SREIS-D

Training Emotional Intelligence Online: An Evaluation of WEIT 2.0

With the growing popularity of online courses, there is an increasing need for scientifically validated online interventions that can improve emotional competencies. We addressed this demand by evaluating an extended version of the Web-Based Emotional Intelligence Training (WEIT 2.0) program. Based on the four-branch model of emotional intelligence, WEIT 2.0 focuses on improving participants' emotion perception and emotion regulation skills. A total of 214 participants were randomly assigned to the training group (n = 91) or a waiting list control group (n = 123) to evaluate short-term (directly after WEIT 2.0) and long-term intervention effects (8 weeks later). Two-way MANOVAs and mixed ANOVAs showed significant treatment effects for self-reported emotion perception of the self, as well as emotion regulation of the self and others, after 8 weeks. No significant treatment effects were found for self-reported emotion perception in others or for performance-based emotion perception or emotion regulation. Moderator analyses revealed no significant effects of digital affinity on training success from the pretest to the posttest. The findings suggest that components of self-reported emotional intelligence can be enhanced through WEIT 2.0, but performance-based emotional intelligence cannot. Further research is needed on the online training of emotional intelligence and the mechanisms that underlie training success.

Positive attentional bias mediates the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and trait affect

Emotional intelligence and, in particular, the component emotion regulation may increase well-being and improve mood and coping with negative emotions. In the present eye-tracking study, we examined whether attention allocation to positive stimuli mediates the relationship between emotion regulation abilities and trait affect. Gaze behavior of 104 healthy adults was analyzed in a free-viewing task, in which happy, sad, angry, and neutral faces were shown simultaneously for ten seconds. Dwell time on facial expressions was used as indicator of attention allocation. Trait emotional intelligence was assessed using the Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale. Self-report measures of state and trait positive and negative affect, trait anxiety, and depression were administered. In general, participants viewed longer at happy than at negative or neutral faces. The results of mediation analyses indicated that intrapersonal and interpersonal emotion regulation abilities were indirectly related to trait positive affect through attention to happy faces. Moreover, dwell time on happy faces had a mediating effect on the relationship between interpersonal emotion regulation ability and trait anxiety. Preference for positive social signals might form one attentional pathway through which emotion regulation abilities promote positive mood and buffer the development of anxiety reactions in everyday life.

Reading Emotions in Faces With and Without Masks Is Relatively Independent of Extended Exposure and Individual Difference Variables

The ability to read emotions in faces helps humans efficiently assess social situations. We tested how this ability is affected by aspects of familiarization with face masks and personality, with a focus on emotional intelligence (measured with an ability test, the MSCEIT, and a self-report scale, the SREIS). To address aspects of the current pandemic situation, we used photos of not only faces per se but also of faces that were partially covered with face masks. The sample (N = 49), the size of which was determined by an a priori power test, was recruited in Germany and consisted of healthy individuals of different ages [M = 24.8 (18-64) years]. Participants assessed the emotional expressions displayed by six different faces determined by a 2 (sex) × 3 (age group: young, medium, and old) design. Each person was presented with six different emotional displays (angry, disgusted, fearful, happy, neutral, and sad) with or without a face mask. Accuracy and confidence were lower with masks-in particular for the emotion disgust (very often misinterpreted as anger) but also for happiness, anger, and sadness. When comparing the present data collected in July 2021 with data from a different sample collected in May 2020, when people first started to familiarize themselves with face masks in Western countries during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, we did not detect an improvement in performance. There were no effects of participants' emotional intelligence, sex, or age regarding their accuracy in assessing emotional states in faces for unmasked or masked faces.