The relationship between emotional intelligence and cognitive abilities: Mapping the nomological net.

Emotional intelligence (EI) reflects individual differences in the identification, understanding and management of emotions. The multi-facetted nature of the construct (represented by trait and ability approaches), draws from the fields of personality, self-system beliefs, emotion regulation and intelligence. After three decades of research, a growing body of findings suggest that EI predicts some important areas of functioning (e.g., mental health, occupational and academic success) and can also be trained through interventions. However, research on the potential consequences of being ‘emotionally intelligent’ has outpaced rigorous evaluation of the foundations of the construct. As a consequence, questions concerning its validity (including distinctiveness from allied constructs) and operationalization remain. In particular, scholars have devoted little attention to understanding the psychological processes underlying individual differences in EI. Yet, this is essential for advancing the conceptualization of EI, and to reconcile conflicting findings regarding the effect of EI on various outcomes. To address this research gap, our symposium will present data examining whether EI (in both guises) can predict performance on ‘hot’ (emotionally laden) cognitive tasks to a greater extent than ‘cool’ (non-emotional) tasks. We also explore whether EI predicts superior emotion recognition performance in faces displaying subtlety presented cues, and whether these effects are distinct from crystallised cognitive ability. We also consider how TEI may moderate emotional and attentional processes to support divergent thinking. We conclude by discussing whether data from current measures of EI are best represented by a revised theoretical framework comprising emotional information processing and crystallised emotion knowledge. In doing so our symposium hopes to answer some important questions concerning how EI theory may be advanced, together with practical suggestions for researchers to move the field forward.