How does emotional intelligence relate to adolescents’ interpretation of cues for disgust?

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the relationship of emotional intelligence and age to adolescents’ (11–17 years) free labelling responses to proposed facial expressions and situations for disgust. Emotional intelligence continues to develop throughout adolescence and may provide needed cognitive support for linking the disgust face to the disgust script. Emotional intelligence, specifically, regulating one’s own and others emotions, and age predicted adolescents’ labelling of disgust facial expressions (but not situations) as disgusted. Older adolescents (15–17 years) were more likely to label disgust faces as disgusted than were younger adolescents (11–14 years) – an effect not found for disgust situations. Labelling the disgust face as disgusted continues to increase until late adolescence. The addition of the disgust face to the disgust script occurs in late adolescence and it is related to the cognitive abilities associated with emotional intelligence.

KEYWORDS:

• Emotional intelligence
• facial expressions
• disgust
• adolescence
• emotion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2017.1362373