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A reaction time study of responses to trait and ability emotional intelligence test items

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Abstract

The associations of reaction times (RTs) to the items of two trait emotional intelligence (EI) scales (N = 242, 191) and one ability EI measure (N = 331) with EI score were examined. For trait EI an inverted-U relationship between RT and score was found for both scales. This is consistent with the self-schema model of time to respond, with extreme scorers responding more rapidly. For ability EI there was no overall association between RT and EI, but high scorers responded more slowly than low scorers to difficult items.

Introduction

Current research on emotional intelligence (EI) encompasses two distinct measurement approaches and underlying theoretical models. Ability EI is regarded as a subcomponent of intelligence which can be measured by tests similar in design to conventional intelligence tests. Trait EI, assessed by self-report, is regarded as an emotion-related dispositional trait which is a lower-level component of personality (Petrides, Pita, & Kokkinaki, 2007).

Whilst there have been numerous studies of the correlates of both trait and ability EI, reaction times (RTs) for responses to EI items have not been studied. For trait EI a similar pattern of associations to those for personality would be expected. The time taken to respond to a personality item can be thought of as depending on two factors: baseline speed, i.e. individual differences in speed of responding which are unrelated to item content, and self-schema effects. Once baseline speed has been accounted for, the self-schema model (Markus, 1977) indicates that extreme scorers should respond more quickly than those with intermediate scores. This is because the process of comparing the item content with an individual’s self-knowledge should be faster if the individual has a well-developed self-schema for the relevant trait, which will be the case for extreme scorers. This argument predicts an inverted-U relationship between RT and score, a relationship found in a number of studies (Akrami et al., 2007, Casey and Tryon, 2001, Fekken and Holden, 1992, Kuiper, 1981). The theoretical framework which regards EI as a dispositional trait suggests that the inverted-U relationship should also be found for trait EI.

For ability EI item RT measures the time required for an individual to determine the correct response option, which may depend both on EI level and on the respondent’s strategy (e.g. guessing). Previous studies of intelligence test item RTs indicate that for some tests RTs for easy items are negatively related to total score, with either a weaker or no association for harder items, where the strategy adopted is more likely to vary with ability level (Lavergne and Vigneau, 1997, Neubauer, 1990, Rafaeli and Tractinsky, 1991, Vigneau et al., 2006).

The rationale for the research described here was to examine whether trait and ability EI item RTs show the same pattern of associations with test scores as has been found for personality and intelligence tests. From the above discussion the expectation is for an inverted-U relationship between EI score and RT and a negative association between total score and RT for easy but not for hard ability EI items.

Section snippets

Participants

The participants were 378 Edinburgh University students (268 female); the mean age of the group was 22.02 years, standard deviation 4.55 years.

Situational test of emotional understanding (STEU; MacCann & Roberts, 2008)

The items for this ability EI test were derived from Roseman’s (2001) appraisal-based emotion model in which the emotion felt by a person is derived from their appraisal of their situation. The test has 42 five-choice items which test respondents’ knowledge of which emotion is most likely to be felt in situations covering 14 emotions. Because the test

Results

Analysis of group differences for the three studies showed no significant differences in age, test scores or proportions of males and females, and the data were merged for subsequent analysis. The internal reliabilities of the EI measures were SSRI .87, TEIQue .81, STEU .48. Since no factor analysis of the STEU has yet been reported, its factor structure was examined; the scree diagram showed a large break between the first and second eigenvalues, suggesting the extraction of a single factor

Discussion

These results provide new information about the associations of trait and ability EI item RTs with total score, and allow these associations to be compared with previous findings for personality and intelligence test items. As would be expected, different patterns of associations were found for trait and ability EI. For trait EI an inverted-U relationship between RT and score was found. This is consistent with the self-schema model of speed of responding to personality items (Markus, 1977) and

Acknowledgements

The STEU was kindly provided by Dr. Carolyn MacCann. This research was funded by the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust.

References (18)

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