"The latest entry into the EI debate comes from Victoria University's Stjepan Sambol and colleagues (2025), who ask whether it's self- or other-focused abilities that count in high-stakes situations. Defining EI ability as "a set of emotion-related cognitive skills," they set out to compare which of these cognitive skills would be of greatest value in doing well on a set of real-life tasks."
"Rather than just asking people to rate their own EI, the Victoria U. research team used an EI ability measure that taps into EI's various facets. The measure, known as the Meyer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), includes scales that require test-takers to evaluate their own emotions, read the emotions of others from facial cue cards or pictures, manage emotions in themselves and others, and say how they would respond to various emotional scenarios."
Emotional intelligence ability consists of emotion-related cognitive skills including understanding personal emotions, reading others, managing emotions, and responding to scenarios. Ability-based assessments like the MSCEIT require judgments about one’s own emotions, others’ facial cues, and emotion management rather than simple self-ratings. Performance on high-stakes, real-life decision tasks is better predicted by competence in understanding one’s own emotions than by skills focused on reading others. Trait self-ratings provide less diagnostic information for practical decision performance than ability-based measures. Greater self-understanding of emotional states supports more effective choices under pressure.
Read at Psychology Today
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