Emotional intelligence, cognitive ability and information search in tactical decision-making

Measurement reactivity in ambulatory assessment: Increase in emotional clarity over time independent of sampling frequency

Ambulatory assessment (AA) studies are frequently used to study emotions, cognitions, and behavior in daily life. But does the measurement itself produce reactivity, that is, are the constructs that are measured influenced by participation? We investigated individual differences in intraindividual change in momentary emotional clarity and momentary pleasant-unpleasant mood over the course of an AA study. Specifically, we experimentally manipulated sampling frequency and hypothesized that the intraindividual change over time would be stronger when sampling frequency was high (vs. low). Moreover, we assumed that individual differences in dispositional mood regulation would moderate the direction of intraindividual change in momentary pleasant-unpleasant mood over time. Students (n = 313) were prompted either three or nine times a day for 1 week (data collection took place in 2019 and 2020). Multilevel growth curve models showed that momentary emotional clarity increased within participants over the course of the AA phase, but this increase did not differ between the two sampling frequency groups. Pleasant-unpleasant mood did not show a systematic trend over the course of the study, and mood regulation did not predict individual differences in mood change over time. Again, results were not moderated by the sampling frequency group. We discuss limitations of our study (e.g., WEIRD sample) and potential practical implications regarding sampling frequency in AA studies. Future studies should further systematically investigate the circumstances under which measurement reactivity is more likely to occur.

Gaze Control and Tactical Decision-Making Under Stress in Active-Duty Police Officers During a Live Use-of-Force Response

Police officers during dynamic and stressful encounters are required to make rapid decisions that rely on effective decision-making, experience, and intuition. Tactical decision-making is influenced by the officer's capability to recognize critical visual information and estimation of threat. The purpose of the current study is to investigate how visual search patterns using cluster analysis and factors that differentiate expertise (e.g., years of service, tactical training, related experiences) influence tactical decision-making in active-duty police officers (44 active-duty police officers) during high stress, high threat, realistic use of force scenario following a car accident and to examine the relationships between visual search patterns and physiological response (heart rate). A cluster analysis of visual search variables (fixation duration, fixation location difference score, and number of fixations) produced an Efficient Scan and an Inefficient Scan group. Specifically, the Efficient Scan group demonstrated longer total fixation duration and differences in area of interests (AOI) fixation duration compared to the Inefficient Scan group. Despite both groups exhibiting a rise in physiological stress response (HR) throughout the high-stress scenario, the Efficient Scan group had a history of tactical training, improved return fire performance, had higher sleep time total, and demonstrated increased processing efficiency and effective attentional control, due to having a background of increased tactical training.

Search for solutions, learning, simulation, and choice processes in suicidal behavior

Suicide may be viewed as an unfortunate outcome of failures in decision processes. Such failures occur when the demands of a crisis exceed a person's capacity to (i) search for options, (ii) learn and simulate possible futures, and (iii) make advantageous value-based choices. Can individual-level decision deficits and biases drive the progression of the suicidal crisis? Our overview of the evidence on this question is informed by clinical theory and grounded in reinforcement learning and behavioral economics. Cohort and case-control studies provide strong evidence that limited cognitive capacity and particularly impaired cognitive control are associated with suicidal behavior, imposing cognitive constraints on decision-making. We conceptualize suicidal ideation as an element of impoverished consideration sets resulting from a search for solutions under cognitive constraints and mood-congruent Pavlovian influences, a view supported by mostly indirect evidence. More compelling is the evidence of impaired learning in people with a history of suicidal behavior. We speculate that an inability to simulate alternative futures using one's model of the world may undermine alternative solutions in a suicidal crisis. The hypothesis supported by the strongest evidence is that the selection of suicide over alternatives is facilitated by a choice process undermined by randomness. Case-control studies using gambling tasks, armed bandits, and delay discounting support this claim. Future experimental studies will need to uncover real-time dynamics of choice processes in suicidal people. In summary, the decision process framework sheds light on neurocognitive mechanisms that facilitate the progression of the suicidal crisis. This article is categorized under: Economics > Individual Decision-Making Psychology > Emotion and Motivation Psychology > Learning Neuroscience > Behavior.

