Commentary: Putting ‘Emotional Intelligences' in Their Place: Introducing the Integrated Model of Affect-Related Individual Differences

摘要

Recently, Hughes and Evans (2018) have published an extensive review of variables linked to theconcept of emotional intelligence (EI). From a critically developing of the latter construct, they haveproposed an integrating model that overcomes the identified limitations. Among these limitations,the faults in content, construct, criteria, and discriminant validity of many of the facets attributedto EI were highlighted. The most substantial criticism was focused on the lack of conceptualdelimitation and the absence of an explicit theory linking the traditionally identified facets ofEI. The latter is also associated with a lack of integration or distinction with other key variablesthat have strong prior theoretical and empirical development, such as emotional regulation. Inorder to resolve these limitations, Hughes and Evans (2018) propose an integrative theoreticalmodel that contemplates the following main variables: (a) ability EI; (b) affect-related personalitytraits; and (c) emotional regulation. Although we agree with the authors on the advantages of thismodel and its validity, we consider that the proposed model takes in to account only controlled orelaborative information processing, which generally predominates in benign-safes contexts. In thissense, the model does not contemplate more reactive or automatic affective-cognitive processes,whose predominance is more evident in stressful situations.