An Examination of a New Psychometric Method for Optimizing Multi‐Faceted Assessment Instruments in the Context of Trait Emotional Intelligence

Driven by the challenge of representing and measuring psychological attributes, this article outlines a psychometric method aimed at identifying problem facets. The method, which integrates theoretical and empirical steps, is applied in the context of the construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI), using data from six different samples (N = 1284) collected across Europe. Alternative representations of the trait EI variance, derived from the outcome variables used in previous validation studies of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, were regressed on the 15 trait EI facets using the stepwise method. The analyses revealed five facets, which did not occupy unique construct variance in any of the six samples. As expected, a composite of the remaining 10 facets consistently showed greater construct validity than the original 15‐facet composite. Implications for construct and scale development are discussed, and directions for further validation of the method and for its application to other constructs are provided. © 2014 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology.     

How Transitional Justice Processes and Official Apologies Influence Reconciliation: The Case of the Chilean ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ and ‘Political Imprisonment and Torture’ Commissions

Perceptions of the ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ and ‘Political Imprisonment and Torture’ commissions and related beliefs, emotions and socio‐emotional climate were analysed in people affected and unaffected by past political violence in Chile (N = 1278). People directly affected regard institutional apologies as less sincere and effective, and they were more critical of the commissions. Those who have a positive appraisal of the commissions, compared with people who disagree with the commissions activities, are less prone to forget past collective violence; report higher levels of negative emotions, such as shame, and positive ones, such as pride and hope, about the collective past; and consider that the commissions contributed to knowing the truth about what happened to victims and helped bring human rights violators to justice. Those appraising the commissions in a positive fashion also perceive a more positive emotional climate and inter‐group trust, have more confidence in institutions and report more universalistic values. A multiple‐regression analysis suggests that commissions play a relatively successful role as transitional justice rituals, reinforcing reconciliation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大学生情绪智力和班级人际网络对适应性的影响机制:多层中介效应模型

以国内7所大学、20个教学班、646名学生为研究样本,采用问卷调查法和社会网络分析法收集数据。运用1-1-1中介效应模型分析大学生情绪智力、班级人际网络和适应性之间的关系。结果显示:(1)大学生适应性与情绪智力、班级人际网络的点度中心度呈显著正相关,情绪智力可正向预测大学生适应性,情绪智力可正向预测大学生在班级人际网络的点度中心度;(2)1-1-1中介效应模型分析结果显示班级人际网络的点度中心度在情绪智力与适应性关系中起部分中介作用。     

Emotional processing of individuals high in psychopathic traits

One of the most important clinical features of psychopaths is their differential emotional response style. The present study examined the modulating effect of negative mood induction on the processing of emotional information and its relation to psychopathy. The sample of 105 participants were randomly assigned to two types of mood induction conditions (negative vs neutral) and viewed three types of visual stimuli (positive, neutral, negative). Psychopathic Personality Inventory‐R (PPI‐R; Lilienfeld & Andrews) was employed to measure their psychopathic traits. It was hypothesized that individuals high on PPI‐II (i.e., self‐centered impulsivity) would show greater response latencies to emotionally negative pictures when they were induced into a negative mood compared to individuals high on PPI‐I (i.e., fearless dominance). In general, individuals high on PPI‐II showed greater response latencies to emotionally negative pictures, but their responsivity did not vary as a function of mood manipulation or task demands. When controlling the influence of other PPI factors, PPI‐I predicted reaction time (RT) facilitation to positive pictures in general (i.e., faster RT), and when interacting with a negative mood induction, it predicted longer viewing time of and more difficulty disattending from positive pictures (i.e., slower RT). These results were discussed within emotional processing theory associated with psychopathy.     

The magic of collective emotional intelligence in learning groups: No guys needed for the spell!

Using a cross‐lagged design, the present study tests an integrative model of emergent collective emotions in learning groups. Our results indicate that the percentage of women in the group fosters the emergence of collective emotional intelligence, which in turn stimulates social integration within groups (increases group cohesion and reduces relationship conflict) and the associated affective similarity, with beneficial effects for group effectiveness.     

