Emotional Intelligence as Evaluative Activity: Theory, Findings, and Future Directions

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Emotional Intelligence Research

Background:

• Ability-related emotional intelligence (EI) research has focused on outcomes rather than its composition.
• The evaluation dimension of meaning, drawing from attitude and emotion literature, is proposed as key to understanding ability EI.
• Existing research links ability EI to attitudinal processes, including attitude-behavior relationships and affective bipolarity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the role of the evaluation dimension of meaning in ability EI.
• To investigate how ability EI relates to attitudinal processes and affective experiences.
• To propose new research directions for the ability EI construct.

Main Methods:

• Reviewing literature on attitudes, emotions, and ability EI.
• Examining measures of ability EI and their correlation with word evaluation accuracy.
• Analyzing data linking ability EI to attitudinal processes and affective bipolarity.

Main Results:

• Measures of ability EI predict individuals' accuracy in evaluating words.
• Word evaluation accuracy serves as a measure of emotional intelligence.
• High EI is associated with experiencing affect in more bipolar terms and greater decisiveness in evaluations.

Conclusions:

• The evaluation dimension of meaning is crucial for understanding ability EI.
• Ability EI influences attitudinal processes, affecting decision-making and emotional experience.
• Further research linking ability EI to attitudinal processes can generate novel predictions.