Perceived emotional intelligence facilitates cognitive-emotional processes of adaptation to an acute stressor

Abstract

This study examined the influence of perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) and intrusive thoughts on emotional responses following a stressful event. PEI was assessed on 144 participants using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS). The TMMS assesses perceived ability to: (1) attend to moods (Attention); (2) discriminate clearly among moods (Clarity); and (3) regulate moods (Repair). The main purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship between PEI, intrusive thoughts, and adjustment to an acute stressor induced experimentally in the laboratory, on two separate days. Finally, we examined the relationship between PEI, Inhibition, and Empathy. Results indicated that Clarity influences emotional responses on Day 1, and Repair affects emotional responses on Day 2 indirectly via intrusive thoughts, which act as a mediator. Significant associations were obtained between the three factors of the TMMS with Empathy and Inhibition. These findings suggest that individuals with higher emotional Clarity and Repair will experience less negative emotional responses and intrusive thoughts after an acute stressor, which enables them to adapt more readily to the experience.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded in part by project No. BSO2003–02573 from the Ministry of Education and Culture. This experiment was approved by Institutional Research Board of the University of Malaga. We are grateful to Stephen Lepore, Peter Salovey, and Maria Cavas for their comments and contributions to our work.

We wish to express our thanks to Craig A. Smith and anonymous reviewers for their constructive and very helpful suggestions and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript.