Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations

In 7 studies, the authors examined the link between emotional intelligence and interpersonal relations. In Studies 1 and 2, the participants with higher scores for emotional intelligence had higher scores for empathic perspective taking and self-monitoring in social situations. In Study 3, the participants with higher scores for emotional intelligence had higher scores for social skills. In Study 4, the participants with higher scores for emotional intelligence displayed more cooperative responses toward partners. In Study 5, the participants with higher scores for emotional intelligence had higher scores for close and affectionate relationships. In Study 6, the participants' scores for marital satisfaction were higher when they rated their marital partners higher for emotional intelligence. In Study 7, the participants anticipated greater satisfaction in relationships with partners described as having emotional intelligence.     

Perspectives on achieving via interpersonal competition between college men and college women

The beliefs of college students about (a) choices they would make when presented with opportunities to achieve by competing with persons of the other gender and (b) the consequences of such achievement choices were assessed. Drawn from a population of predominantly upper middle-class students, with a minority enrollment of 14.7%, 83 men and 84 women were presented with vignettes which depicted (a) either a challenge for a first violin in an orchestra or a Ping-Pong match at a party and (b) events related to the opportunity to become class valedictorian. Multivariate analytic techniques were employed, and overall the results indicated that men seemed less willing than women to compete against the other gender, and women seemed to view the consequences about such competition as more positive than men. In the violin and Ping-Pong vignettes, men indicated that they, more than women, would be criticized for playing to win and that, if a woman played to win, her male opponent would feel more ridiculed than respected. In the valedictorian vignette, women indicated that men who decided to compete would feel more pleasure than guilt, whereas women who decided to compete would feel more guilt than pleasure. The results are discussed in terms of conceptualizing achievement choices as more situational than static or gender linked.The authors wish to thank David A. Cole, University of Notre Dame, for statistical advice, Chau T. Wong, University of Notre Dame, for assistance in data analysis, Kathleen L. Davis, University of Tennessee, and Michael J. Patton, University of Missouri, for reading and commenting on early versions of this paper and undergraduates from the University of Notre Dame for working on this project.     

An integrative process model of organizational commitment for working women and men

Previous organizational commitment models may not be complete since few combined more than one theory, none looked at gender differences, and nearly all ignored the impact of a feedback mechanisms on the overall process. A new model presented here shows a three-stage organizational commitment process. The first, or preorganizational, stage consists of personal characteristics. These are modified in stage two by job and other external characteristics, and in stage three all of these moderate the six independent variables that have major direct impact on organizational commitment. They are 1. need satisfaction, 2. work/job satisfaction, 3. job commitment, 4. work commitment, 5. role stress, and 6. personal/organizational goal congruence. Implications are discussed.Leonard H. Chusmir is an Associate Professor of Management at Florida International University. He received his Ph.D. in Management/Psychology from the University of Miami. He has written numerous articles for management, organizational behavior, and psychology journals, and presented papers at several academic conferences. He is the author of the bookMatching Individuals to Jobs: A Motivational Answer to Personnel and Guidance Professionals. AMACOM Books, 1985.     

The stability of work,self and interpersonal goals in young women and men

An investigation was made into the stability of important self-described goals of young men and women aged 18 to 20 years old using the results of analyses of two goal assessments having an intervening period of 5 months. A theoretical perspective was adopted which assumed goals are ‘future selves’ or ‘possible selves’, thus linking the self concept to motivation. An adapted version of Nuttin's Motivational Content Analysis (1985) was used to assess individual goals. It was hypothesized that women may have greater instability of self concept and ‘possible selves’ than men. Findings of the study showed the contrary, and revealed that men and women had similarly stable goals over time. Results are compared to other research on the self concept and to the problems of self concept measurement.     

The effects of self-esteem and ego threat on interpersonal appraisals of men and women: a naturalistic study

A naturalistic study examined the effects of self-esteem and threats to the self on interpersonal appraisals. Self-esteem scores, ego threat (operationalized as a substantial decrease in self-esteem across an average of 9 months), and their interaction were used to predict likability and personality perceptions of college men and women. The results revealed a curvilinear function explaining likability: Moderate to low self-esteem men and women were higher in likability when threatened, whereas high self-esteem men were seen as less likable when threatened. Personality ratings indicated that high self-esteem men and women who were threatened were rated highest on Antagonism (i.e., fake, arrogant, unfriendly, rude, and uncooperative). Mediational analyses revealed that differences in Antagonism statistically accounted for differences in likability. These patterns are interpreted with respect to gender and time in interpersonal perceptions as well as naturalistic versus laboratory investigations.     

Ethical guidelines for use of electronic mail between patients and physicians

This report examines the ethical implications of electronic communication, focusing on the use of electronic mail (e-mail), considers its impact on a previously established patient-physician relationship, and the limitations in using e-mail to create a new patient-physician relationship. In its recommendations, this report offers guidance to physicians who use electronic mail to communicate with patients and online users. These guidelines maintain that e-mail should not be used to establish a patient-physician relationship, but rather to supplement personal encounters. When using e-mail, physicians hold the same ethical responsibilities to their patients as they do during other encounters and that information must be presented in a manner that meets professional standards. The report requires that physicians notify patients of e-mail's inherent limitations and that patients be given the opportunity to accept these limitations prior to the communication of privileged information. Finally, physicians should be aware of privacy and confidentiality concerns when using e-mail to communicate with patients.     

