Individual Differences, Personality and Assessment - Literature review Example

Running head: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES, PERSONALITY AND ASSESSMENT Individual Differences, Personality and Assessment Name Course Tutor Date Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 3 Introduction 4 Method 8 Results 9 Discussion 10 References 12 Appendix A 13 1 14 Appendix B 16 Abstract The inception of emotional intelligence as a determinant of personality and cognitive abilities has led to researches at various levels of psychology in a bid to ascertain this fact. This study is not an exception as it is driven by the same aims at completing test inventories on individual cognitive abilities, peronality, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being and how they relate with each other. Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), Assessing Emotions Scale (AES), OCEANIC, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Spot-the-Word (STW), and Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) are used in collection and analysis of data. The sample from 106 females and 27 males is analysed using the R statistics analysis software in order to render clear results for the discussion. It is evident that apart from emotional intelligence, there are other factors that drive human success other than personality and cognitive levels. Introduction Emotions and personal capabilities of intellect have been linked in one way or the other over years with various psychologists coming up with theories to explain this important topic. Emotions are defined as disorganised interruptions in the human mental activity according to Publilius Syrus (n.d.) in Salovey (1990). Salovey (1990) further quotes text from various researches that have been launched in the past with an aim of demystifying the human emotions. In one instance, emotion is described as “acute disturbance”, while in another as “disorganised response” due to futile bids to adjust with a certain state of events. Theoretical frameworks have been put in place to give basic perceptions on the significance of this model in the study of personality and cognitive ability with regard emotional intelligence. This topic has evolved into a full blown study that aims to establish the connection between cognitive abilities and personality. To be more specific, the inception of emotional intelligence as a platform for understanding intelligence is a welcome idea which has seen more researches in this field launched to ascertain this fact (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). According to Schutte, et al., (1998), the perspectives that have been taken by the models aiming at achieving the true definition of emotional intelligence differ widely although they provide a basis of argument for each other. In Schutte, et al., Salovey & Mayer, (1990) who were the first psychologists to coin the phrase emotional intelligence based their arguments on three parameters which were mainly “appraisal and expression of emotion, regulation of emotion and utilization of emotions in solving problems.” Emotional intelligence is thus described as the ability to “Rule your feelings” as a measure of ones’ intelligence quotient (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). According to Bastian, et al., (2005) emotional intelligence is ‘‘the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth’’ (p. 1136). This is due to the fact that in order to solve problems, intelligence requires monitoring of emotions in onself and others that may matter in achieving better personality. According to Mayer et al., (1999) in Bastian, et al., (2005) , ability and mixed models have been developed to address circumstances under which maximum perfomance can be obtained in interpersonal relationships. In their study "Emotional intelligence: more than personality andcognitive ability?" Bastian et al., (2005) readily agree with the fact that emotional intelligence offers explanatory measures towards achieving improved understanding . The factor of social intelligence is noted as the power to comprehend issues of social standing and dates back to 1909 uder the investigation byu Dewey. Social intelligence has been observed in situations such as the tripartite theory of social understanding which seeks to establish levels of human cognition. According to Dewey (1909) in Bastian, et al., (2005), social intelligence which has been a point of study within the cognitive field has been defined as the "ability to understand and manage (people and) to act wisely in human relations". The unitary cognitive nature of human depends on whether or not the radical demands are met especially in the academic context or outlook. In the real sense, learners of social intelligence have developed more than 30 forms of social intelligence that seek to address the behavioral abilities of individuals (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). More theories have been developed with regard to the intelligence types such as interperonal and separate intelligencies. Excerpts obtained from Gardner (1983, 1993) in Bastian, et al., (2005) show that the theory of interpersonal intelligence is an issue of social competencies and not IQ and adaptive behavior as earlier studies purpoted. Intrinsic activities that are closely linked to this study include the emotions and social activities which determine the interpersonal characteristics of a human being. It is interesting to note that the study of social skills has been advanced to a level whereby the psychological experts can tell on the intelligence of humans through observation of facial lemotional expresssions. Sternberg et al., (1986) in Bastian et al., (2005), are keen to point out the intuitions that affect the personal experience as ability for one to manage successfully interactions that they are held in (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). Other theorists have shown that intelligence can not only be so specific in terms of individual differences and real-life applications. IQ tests which follow the psychometric route have been designed to study human intelligence and have since impacted hardly on the important aspects of life. This has become one of the best formulae to recruit for various posts within organisational setup in cases that require accuracy in predictive validity. This is despite the fact that human life is not only influenced by a single but all pools of parameters involved in human cognitive growth. In other instances, non-intellective characteristics have dire effects on human preformance more than the normal cognitive abilities. The fairness of IQ tests cannot therefore be justified due to the fact that they represent a certain cross section of human behavior which is not however discussed at this level (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). Studies by Sternberg (1985), in Bastian et al., (2005) indicate that personal characteristics differ from one individual