The Power of EI Competencies Over Intelligence and Individual Performance: A Task-Dependent Model.

Prior research on emotional intelligence (EI) has highlighted the use of incremental models that assume EI and general intelligence (or ) make independent contributions to performance. Questioning this assumption, we study EI's moderation power over the relationship between and individual performance, by designing and testing a task-dependent interaction model. Reconciling divergent findings in previous studies, we propose that whenever social tasks are at stake, has a greater effect on performance as EI increases.

EI competencies as a related but different characteristic than intelligence.

Amid the swarm of debate about emotional intelligence (EI) among academics are claims that cognitive intelligence, or general mental ability (g), is a stronger predictor of life and work outcomes as well as the counter claims that EI is their strongest predictor. Nested within the tempest in a teapot are scientific questions as to what the relationship is between g and EI. Using a behavioral approach to EI, we examined the relationship of a parametric measure of g as the person's GMAT scores and collected observations from others who live and work with the person as to the frequency of his or her EI behavior, as well as the person's self-assessment.