Childhood physical and emotional abuse by a parent: transference effects in adult interpersonal relations

Extending research on transference and the relational self (Andersen & Chen, 2002), female undergraduates with or without a history of physical and emotional abuse by a loved parent participated in an experiment manipulating parental resemblance and threat-relevant interpersonal context in a new person. Transference elicited differences not evident in the control condition between abused and nonabused participants' responses, with greater rejection expectancy, mistrust, dislike, and emotional indifference reported by abused participants. Immediate implicit affect was more positive in transference than in the control condition regardless of abuse history. Yet, abused participants in transference also reported increased dysphoria that was markedly attenuated when interpersonal threat was primed, and no such pattern occurred among nonabused participants. Evidence that interpersonally guarded and affectively complex responses are triggered in transference among previously abused individuals suggests that this social-cognitive process may underlie long-term interpersonal difficulties associated with parental abuse.     

Social anxiety and interpersonal perception: a social relations model analysis

Cognitive models of social phobia posit that an individual's negative beliefs about the way he or she is perceived by others (metaperceptions) are a core feature of the disorder. The social relations model () was used to analyze interpersonal perception data collected following unstructured social interactions in 62 socially anxious (SA) and 62 not socially anxious (NSA) individuals. Using this model, the interpersonal perceptions were analyzed to evaluate whether pathological levels of social anxiety are associated with self-perceptions, metaperceptions, and perceptions from others. SA participants saw themselves negatively and believed others saw them negatively. Although seen as more nervous by others, SA participants were not seen as less likeable. A mediational model demonstrated that the negative metaperceptions of SA individuals were more a function of their own self-perceptions than the negative perceptions of others. These findings were not attributable to depressive symptoms. Implications for theory and treatment of social phobia are discussed.     

Evaluation of sex-typed tasks by black men and women

Two studies examined the relationship of sex of subject, sex-typing of tasks, and prior task experience on self-confidence ratings of Black men and women. In both investigations, women's self-confidence tended to vary as a function of task type, while men's self-confidence remained relatively stable across all tasks. Prior experience with the task was highly correlated with self-confidence ratings for men and women and moderated the effects. The variations in the findings of Studies I and II and implications for future research are discussed.Portions of this study were reported at the Eastern Psychological Association Convention, 1983.     

Shyness and sociotropy: additive and interactive relations in predicting interpersonal concerns

Sociotropy (an aspect of interpersonal dependence) and sociability (affiliative need) were examined as moderator variables of the relationship between shyness and interpersonal concerns in two studies. In Study 1, sociotropy, but not sociability, predicted unique variance in three indices of interpersonal concerns through both direct and interactive relations with shyness. An initial analysis in Study 2 showed that sociotropy, but not sociability, was predictive of participants' perceived competence in situations that involved initiation of conversations and assertion. In the second part of Study 2, sociotropy accounted for significant increments in variance when predicting cognitive and affective manifestations of distress related to simulated conversation and assertion situations, while sociability did not. Study 2 results suggest that sociotropy operates primarily in an additive manner with shyness in predicting interpersonal concerns, rather than moderating the relation between shyness and interpersonal concerns. Differences in the results of the two studies and implications for future research are discussed.     

Recognition accuracy by experienced men and women players of basketball

This study examined 30 experienced basketball players' recognition accuracy by sex, playing position (guard, forward, and center), and situations in the game of basketball. The study used a perceptual cognitive paradigm in which subjects viewed slides of structured and unstructured game situations and accurately recognized the presence or absence of the basketball. A significant difference in recognition accuracy by sex, players' position, and structure of the game situation was found. Male players' recognition accuracy was better than the female players'. The recognition accuracy of subjects who played guard was better than that of subjects who played forward or center. The players' recognition accuracy was more accurate when observing structured plays versus unstructured plays. The conclusion of this study suggested that experienced basketball players differ in their cognitive and visual searching processes by sex and player position within the sport of basketball.     

Intentional attunement: mirror neurons and the neural underpinnings of interpersonal relations

The neural circuits activated in a person carrying out actions, expressing emotions, and experiencing sensations are activated also, automatically via a mirror neuron system, in the observer of those actions, emotions, and sensations. It is proposed that this finding of shared activation suggests a functional mechanism of "embodied simulation" that consists of the automatic, unconscious, and noninferential simulation in the observer of actions, emotions, and sensations carried out and experienced by the observed. It is proposed also that the shared neural activation pattern and the accompanying embodied simulation constitute a fundamental biological basis for understanding another's mind. The implications of this perspective for psychoanalysis are discussed, particularly regarding unconscious communication, projective identification, attunement, empathy, autism, therapeutic action, and transference-countertransference interactions.     

Essentializing differences between women and men

People represent many social categories, including gender categories, in essentialist terms: They see category members as sharing deep, nonobvious properties that make them the kinds of things they are. The present research explored the consequences of this mode of representation for social inferences. In two sets of studies, participants learned (a) that they were similar to a member of the other gender on a novel attribute, (b) that they were different from a member of the other gender on a novel attribute, or (c) just their own standing on a novel attribute. Results showed that participants made stronger inductive inferences about the attribute in question when they learned that it distinguished them from a member of the other gender than in the other conditions. We consider the implications of these results for the representation of social categories and for everyday social inference processes.