to the other. Emotional management which is one of the major objectives of this study shows speculations that differential validity contributes much to the outcomes although they should be deployed to indicate other forms of intelligence. Other fundamental lifestyle outcomes that may be achieved from such aptitude tests depict various emotions (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). Schulze and Roberts (2006) on the other hand carry out an analysis of the big five as a means of ascertaining the connection personality and emotional intelligence. The factors applied in this study of personality include Openness or Intellect, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, Extraversion and Neurotism (OCEANIC). Openness is said to be an individuals' willingness to accommodate innovative or conventional ideas which may have unknown impacts in their lives or day to day undertakings. Schulze (2006) further purpots that conscientiousness is a parameter that involves a person's "accomplishment, organisation, scuruplousness and responsibility". Extraversion is the assertiveness, warm gregariouness, excitement seeking and positive emotions by an individual seeking to avert the introversion that is attached to Eysenckian framework. Agreeableness is an aggregate of behaviors such as altruism, trust, straightforwardness, modesty among other supporting behaviors that are intended to build a person's interpersonal capabilities. Neurotiscism appeals to hostility, anger, anxiety, impulsiveness and vulnerability in what is referred to as emotional anxiety (Schulze & Roberts, 2006). These personality factors are well linked to the intelligence and personality which is part of this intracate study. Although they are not discussed in depth, they are given the importance that they deserve in the research carried out to collect the data meant for it. This study aims at completing test inventories on individual cognitive abilities, peronality, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being and how they relate with each other. The advancement on data analyses is also emphasized with regard to these parameters in order to come up with predictive validity of emotional intelligence. As part of the study researches that have been staged to generate psychological guidance material, it still remains that "the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth." (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). The hypothesis to this study is: emotional intelligence is truly more than personality and cognitive ability. Method This study was carried out on a sample of 106 females and 27 males who rated themselves according to 80 items belonging to SWLS, OCEANIC, and AES correlations with regard to advanced progressive rank, staisfaction with life scale, advanced progressive matrices, Spot-the-Word (STW), OCEANIC, and Assessing Emotions scale (AES). Results were then analysed to give the proper view of the findings shown in appendix A below. The Tertiary Entrance Rank was used to measure the student’s academic achievements based on efforts put in the past. This is because, the Australian students completing high aschool are ranked according to The TER percentile for tertiary admission. The AES which was established by Schutte et al., (1998) is based on the definition of emotional intelligence hence the higher the score, the higher the EI. This is also based on 33 items that are meant to seek the participant’s self report or evaluation and is dependent on the likert scale of 1 to 5. Spot-the-world is also another tool worth using in this research as it instills the word identification trait (Baddeley, Emslie & Nimmo-Smith, 1993). The satisfaction with life scale (SLWS) by Diener et al., (1985) is used as a tool to show the level of agreement by applying the likert scale principle of up to 7 degrees. Another importanty tool worth mentioning is the Raven’s advanced progressive matrices short form which is based on subsets to be demistified by use of computer programmes (Raven, Court & Raven, 1998). The Openness conscientitiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neuroticism (OCEANIC) is also used for the five model analysis based on 45 items that it assesses (Schulze & Roberts, 2006). Results The results achieved were aimed at probing on whether emotional intelligence is actually more than personality and cognitive ability. In ascertaining this, regression models and analyses of cognitive abilities were carried out by employing a series of tests on 106 females and 27 males. The consideration that are taken into place indicate that the level of variance on the Pearson correlations differs from one level to the other on a positive scale. On checking for the emotional intelligence capability through use of incremental validity the following figure are observed that Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) stands at 1.5% and R2 = 0.015 which is >0.05 as true for the confirmation that emotional intelligence is more than personality and cognitive ability. The TER coefficient is at 1.0 showing that it does not have a major significance coming up with an explanation to the hypotheses of this research. Discussion This aims of this study were to complete test inventories on individual cognitive abilities, peronality, emotional intelligence, and psychological well-being and establish how they relate with each other. Further into the research it was established that data achieved for this study was actually able to satisfy this major concern through the deployed methods. Although emotional intelligence is not covered in the whole the study, two of the study methods indicate a strong propensity towards aiding in the achievement of this objectives. The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) score highly in coming up with this comparison from the analysis carried out. The reasearch is in concurrence with earlier researches such as Burns et al., (2007) whose report predicts considerable variance on the standard measures of satisfaction in life. This is despite the fact that their report goes a bit deep in rising the concerns that lie within the psychologicl field od emotional intelligence. In obtaining the samples 106 females and 27 males have been used in handing in this important study, this might also affect the sample considering that the two genders might not be have same cognitive levels. Future emotional intelligence studies should involve equal gender participation to avoid such speculations. In concluding this research, it is indicated that the hypothesis is actually null since the extent to which emotional intelligence affects personality and cognitive ability is very low. This is attributed by other life factors which set in to verify this fact. This study gives a clear picture of the human cognitive ability in the findings section and is in line with other previous researches that have been set in place to prove this fact. Further research should be carried out to establish the relationship between human cognitive ability and personality towards the achievement of emotional intelligence. References Bastian, V. A., Burns, N. R., & Nettelbeck, T. (2005). Emotional intelligence predicts life skills, but not as well as personality and cognitive abilities. Personality and Individual Differences 39 , pp. 1135–1145. Burns, N. R., Bastain, V. A., & Nettelbeck, T. (2007). Emotional intelligence : more than personality and cognitive ability? In G. Matthews, R. D. Roberts, & M. Zeidner, The Science of emotional intelligence : knowns and unknowns (pp. pp. 167-196). