Emotional intelligence and psychopathy: a comparison of trait and ability measures

A dysfunction in the processing of emotional material has been suggested to underpin the concept of psychopathy, hence we hypothesized that individuals high in psychopathic traits should have low scores on measure of emotional intelligence (EI). We measured EI by using both an ability-based measure (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test) and a self-report measure (Trait Meta-Mood Scale) in a sample of offenders. Psychopathy was measured by using both a clinical checklist (Psychopathy Checklist-Revised) and a self-report scale (Psychopathy Personality Inventory-Revised). We also took a measure of intellectual ability (Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence) to assess any unique contribution from EI over that of IQ. We found that the concepts of EI (both ability-based and self-report) were related to IQ. We also found that there was a negative relationship between self-report EI and ability EI. In relation to psychopathy, the results did not support the hypotheses of a general deficit in EI. While the results relating different facets of psychopathy to different aspects of EI were complex, there was some evidence that some aspects of psychopathy were positively related to the unique variance related to EI once IQ was partialled out. We suggest that there is not a general deficit in EI in psychopathy, and that future research needs carefully to carefully consider just what aspects of psychopathy and of EI are being measured, and the influence of intellectual ability, before drawing conclusions on this matter.