Date of Award

Spring 4-10-2025

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Jesma Revering PsyD.

Second Advisor

Patricia Hopkins-Smith, PhD.

Third Advisor

Marcia Bennett, PhD.

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a construct that has been present in psychology in various, non-specific forms for many years. Mayer and Salovey (1997) first created a specific construct of EI that centered on four key skills: emotion-perception; using emotions to facilitate thought; understanding one’s own and other’s emotions; and emotion regulation. Research on EI has largely been regulated to social domains, but some literature has established links between overall EI and specific EI skills and clinical symptoms such as depression and anxiety. The current study sought to further the literature on EI in clinical domains by studying correlations between emotion perception and regulation, and depression, affect intensity, and loneliness.

A correlational research design was used to test the following hypotheses: (1) emotion perception would positively correlate with affect intensity; (2) emotion perception would positively correlate with depressive symptoms; (3) emotion perception would positively correlate with loneliness; and (4) emotion regulation would moderate the relationship between emotion perception and affect intensity.

A combined sample of 88 Augsburg University students and members of the public participated in the current study. They completed a performance-based measure of EI, the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), along with self-report measures of depression (the Beck Depression Inventory, Second Edition; BDI-II), affect intensity (the Affect Intensity Measure; AIM), and loneliness (the De Jong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale; DJGLS). Pearson’s r and multiple regression analyses were run to test the study hypotheses. The correlational analyses for the first three hypotheses showed non-significant associations. Emotion regulation was also not found to significantly moderate the relationship between emotion perception, affect intensity, and depression, as it could not better predict this relationship than the mean model.

While the current study failed to replicate the findings of previous research, the results may highlight discrepancies between self-report and performance-based measures of EI. In doing so, the results of the current study may allude to the impact of belief in one’s EI abilities versus actual ability on clinical symptoms.

Identifier

SC 11.PsyD.2025.Fleig.R.

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