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Salovey, P., & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. 'Emotional intelligence', Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, vol. 9 , pp. 185-211. Schulze, R., & Roberts, R. D. (2006). Assessing the Big Five: Development and Validation of the Openness Conscientiousness Extraversion Agreeableness Neurotism Index Condensed (OCEANIC). ZeitSchrift Fur Psychologie, 214 , pp. 133 - 149. Schutte, N. S., malouff, J. M., Hall, L. E., Haggerty, D. J., Cooper, J. T., Golden, C. J., et al. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence. Personality and Individual Differences 25 , pp. 167-17. Baddeley, A., Emslie, H. and Nimmo-Smith, I., 1993. The Spot-the-Word test: A robust estimate of verbal intelligence based on lexical decision. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 32, 55–65. Appendix A Table 1 Descriptive statistics for Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), Spot-the-Word (STW), OCEANIC, and Assessing Emotions Scale (AES) Mean (SD) Minimum Maximum Reliability TERa 21.83 18.80 40.80 — SWLS 5.80 5.00 35.00 0.82 APM 7.49 2.00 12.00 0.74 STWb 23.75 15.00 30.00 0.75 OCEANIC O 31.83 15.00 51.00 0.84 C 37.8 15.00 54.0 0.84 E 33.74 18.00 51.00 0.82 A 44.04 31.00 54.00 0.86 N 27.52 13.00 47.00 0.85 AES 119.8 93.0 150.0 0.84 Note. TER is Tertiary Entrance Rank; SWLS is Satisfaction with Life Scale; APM is Advanced Progressive Matrices; STW is Spot-the-Word; O is Openness to Experience; C is Conscientiousness; E is Extraversion; A is Agreeableness; N is Neuroticism; AES is Assessing Emotions Scale Reliability not calculated for TER b Four items that were answered correctly by all participants were excluded from calculation of reliability for STW Table 2 Pearson correlations for Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Advanced Progressive Matrices (APM), Spot-the-Word (STW), OCEANIC, and Assessing Emotions Scale (AES). 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 TER 1 2 SWLS 0.15 1 3 APM 0.07 -0.06 1 4 STW 0.23 0.06 0.013 1 5 O 0.08 0.005 0.08 0.11 1 6 C 0.10 0.023 -0.06 -0.04 0.23 1 7 E 0.10 0.30 0.16 -0.06 0.29 0.36 1 8 A -0.02 0.25 -0.02 -0.04 0.29 0.40 0.28 1 9 N -0.06 -0.30 0.03 -0.08 0.09 -0.04 -0.03. -0.06 1 10 AES -0.001 0.40 -0.03 -0.05 0.37 0.45 0.35 0.52 -0.24 1 Note. TER is Tertiary Entrance Rank; SWLS is Satisfaction with Life Scale; APM is Advanced Progressive Matrices; STW is Spot-the-Word; O is Openness to Experience; C is Conscientiousness; E is Extraversion; A is Agreeableness; N is Neuroticism; AES is Assessing Emotions Scale. *p < .05 Appendix B For completeness here are the items from SWLS, OCEANIC, and AES. SWLS In most ways my life is close to my ideal The conditions of my life are excellent I am satisfied with my life So far I have gotten the important things I want in life If I could live my life over, I would change almost nothing OCEANIC I am organized. I like parties, where there are a lot of people. I am a kind person. When under great stress, I feel like I might break down. I would describe myself as a deep person. I am talkative. I am considerate of the feelings of others. I feel jittery and tense. I am philosophical. If I start something, I work until it is finished to my satisfaction. I consider myself a sociable person. I try to be kind to everyone I know. I am moody I have intellectual curiosity. I am a perfectionist. I am bold. I like to help others, even if there is nothing in it for me. I think about the wonders of nature. I am a shy person. I get very upset when I am criticized. I spend time in meditation and deep thought. I like to be consistent. I am considered by others to be a very friendly person. I enjoy reading poetry. Efficient describes me well. I like to strike up conversations with strangers. I like to be generous. I worry more than most people. I take charge in group meetings. I have sympathy for others who are having problems. I like to be precise. At social functions, I talk to as many people as possible. I am an envious person. I spend time analyzing my internal feelings. When I get an assignment, I do my best. I am unkind. I am sad and depressed. I am inventive. I like to keep all my belongings neat and orderly. I consider myself an unsympathetic person. I get upset easily. I enjoy visiting art museums I am thorough. I laugh a lot. I consider myself a nervous person. AES I know when to speak about my personal problems to others When I am faced with obstacles, I remember times I faced similar obstacles and overcame them I expect that I will do well on most things I try Other people find it easy to confide in me I find it hard to understand the non-verbal messages of other people* Some of the major events of my life have led me to re-evaluate what is important and not important When my mood changes, I see new possibilities Emotions are one of the things that make my life worth living I am aware of my emotions as I experience them I expect good things to happen I like to share my emotions with others When I experience a positive emotion, I know how to make it last I arrange events others enjoy I seek out activities that make me happy I am aware of the non-verbal messages I send to others I present myself in a way that makes a good impression on others When I am in a positive mood, solving problems is easy for me By looking at their facial expressions, I recognize the emotions people are experiencing I know why my emotions change When I am in a positive mood, I am able to come up with new ideas I have control over my emotions I easily recognize my emotions as I experience them I motivate myself by imagining a good outcome to tasks I take on I compliment others when they have done something well I am aware of the non-verbal messages other people send When another person tells me about an important event in his or her life, I almost feel as though I have experienced this event myself When I feel a change in emotions, I tend to come up with new ideas When I am faced with a challenge, I give up because I believe I will fail* I know what other people are feeling just by looking at them I help other people feel better when they are down I use good moods to help myself keep trying in the face of obstacles I can tell how people are feeling by listening to the tone of their voice It is difficult for me to understand why people feel the way they do* Read More

