情動知能の機能に関する実験研究の課題と展望

Abstract

By using the questionnaire method, the majority of previous studies on emotional intelligence have demonstrated that emotionally intelligent people can achieve various good social outcomes such as well-being, interpersonal relationships, job performance, and academic achievement. However, some researchers have made the criticism that studies on emotional intelligence are descriptive in nature and do not explore underlying psychological processes in depth. It remains unclear how emotional intelligence functions for concrete reactions or behaviors in a given situation to achieve good social outcomes. This limitation leads to ambiguity of the concept of emotional intelligence. Under these circumstances, some experimental studies have been conducted to clarify the functions of emotional intelligence. This paper reviews these experimental studies and shows the specific functions of emotional intelligence on the basis of four facets, self-emotion appraisal, regulation of emotions in the self, other-emotion appraisal, and regulation of emotions in others. This paper also discusses limitations and prospects for future studies.