed in terms of possible explanations for the substantial overlap that has been demonstrated among measures of burnout, depression and job satisfaction.     

Reliability and validity of a measure of emotional intelligence in an Iranian sample

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, Version 2.0, in the Iranian culture. The sample included 353 students (168 male, 185 female) from senior high schools in Shiraz, ranging in age between 16 and 18 years (M=17.1), SD=.5), and 394 students (113 male, 281 female) from Shiraz University, ranging in age between 19 and 25 years (M=21.3, SD= 1.7). The subscale-total score correlations were in the upper fifties. Cronbach coefficient alpha was .86 for the full score and ranged from .58 to .86 for the 4 subscales of the test. The factor analysis supported 1- and 2-factor solutions of the emotional intelligence domain. The results generally supported the reliability of the test at the total score level for research in the Iranian culture.     

Convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of competing measures of emotional intelligence

This study investigated the convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of one ability test of emotional intelligence (EI)--the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso-Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT)--and two self-report measures of EI--the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) and the self-report EI test (SREIT). The MSCEIT showed minimal relations to the EQ-i and SREIT, whereas the latter two measures were moderately interrelated. Among EI measures, the MSCEIT was discriminable from well-studied personality and well-being measures, whereas the EQ-i and SREIT shared considerable variance with these measures. After personality and verbal intelligence were held constant, the MSCEIT was predictive of social deviance, the EQ-i was predictive of alcohol use, and the SREIT was inversely related to academic achievement. In general, results showed that ability EI and self-report EI are weakly related and yield different measurements of the same person.     

The increased construct validity and clinical utility of assessing relationship quality using separate positive and negative dimensions

The Positive and Negative Quality in Marriage Scale (F. D. Fincham & K. J. Linfield, 1997) is a self-report measure that separately assesses positive and negative dimensions of relationship quality. Fincham and Linfield found that ratings of positive and negative marital quality accounted for unique variance in maladaptive attributions and self-reports of dyadic behavior beyond that accounted for by the Marital Adjustment Test (H. J. Locke & K. M. Wallace, 1959), a widely used measure of marital quality that combines these dimensions. The current study expanded on these findings using a different measure of relationship quality and observed dyadic behavior with a sample of engaged couples (N=43). The results indicate that a two-dimensional approach to measuring self-evaluations of relationship quality is more informative than a one-dimensional approach during the engagement period.     

Revisiting the predictive validity of emotional intelligence: self-report versus ability-based measures

In response to general press assertions that training emotionally intelligent children will lead to great rewards, this study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic achievement in college students, using both self-report and ability-based measures of EI. Specifically, the Mayer, Salovey, Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT, an ability-based measure) and the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i, a self-report measure) were used to predict academic achievement. Achievement was operationalized as the respondents’ cumulative GPA. Results indicated that EI is not a strong predictor of academic achievement regardless of the type of instrument used to measure it. However, a construct validity examination revealed that the MSCEIT correlated highly with indices of cognitive ability but minimally with personality dimensions. In contrast, the EQ-i failed to correlate with indices of cognitive ability but correlated substantially with numerous personality dimensions.     

The moderating role of personality traits on emotional intelligence and conflict management styles

In a sample of 442 part-time MBA and undergraduate students, the relationships between emotional intelligence and the integrating style and between emotional intelligence and the dominating style of conflict management were moderated by extraversion. In addition, agreeableness moderated the relationships between emotional intelligence and compromising style and between emotional intelligence and dominating style.     

The integral criterion of emotional stress

The purpose was to establish an integral criterion of degree of stress Single components of measurement of degree of stress were measured as heart rate (HR), arterial pressure (AP), and respiration rate (RR). In two separate studies, one employing 117 Wistar rats in which there was an experimental vs. three control group conditions. The second study involved 36 women and 12 schoolboys on whom the three criteria of stress were measured. By means of correlational analyses, it was concluded that a decrease of AP, HR, and RR crosscorrectional coefficients were the most informative integral characteristics of degree of stress. These conclusions are applicable for scientific evaluations of human stress conditions and for human emotional conditions in practical conditions. Proceeding from these results, a method for the objective evaluation of human emotional stress in everyday and professional activity was developed and is available from the authors.     

The construct validity of depressive personality disorder

This study examined the construct validity of depressive personality disorder (DPD: American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Adult psychiatric outpatients (N = 900) underwent comprehensive Axis I and II evaluations and provided data on 4,768 of their 1st-degree relatives. Despite modest overlap, DPD was not redundant with any Axis I or II disorder. Participants with DPD exhibited more Axis I and Axis II comorbidity, and greater psychosocial dysfunction, than participants without DPD. Relatives of participants with DPD had higher rates of mood disorders, alcohol abuse, and antisocial personality. Results are consistent with findings of several other similar investigations. The authors argue that DPD is a valid construct and should be conceptualized as a personality disorder as opposed to a mood disorder.     

Trait emotional intelligence and disposition for forgiveness

The association of trait emotional intelligence with a disposition for forgiveness was explored. In addition, the relationship between emotional intelligence and affect was also examined. A sample of 268 Portuguese students completed measures of trait emotional intelligence, disposition to forgive, and affect. Results demonstrated that trait emotional intelligence scores were negatively associated with lasting resentment and negative affect and positively associated with positive affect.     