In Schutte, et al., Salovey & Mayer, (1990) who were the first psychologists to coin the phrase emotional intelligence based their arguments on three parameters which were mainly “appraisal and expression of emotion, regulation of emotion and utilization of emotions in solving problems.” Emotional intelligence is thus described as the ability to “Rule your feelings” as a measure of ones’ intelligence quotient (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). According to Bastian, et al., (2005) emotional intelligence is ‘‘the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth’’ (p. 1136). This is due to the fact that in order to solve problems, intelligence requires monitoring of emotions in onself and others that may matter in achieving better personality.

According to Mayer et al., (1999) in Bastian, et al., (2005) , ability and mixed models have been developed to address circumstances under which maximum perfomance can be obtained in interpersonal relationships. In their study "Emotional intelligence: more than personality andcognitive ability?" Bastian et al., (2005) readily agree with the fact that emotional intelligence offers explanatory measures towards achieving improved understanding . The factor of social intelligence is noted as the power to comprehend issues of social standing and dates back to 1909 uder the investigation byu Dewey.

Social intelligence has been observed in situations such as the tripartite theory of social understanding which seeks to establish levels of human cognition. According to Dewey (1909) in Bastian, et al., (2005), social intelligence which has been a point of study within the cognitive field has been defined as the "ability to understand and manage (people and) to act wisely in human relations". The unitary cognitive nature of human depends on whether or not the radical demands are met especially in the academic context or outlook.

In the real sense, learners of social intelligence have developed more than 30 forms of social intelligence that seek to address the behavioral abilities of individuals (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005). More theories have been developed with regard to the intelligence types such as interperonal and separate intelligencies. Excerpts obtained from Gardner (1983, 1993) in Bastian, et al., (2005) show that the theory of interpersonal intelligence is an issue of social competencies and not IQ and adaptive behavior as earlier studies purpoted.

Intrinsic activities that are closely linked to this study include the emotions and social activities which determine the interpersonal characteristics of a human being. It is interesting to note that the study of social skills has been advanced to a level whereby the psychological experts can tell on the intelligence of humans through observation of facial lemotional expresssions. Sternberg et al., (1986) in Bastian et al., (2005), are keen to point out the intuitions that affect the personal experience as ability for one to manage successfully interactions that they are held in (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005).

Other theorists have shown that intelligence can not only be so specific in terms of individual differences and real-life applications. IQ tests which follow the psychometric route have been designed to study human intelligence and have since impacted hardly on the important aspects of life. This has become one of the best formulae to recruit for various posts within organisational setup in cases that require accuracy in predictive validity. This is despite the fact that human life is not only influenced by a single but all pools of parameters involved in human cognitive growth.

In other instances, non-intellective characteristics have dire effects on human preformance more than the normal cognitive abilities. The fairness of IQ tests cannot therefore be justified due to the fact that they represent a certain cross section of human behavior which is not however discussed at this level (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005).

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