Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence

An intelligence must meet several standard criteria before it can be considered scientifically legitimate. First, it should be capable of being operationalized as a set of abilities. Second, it should meet certain correlational criteria: the abilities defined by the intelligence should form a related set (i.e., be intercorrelated), and be related to pre-existing intelligences, while also showing some unique variance. Third, the abilities of the intelligence should develop with age and experience. In two studies, adults (N=503) and adolescents (N=229) took a new, 12-subscale ability test of emotional intelligence: the Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS). The present studies show that emotional intelligence, as measured by the MEIS, meets the above three classical criteria of a standard intelligence.     

Inductive and Explanatory Irrelevance

Philosophical Studies -     

Morphological priming: the role of prime duration, semantic transparency, and affix position.

Patterns of facilitation in three lexical decision studies reveal several properties of morphologically complex words that influence processing. In one study, effects of morphological (VOWED-VOW) similarity are contrasted with effects of either semantic (PLEDGE-VOW) or orthographic (VOWEL-VOW) similarity at two prime durations to show the distinctiveness of morphological processing. In a second study, we compare morphologically complex forms that are semantically transparent (CASUALLY-CASUALNESS) with opaque forms (CASUALTY-CASUALNESS) and show that opaque relatives are more similar to VOWEL-VOW type pairs than to transparent relatives. In the third study, we examine facilitation for complex targets (CALCULATION) preceded by prefixed (MISCALCULATE) and suffixed (CALCULATOR) relatives and show that the position of the base morpheme influences processing under cross-modal but not under purely visual presentation conditions. Taken collectively, under comparable presentation conditions, semantic transparency but not base morpheme position constrains morphological processing.     

Childhood Peer Relationship Problems and Young People's Involvement with Deviant Peers in Adolescence

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, this article examined the relationship between children's peer relationship problems in middle childhood and their subsequent risk of forming deviant peer affiliations in adolescence. The analysis proceeded in three steps. First, a structural equation model demonstrated a moderate association between early peer relationship problems and later deviant peer affiliations (r = .27). Second, the model was extended to include a latent variable measure of early conduct problems. This analysis revealed that when the confounding effects of concurrently measured conduct problems were taken into account, peer relationship problems in middle childhood were no longer significantly related to young people's choice of deviant peers in adolescence. Third, the model was further extended to include lagged variables, permitting an examination of possible reciprocal relationships between early conduct problems and peer relationship problems. Results suggested that both early peer relationship problems and adolescent deviant peer involvement are symptomatic of early child behavioral adjustment. The implications of these findings for explanations of deviant peer selection are discussed.     

Hormones and Cognition: Current Concepts and Issues in Neuropsychology

This article provides an extensive and comprehensive review of the effects of hormones on cognition. Studies detailing specific neurocognitive functions affected by variation in hormone levels across the life span are presented. Dysregulation of hormone levels is considered from models of both normal and diseased functioning. Patterns of cognitive dysfunction are described for a range of syndromes involving the neuroendocrine system, and evidence of specific neurophysiological mechanisms that can account for these findings is outlined. This review includes discussion of treatment outcomes and the permanency of endocrine-related cognitive dysfunction. The authors present a set of guidelines for clinical neuropsychologists to use for assessment of patients with neuroendocrine system dysfunction. Clinical and methodological issues in research and treatment settings are discussed.     

Ethnicity and Social Support During Pregnancy

Data from two multi-ethnic prospective studies of African American, Latina, and non-Hispanic White pregnant women were used to examine the influence of contextual factors on social support processes during pregnancy. Multiple types of support (perceived support, received support, support satisfaction, network support) and sources of support (baby's father, family, friends) were assessed. The role of ethnicity in social support was examined after controlling for the contribution of related contextual factors (SES, marital status, age, parity, employment) to these processes. The impact of ethnicity and related contextual factors differed across sources of social support. Ethnic differences in support from family and friends, but not from the baby's father, emerged. However, marital status was a consistent predictor of support from the baby's father, and SES was a consistent predictor of support from friends. Overall, the findings of two studies suggest that although ethnicity is associated with support from friends and family, other contextual factors, such as marital status and SES, influence support processes during pregnancy.