Contrasting Learning Psychology Theories Applied to the Teaching-Learning-Training Process of Tactics in Soccer

Research in sport pedagogy and its applied recommendations are still characterized by a contrast between the different learning theories from psychology. Traditional theories and their corresponding approaches to the specific case of teaching and learning “how to play [team sports like soccer]” are subject to compatibilities and incompatibilities. We discuss how behaviorism as an approach to teaching the game shows more incompatibilities with the nature of tactical actions when compared to constructivism. As coaches strive to teach the game and make their players and team perform, we argue that teaching the game requires teaching approaches that will help develop their way to play (i.e., tactical behavior) without taking away their autonomy and adaptiveness. The teaching-learning-training process for playing the game should then be conducted to harmonize the characteristics of the contents, the context, and the individual(s) at hand. We provide two illustrated examples and portray how the recommended approaches fit key contents of the game that are observed in the tactical behavior. We finally argue that the coherent design of games provides minimal conditions to teaching approaches, and that such a design should be a priority when elaborating the learning activities along the player development process. As a conclusion, the interactionist theory is the one that best serves the teaching of the game and the development of tactical behavior. We therefore defend that its principles can help coaches tailor their own strategy to teach the game with the many tools.

Cognitive intelligence, emotional intelligence and personality types as predictors of job performance: Exploring a model for personnel selection

Orientation: The process of personnel selection is essential for organisations because it ensures that only those candidates who are likely to contribute to the economic value of an organisation are chosen to fill job vacancies.Research purpose: This research sought to explore cognitive intelligence (CI), ability emotional intelligence (ability EI), trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) and personality types as predictors of job performance with the view to propose a valid selection model for the Zimbabwean organisational context.Motivation for the study: In the personnel selection context, separate studies investigated the single predictive power of the constructs relevant to the study in different settings and studies. The role of personality types in selection is especially under-researched.Research approach, design and method: The study utilised a cross-sectional survey design. The convenience sample constituted (N = 299) supervisory and professionally qualified, experienced specialists from various organisations in Zimbabwe. The GAMA, AES, WEIS, MBTI, Form M and JPS were administered.Main findings: Structural equation modelling indicated CI as the best predictor of job performance, followed by ability EI and then by personality types. Trait EI could not account for any variance in job performance.Practical implications/managerial implications: Personnel selection models in the Zimbabwean context could consider including the empirically demonstrated variables in selection practices.Contribution/value-add: The research advanced personnel selection theory by empirically and scientifically identifying the core elements of, and proposing a personnel selection model for use by human resources practitioners and organisations in the African context.

Does Emotional Intelligence Buffer the Effects of Acute Stress? A Systematic Review

People with higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI: adaptive emotional traits, skills, and abilities) typically achieve more positive life outcomes, such as psychological wellbeing, educational attainment, and job-related success. Although the underpinning mechanisms linking EI with those outcomes are largely unknown, it has been suggested that EI may work as a "stress buffer." Theoretically, when faced with a stressful situation, emotionally intelligent individuals should show a more adaptive response than those with low EI, such as reduced reactivity (less mood deterioration, less physiological arousal), and faster recovery once the threat has passed. A growing number of studies have begun to investigate that hypothesis in respect to EI measured as both an ability (AEI) and trait (TEI), but results are unclear. To test the "stress-buffering" function of EI, we systematically reviewed experimental studies that explored the relationship between both types of EI and acute stress reactivity or recovery. By searching four databases, we identified 45 eligible studies. Results indicated that EI was only adaptive in certain contexts, and that findings differed according to stressor type, and how EI was measured. In terms of stress reactivity, TEI related to less mood deterioration during sports-based stressors (e.g., competitions), physical discomfort (e.g., dental procedure), and cognitive stressors (e.g., memory tasks), but did not appear as helpful in other contexts (e.g., public speaking). Furthermore, effects of TEI on physiological stress responses, such as heart rate, were inconsistent. Effects of AEI on subjective and objective stress reactivity were often non-significant, with high levels detrimental in some cases. However, data suggest that both higher AEI and TEI relate to faster recovery from acute stress. In conclusion, results provide mixed support for the stress-buffering effect of EI. Limitations and quality of studies are also discussed. Findings could have implications for EI training programmes.

Increases in Emotional Intelligence After an Online Training Program Are Associated With Better Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task