Relationships Between Physical Symptoms,Emotional Distress,and Pain Appraisal in Fibromyalgia: The Moderator Effect of Alexithymia

Alexithymia is a personality construct that is frequently identified in fibromyalgia (FM). Previous studies have explored the relationship between alexithymia and emotional distress in this disease. Yet, the additional link with factors of pain appraisal is unknown. This study examined the moderating effect of alexithymia in the relationship between emotional distress and pain appraisal in 97 FM women. A control group of 100 healthy women also participated in the study. All participants completed several self-reports about pain experience, sleep quality, impairment, emotional distress, pain appraisal, and alexithymia. FM women showed significantly more difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, but less externally oriented thinking than healthy women. In the clinical group, difficulty in identifying feelings and difficulty in describing feelings significantly correlated with lower sleep quality, higher anxiety and depression, and increased pain catastrophizing and fear of pain. Difficulty in describing feelings significantly correlated with higher pain experience and vigilance to pain. Externally oriented thinking was not correlated with any of the clinical variables. Difficulty in identifying feelings moderated the relationship between anxiety and pain catastrophizing, and difficulty in describing feelings moderated the relationship between anxiety and fear of pain. Implications of the findings for the optimization of care of FM patients are discussed.     

Why Seemingly Trivial Events Sometimes Evoke Strong Emotional Reactions: The Role of Social Exchange Rule Violations

People sometimes display strong emotional reactions to events that appear disproportionate to the tangible magnitude of the event. Although previous work has addressed the role that perceived disrespect and unfairness have on such reactions, this study examined the role of perceived social exchange rule violations more broadly. Participants (N = 179) rated the effects of another person’s behavior on important personal outcomes, the degree to which the other person had violated fundamental rules of social exchange, and their reactions to the event. Results showed that perceptions of social exchange rule violations accounted for more variance in participants’ reactions than the tangible consequences of the event. The findings support the hypothesis that responses that appear disproportionate to the seriousness of the eliciting event are often fueled by perceived rule violations that may not be obvious to others.     

Intercorrelations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' loneliness during pregnancy,infancy and toddlerhood – STEPS study

Our aim was to study the inter‐correlations and developmental pathways of mothers' and fathers' social and emotional loneliness during pregnancy (20th pregnancy week), infancy (child aged 8 months), and early childhood (child aged 18 months). Moreover, we aimed to study whether mothers and fathers who have different developmental profiles (identified by latent growth curve mixture models) differ in their experiences of marital dissatisfaction (RDAS), social phobia (SPIN) and depression (BDI) during pregnancy. Both mothers' social and emotional loneliness and fathers' social and emotional loneliness were highly stable, and within individuals these loneliness factors were strongly correlated. However, the correlations between mothers' loneliness experiences and fathers' loneliness experiences were weaker than expected. Separate latent growth curve groups were identified, which differed in feelings of marital dissatisfaction, social phobia, and depression. These groupings revealed that the higher the loneliness was, the more the parents experience these other psychosocial problems.     

The automatic activation of emotion words measured using the emotional face-word Stroop task in late Chinese–English bilinguals

In the current study, late Chinese–English bilinguals performed a facial expression identification task with emotion words in the task-irrelevant dimension, in either their first language (L1) or second language (L2). The investigation examined the automatic access of the emotional content in words appearing in more than one language. Significant congruency effects were present for both L1 and L2 emotion word processing. Furthermore, the magnitude of emotional face-word Stroop effect in the L1 task was greater as compared to the L2 task, indicating that in L1 participants could access the emotional information in words in a more reliable manner. In summary, these findings provide more support for the automatic access of emotional information in words in the bilinguals’ two languages as well as attenuated emotionality of L2 processing.     

Children's hostile intent attributions and emotional distress: What do parents perceive?

Traditionally, assessments of social information processing and associated emotional distress have used children's self‐reports. We posit that additional informants, such as parents, may help illuminate the association between these variables and aggression. Our sample was composed of 222 dual‐parent families of fourth‐grade children (103 boys; 119 girls). Children responded to instrumental and relational provocations and their parents read the same scenarios and responded the way they believed their child would. Peer nominations provided aggression scores. We explored how means differed by provocation type (relational vs. instrumental), informant (mother, father, and child), and gender of child. The results also suggest that parent perceptions may effectively predict children's participation in relational and physical aggression, above and beyond the child's self‐reports.