Emotional perception as a component of emotional intelligence: its role in academic achievement, social interaction, and focus of attention

The ability to perceive emotion in others has been proposed as an important component of emotional intelligence (EI). Indeed, perhaps the only independent aspect of EI which is not simply a manifestation of personality or cognitive ability.
The ability to perceive emotion in others has been proposed as an important component of emotional intelligence (EI). Indeed, perhaps the only independent aspect of EI which is not simply a manifestation of personality or cognitive ability.
This thesis investigates the status of emotional perception (EP) within the EI framework. Chapter 1 discusses a number of controversies within the EI literature and identifies EP as the most important aspect of EI. Chapter 2 describes the difficulties with the measurement of EP and evaluates its
potential theoretical contributions. It then reports the development and validation of a scale designed to measure EP.
Successive Chapters investigate the influence of EP in three main theoretical areas. First, the role of EP in academic performance and its potential longitudinal effects are evaluated in two longitudinal studies. EP is compared with scales measuring other aspects of EI, a personality inventory, a measure of cognitive ability, a well-being scale and a coping scale in order to assess the reliability and validity of the measures, and to evaluate their intercorrelations. Additionally, the relationship between EP and various types of academic achievement is explored in order to assess the predictive validity of EP. Second, a quasi-experimental design is employed in order to investigate the role of EP in social interaction. The experience of embarrassment when
delivering class presentations is used to investigate these effects. Third, a series of experimental studies, using the attentional bias framework, consider the effects of EP on the focus of attention to emotionally meaningful stimuli.
The thesis presents evidence to suggest that EP is a semi-independent construct within EI. It can be assessed reliably, demonstrates validity, is a practically useful construct, and influences moment-by-moment regulation of behaviour.