Emotional Intelligence Inventory: A Validation Of The Emotional Intelligence

A Validation of the Emotional Intelligence Inventory

The Emotional Intelligence Inventory (EII) was developed to measure emotional intelligence based on the model of Salovey and Mayer. Exploratory factor analyses of the initial pool of items resulted in four factors: Empathy, Utilization of Feelings, Handling Relationships, and Self-control. The present study examined the concurrent validity of the EII and the Emotional Intelligence Scale using responses of 234 college students on both inventories. The instruments were administered concurrently to students in their classes from classes randomly selected from sections representing students from all colleges, majors, and undergraduate grade levels. Correlations between the total score of the EII and the Emotional Intelligence Scale were significant. Correlations between each subscale of the EII and the

197). Emotional intelligence was conceptualized by Thorndike (1920), elevated in work on tacit knowledge by Sternberg, (1985, 1996) and interpersonal or social intelligence by Gardner, (1993,1995), promulgated as a construct by Salovey and Mayer (1990) and Mayer and Salovey (1997), and popularized by Goleman (1995). According to Mayer and Salovey (1997), intelligence and emotion are combined becausethe ideation that emotion provokes makes thinking more intelligent, or thinking intelligently about emotions. From this point of view, a person with these abilities is considered to be well adjusted and emotionally skilled; the lack of these abilities renders a person socially and emotionally handicapped.

Emotional intelligence is said to differ from cognitive ability and to be associated with enhanced performance in the workplace (Brackett & Salovey, 2006; Bradberry & Su, 2006; Druskat & Wolff, 2001; Lopes, Grewal, Kadis, Gall, & Salovey, 2006; Pescuric & Byham, 1996; Spencer, McClelland, & Kelner, 1997). It is well established that intelligence has a