Computer Scoring of Emotional Awareness in a Nonclinical Population of Young Adults

The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS; Lane, Quinlan, Schwartz, Walker, &; Zeitlin, 1990 Lane, R. D., Quinlan, D. M., Schwartz, G. E., Walker, P. A., &; Zeitlin, S. B. (1990). The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale: A cognitive-developmental measure of emotion. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55, 124–134. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa5501&;2_12[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) is an open-ended measure of the ability to describe emotional reactions. Scoring the LEAS by hand is complex and time consuming (Barchard, Bajgar, Leaf, &; Lane, 2010 Barchard, K. A., Bajgar, J., Leaf, D. E., &; Lane, R. D. (2010). Computer scoring of the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale. Behavior Research Methods, 42, 586–595. doi:10.3758/BRM.42.2.586[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Therefore, Program for Open-Ended Scoring (POES; Leaf &; Barchard, 2010 Leaf, D. E., &; Barchard, K. A. (2010). Program for Open-Ended Scoring [POES] version 1.4.1 [Unpublished program]. Available from Kim Barchard, Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV, 89154–5030, kim.barchard@unlv.edu [Google Scholar]) was designed to score the LEAS quickly and easily. Using 268 undergraduates, this article compares traditional LEAS hand scoring to 6 POES methods, 2 of which are holistic methods that have never before been examined. Based on split-half reliability, correlations with measures of emotional and social intelligence, and partial correlations once response length and vocabulary were partialed out, we recommend 3 of the POES methods when testing nonclinical samples of young adults. Because POES scoring is fast and efficient, it allows more researchers and clinicians to use the LEAS, thus moving away from self-report measures of emotional awareness.