Emotional intelligence can be defined as the ability to identify, express, understand, manage, and use emotions. EI has been shown to have an important impact on health, relationships, and wor...

Engaging in physical activity and sports has been associated with various cognitive abilities and other personal characteristics. The contemporary link between doing sports and personal attributes such as soft skills and an individual’s cognitive abilities have yet to be investigated, however. This study aims to analyze the association between years of practicing a sport, cognitive abilities, and personal attributes. A large sample of 1,115 individuals completed the Cattell test and answered a questionnaire measuring six soft skills. A multivariate regression analysis (...) show that, after controlling for age and gender, participants’ years of practicing a sport were positively associated with three soft skills and with fluid reasoning. No differences emerged between team and individual sport practitioners. Our findings suggest an association between practicing sports, which entails more than just physical activity, and both cognitive abilities and other important personal characteristics, such as soft skills. (shrink)

Emotional intelligence abilities relate to desirable outcomes such as better well-being, academic performance, and job performance. Previous research shows that coping strategies mediate the effects of ability EI on such outcomes. Across two cross-sectional studies, we show that coping strategies mediate the relationships of ability EI with both well-being and ill-being. Study 1 assessed EI with the Situational Test of Emotion Understanding and Situation Test of Emotion Management. Avoidant coping significantly mediated the relationship of both the STEU and STEM with (...) depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being. EI was associated with lower avoidant coping, higher well-being and lower ill-being. Study 2 assessed EI with the Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. Avoidant coping mediated the relationship between EI and ill-being, but not the relationship between EI and well-being. These effects were significant for three of the four EI branches—emotion perception, understanding, and management. We discuss possible reasons why avoidant coping may be an active ingredient by which lower EI relates to lower well-being. We also discuss a possible application of our findings—that EI training programs might benefit from including content aimed at reducing avoidant coping. (shrink)

When individuals read literary fiction, contemplate philosophical arguments, view art, or listen to music, they experience emotions that vary in both valence and intensity. Engagement with the humanities can enhance individual emotional intelligence (EI) and well-being. This narrative review proposes links between engagement with literary fiction, moral philosophy, visual art, and music with EI and well-being. The work details the mechanisms by which (i) literary fiction increases the ability to perceive emotions, (ii) moral philosophy improves the use of emotions for (...) ethical decision-making, (iii) visual art elevates the ability to understand emotion, and (iv) music enhances the ability to manage emotions. The concluding section presents theoretical implications and practical suggestions for designing interventions that promote EI and flourishing. (shrink)

Consumers’ inclinations towards materialism and compulsive buying are influenced by a variety of factors. Materialistic consumers face maladies that cause stress and lower subjective well-being and are unable to control their buying behaviour that in turn leads to social and financial issues. This paper aims to investigate the effect of emotional intelligence training on consumers’ materialism and compulsive buying. The experimental design involves 36 respondents across both groups. Findings confirm the hypothesis that ability-based training programmes can help consumers improve their (...) emotional intelligence whilst also lowering their levels of materialism and compulsive buying. In sum, the results extend the existing literature on consumer materialism by providing an explanation on how specific emotional ability-based training can diminish materialistic and excessive buying inclinations. The development of emotional intelligence skills-based training programmes contributes to more sustainable consumer behaviour, mitigating the vulnerability to materialism and related addictive behavioural consequences. (shrink)

Despite continuing interest in the impact of employees’ emotional intelligence in explaining for their engagement and emotional exhaustion, there are still large gaps in our understanding of the role played by contextual EI-related factors, such as an EI-related organizational culture and supervisors’ emotionally intelligent behavior. This two-study research approaches EI from a macro-level perspective, attempting to address three objectives: to develop and define a theoretical concept of EI-supportive organizational culture, to develop and validate measures of organizations’ EI-related values and practices, (...) and to investigate their top-down effect on employee engagement and exhaustion, via supervisor EI-related behavior. In the first study, we conceptualize and develop measures of perceived EI-related organizational values and human resource management practices, as separate yet related dimensions of organizations’ EI-related culture, and test their validity. In the second study, we build on the job demands-resources theory and Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework to develop and test a model of the process links between perceived EI-related values and HRM practices and employee engagement and exhaustion, using a large sample of employees across industries in the USA workforce. In line with our hypotheses, the findings suggest that EI-supportive HRM practices have a top-down effect on employee engagement and exhaustion via supervisor EIB, whereas low regard for emotions values has a top-down effect on employee exhaustion via supervisor emotional misbehavior. Results are discussed in the context of the JD-R theory, AMO framework, and the EI literature. (shrink)

Diabetes has been associated with affective disorders which complicate the management of the disease. Emotional intelligence, or the ability to perceive, facilitate, understand, and regulate emotions, has shown to be a protective factor of emotional disorders in general population. The main objective of this study was to systematically review the role of the EI construct in Type 1 and Type 2 diabetics and to observe how EI is related to biological and psychological variables. Comprehensive searches were conducted in PubMed, Scopus, (...) PsycInfo, and Cochrane without time limitations, for studies examining the link between diabetes and EI. A total of 12 eligible studies were selected according to the inclusion criteria. We divided the results into four sections: EI and hemoglobin glycosylated, EI training effects, differences in EI between persons with diabetes and without diabetes, and EI and psychological adjustment and well-being. The results showed negative correlations between EI and HbA1c, positive effects of EI training on quality of life, anxiety, and glycemic control, no differences in EI between people with diabetes and healthy individuals, and, finally, negative correlations between EI and different psychological variables such as diabetes-related anxiety and distress, and positive correlations with quality of life, well-being, and marital satisfaction. This systematic review offers a starting point for a theoretical and practical understanding of the role played by EI in the management of diabetes and reveals that EI is a promising protective factor for biological and psychological variables in this population. (shrink)