Higher levels of emotional intelligence have been associated with better inter and intrapersonal functioning. In the present study, 59 healthy men and women were randomized into either a three-week online training program targeted to improve emotional intelligence (n = 29), or a placebo control training program targeted to improve awareness of nonemotional aspects of the environment (n = 30). Compared to placebo, participants in the emotional intelligence training group showed increased performance on the total emotional intelligence score of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, a performance measure of emotional intelligence, as well as subscales of perceiving emotions and facilitating thought. Moreover, after emotional intelligence training, but not after placebo training, individuals displayed the ability to arrive at optimal performance faster (i.e., they showed a faster learning rate) during an emotion-guided decision-making task (i.e., the Iowa Gambling Task). More specifically, although both groups showed similar performance at the start of the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining, the participants in the emotional intelligence training group learned to choose more advantageous than disadvantageous decks than those in the placebo training group by the time they reached the "hunch" period of the task (i.e., the point in the task when implicit task learning is thought to have occurred). Greater total improvements in performance on the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining in the emotional intelligence training group were also positively correlated with pre- to posttraining changes in Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores, in particular with changes in the ability to perceive emotions. The present study provides preliminary evidence that emotional intelligence can be trained with the help of an online training program targeted at adults; it also suggests that changes in emotional intelligence, as a result of such a program, can lead to improved emotion-guided decision-making.

Impact of three task demand factors on simulated unmanned system intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operations

The present study investigated how three task demand factors influenced performance, subjective workload and stress of novice intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance operators within a simulation of an unmanned ground vehicle. Manipulations were task type, dual-tasking and event rate. Participants were required to discriminate human targets within a street scene from a direct video feed (threat detection [TD] task) and detect changes in symbols presented in a map display (change detection [CD] task). Dual-tasking elevated workload and distress, and impaired performance for both tasks. However, with increasing event rate, CD task deteriorated, but TD improved. Thus, standard workload models provide a better guide to evaluating the demands of abstract symbols than to processing realistic human characters. Assessment of stress and workload may be especially important in the design and evaluation of systems in which human character critical signals must be detected in video images. Practitioner Summary: This experiment assessed subjective workload and stress during threat and CD tasks performed alone and in combination. Results indicated an increase in event rate led to significant improvements in performance during TD, but decrements during CD, yet both had associated increases in workload and engagement.

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Cool and Hot Cognitive Processes: A Systematic Review

Although emotion and cognition were considered to be separate aspects of the psyche in the past, researchers today have demonstrated the existence of an interplay between the two processes. Emotional intelligence (EI), or the ability to perceive, use, understand, and regulate emotions, is a relatively young concept that attempts to connect both emotion and cognition. While EI has been demonstrated to be positively related to well-being, mental and physical health, and non-aggressive behaviors, little is known about its underlying cognitive processes. The aim of the present study was to systematically review available evidence about the relationship between EI and cognitive processes as measured through "cool" (i.e., not emotionally laden) and "hot" (i.e., emotionally laden) laboratory tasks. We searched Scopus and Medline to find relevant articles in Spanish and English, and divided the studies following two variables: cognitive processes (hot vs. cool) and EI instruments used (performance-based ability test, self-report ability test, and self-report mixed test). We identified 26 eligible studies. The results provide a fair amount of evidence that performance-based ability EI (but not self-report EI tests) is positively related with efficiency in hot cognitive tasks. EI, however, does not appear to be related with cool cognitive tasks: neither through self-reporting nor through performance-based ability instruments. These findings suggest that performance-based ability EI could improve individuals' emotional information processing abilities.

Intelligent topical sentiment analysis for the classification of e-learners and their topics of interest

Every day, huge numbers of instant tweets (messages) are published on Twitter as it is one of the massive social media for e-learners interactions. The options regarding various interesting topics to be studied are discussed among the learners and teachers through the capture of ideal sources in Twitter. The common sentiment behavior towards these topics is received through the massive number of instant messages about them. In this paper, rather than using the opinion polarity of each message relevant to the topic, authors focus on sentence level opinion classification upon using the unsupervised algorithm named bigram item response theory (BIRT). It differs from the traditional classification and document level classification algorithm. The investigation illustrated in this paper is of threefold which are listed as follows: (1) lexicon based sentiment polarity of tweet messages; (2) the bigram cooccurrence relationship using naïve Bayesian; (3) the bigram item response theory (BIRT) on various topics. It has been proposed that a model using item response theory is constructed for topical classification inference. The performance has been improved remarkably using this bigram item response theory when compared with other supervised algorithms. The experiment has been conducted on a real life dataset containing different set of tweets and topics.

Individual Differences in Facial Emotion Processing

This study tested whether trait emotional intelligence (TEI) measures of narrow bandwidth predict perception of facial emotion, using two tasks: identification of microexpressions of emotion and controlled visual search for target emotions. A total of 129 undergraduates completed multiple scales for TEI, as well as cognitive ability, personality, and stress measures. TEI was associated with a reduced stress response, but failed to predict performance on either task, contrary to the initial hypothesis. However, performance related significantly to higher cognitive intelligence, subjective task engagement, and use of task-focused coping. Individual differences in attentional resources may support processing of both emotive and non-emotive stimuli.