Avances en el estudio de la Inteligencia Emocional

Avances en el estudio de la Inteligencia Emocional
A review of the relationship between
emotional intelligence and dynamic
personality variables
John Pellitteri
Queens College, City University of New York, USA
Abstract
The abilities-based model of emotional intelligence
(EI; Mayer & Salovey, 1997) was compared to
measures of dynamic personality. The combined results
of two studies found that the Emotional
Knowledge component of the Multifactoral Emotional
Intelligence Scales (MEIS) was correlated in
expected directions with adaptive and maladaptive
ego defense mechanisms as well as with a range of
ego functions. The Relativity subtest of the MEIS
in particular, may be the best single indicator of
overall ego strength. These findings suggest that accurate
concepts of emotions (which is an essential
component of emotional knowledge) may form
from and also contribute to, adaptive functioning
in the social world with minimal distortion of affective
information (as found in adpative defenses
and strong ego functions). An exploratory finding
from study 2 using the Rorschach projective measure
found that emotional perception is related to
the degree of unconscious affective reactivity. Accurate
perception of emotional information therefore,
reduces the tendency for unconscious processes
to distort an individual’s interpersonal
experience. Implications for clinical practice include
strengthening patients’ ego functions through
the development of social-emotional reasoning.
Implications for educational settings support the
importance of emotional literacy as the foundation
for emotional knowledge.
Introduction
The construct of emotional intelligence (EI) has
been compared to trait models of personality
(McCrae, 2000; Bar-On, 1997), however the comparison
of EI to dynamic models of personality
has received little or no attention. A predominant
model in the field of personality psychology is the
Five Factor Model that consists of the traits of Neuroticism,
Extraversion Agreeableness, Conscientiousness,
Openness. Dynamic personality models
by contrast, refer to patterns of intrapsychic and interpersonal
processes that have roots in psychoanalytic
concepts such as unconscious processes, ego
functions, defense mechanisms. Dynamic personality
variables are relevant for interpersonally-based,
process-oriented psychotherapies and offer an
important alternative view to the more static structural
models of trait psychology.
Within the field of EI research two major models
have emerged that can be considered as parallel
to the models found in personality psychology. Bar-
On’s (1997) model embraces the trait perspective by
defining EI through self-report measures akin to
trait-based personality tests. McCrae (2000) for
example, compared EI to the Five-Factor Model.
While not inherently based in psychoanalysis, the
abilities model of EI (Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Salovey
& Mayer, 1990) is assessed through performance
measures and, by nature, is more dynamic in its
conceptualization. The Mayer and Salovey (1997)
model consists of four groups of abilities that include:
(1) emotional perception, (2) emotional facilitation
of thinking, (3) using emotional knowledge, and
(4) reflective regulation of emotion. These abilities are
part of the mutually interactive process between
emotions and cognitions (Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso,
2000). This model can be viewed within a
dynamic system where abilities serve to process emotional
information from the social environment as
well as from within the individual and in turn, influence
expressive behaviors and the immediate environment.
Intrapsychically, cognitions influence
emotions that then affect intellectual processes.
The abilities-based model of EI can be compared
to the dynamic models of personality found in
ego psychology on several points (Schaie, 2001).
Both EI and ego psychology consider adaptation to
the environment as a basis. Both shares common
mental processes that have been referred to as ego
functions (Bellak, 1984) and include perception,
cognition, synthetic-integration, and self-regulation.
Both models can embrace a process-oriented view of
emotions. Glickauf-Hughes, Wells, & Chance,
(1996) in describing therapeutic techniques for
strengthening patients’ ego functions emphasize the
importance of reflective awareness of emotions and
well as the capacity to regulate emotions which are
central facets of the Mayer and Salovey model.
This paper will describe a series of studies
with two different samples that examined the rela-
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