Brazilian-Portuguese empathy quotient: evidences of its construct validity and reliability

Empathy is the ability to read other's mind and understand their intentions. This paper examines the psychometric properties of the Brazilian-Portuguese version of a short form of the empathy quotient (EQ, 15 items). The EQ-15 was administered to 237 participants from the general population from Jo?o Pessoa, Brazil. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the tripartite model with cognitive, emotional and social empathy factors. In line with other studies, gender differences were only observed for the first two factors, with female participants scoring higher on both, which suggests that the social factor might not constitute a truly dimension of empathy. Strong evidence for convergent and discriminant validity was only observed for the cognitive factor. The poor psychometric parameters of the emotional and social factors are argued to reflect the complexity and contrasting ideas of their items. The possibility of elaborating specific items for the emotional and social factors is also discussed.     

The validity and utility of the positive presentation management and negative presentation management scales for the Revised NEO Personality Inventory

Schinka, Kinder, and Kremer developed "validity" scales for the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R; Costa & McCrae) to detect underreporting-the Positive Presentation Management (PPM) Scale and overreporting-the Negative Presentation Management (NPM) Scale. In this investigation, the clinical utility of these scales was examined using the established validity scales from the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2; Butcher et al.) as the referent. The sample was composed of 370 psychiatric patients who completed the NEO PI-R and the MMPI-2 as part of a routine evaluation. Results indicated that response distortion compromised the utility of the NEO PI-R domain scales. Moreover, the PPM and NPM scales and an NPM-PPM index significantly differentiated invalid under-and overreporting groups from a valid responding group. The PPM and NPM-PPM index were adequate in classifying under- and overreporters, respectively.     

The antisocial process screening device: an examination of its construct and criterion-related validity

The clinical assessment of psychopathy in adulthood is well established via programmatic research. More recently, psychopathy has been extended to children and adolescents with correlates to maladaptive personality traits, violent behavior, and noncompliance with institutional rules. To screen for adolescent psychopathy, the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) was developed as a 20-item self-report measure of psychopathy. The original validation of the APSD was limited to samples of clinic-referred and community-based children. In extending this research to delinquent populations, the current article uses two separate samples of adolescent offenders incarcerated in a maximum security facility (n = 78) and a local juvenile detention facility (n = 77). As evidence of criterion-related validity, the APSD was compared with two versions of the Psychopathy Checklist that yielded mixed results. Construct validity was examined via a confirmatory factor analysis that provided support for a three-factor model of the APSD.     

Evidence of construct validity for work values

Despite the importance of work values in the process of career adjustment (Dawis, 2002), little empirical research has focused on articulating the domains represented within the construct of work values and the examination of evidence of validity for the construct has been limited. Furthermore, the larger number of work values measures has made it difficult to determine the key domains that constitute the construct. The current study sought to examine multiple measures of work values to understand domains represented within the construct of work values and to establish evidence of validity for these domains. Principal Components Analysis utilizing scores on the Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (Rounds, Henley, Dawis, Lofquist, & Weiss, 1981), the revised edition of Super's Work Values Inventory (SWVI-R; Zytowski, 2006), and Manhardt's Work Values Inventory (Manhardt, 1972) found that six components best explained the data. These components reflected the importance of: the working environment, having challenging work, opportunities for status and income, autonomy, organizational support, and relationships. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

The validity of the Bender-Gestalt emotional indicators

We evaluated the concurrent validity of the revised Bender-Gestalt emotional indicators (Koppitz, 1975) among three groups of children in the 7- to 10-year age range: adjustment disorder, behavior disorder, and normal control. The concurrent validity of the emotional indicators total score was demonstrated. Notably, with the developmental level controlled, both clinical groups produced significantly more emotional indicators than the control group, although the two clinical groups could not be differentiated. Nominal-data analyses of the 13 individual emotional indicators indicated that three specific indicators (confused order, large size, boxed figures) possessed validity as pathognomonic signs. We discuss issues concerning the use of the emotional indicators in clinical practice.     

The role of fluid and emotional intelligence in malingering

The purpose of the present study was to examine the role of fluid (gf), social (SI) and emotional intelligence (EI) in faking the Beck Depression Inventory (2nd ed., BDI‐II). Twenty‐two students and 26 non‐students completed Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), a social insight test, the Schutte et al. self‐report EI scale, and the BDI‐II under honest and faking instructions. Results were consistent with a new model of successful faking, in which a participant's original response must be manipulated into a strategic response, which must match diagnostic criteria. As hypothesised, the BDI‐II could be faked, and gf was not related to faking ability. Counter to expectations, however, SI and EI were not related to faking ability. A second study explored why EI failed to facilitate faking. Forty‐nine students and 50 non‐students completed the EI measure, the Marlowe‐Crown Scale and the Levenson et al. Psychopathy Scale. As hypothesised, EI was negatively correlated with psychopathy, but EI showed no relationship with socially desirable responding. It was concluded that in the first experiment, high‐EI people did fake effectively, but high‐psychopathy people (who had low EI) were also faking effectively, resulting in a distribution that showed no advantage to high EI individuals.