Toward an integrated profile of emotional intelligence: introducing a brief measure.

Over the last decade, an increasing number of research studies have focused on the construct of Emotional Intelligence (EI), which may be broadly defined as the capacity to perceive and regulate emotions in oneself as well as those of others. Researchers have generally adopted an organizational or management focus to the study of EI, however studies which adopt a more integrated perspective by combining psychological with biological measures, may help in further elucidating this relatively abstract construct. The first objective of this paper was to report on the psychometric properties of a brief, self-report measure of EI (Brain Resource Inventory for Emotional intelligence Factors or BRIEF), comprising internal emotional capacity (IEC), external emotional capacity (EEC) and self concept (SELF). Second, we further explored the validity of the measure by assessing the relationships between the BRIEF and variables considered relevant to the understanding of EI (including gender, age, personality, cognitive intelligence and resting state electroencephalography, EEG). The BRIEF possessed sound psychometric properties (internal consistency, r=0.68-0.81; test-retest reliability, r=0.92; construct validity with the Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test, r=0.70). As hypothesized, females were found to score higher than males on EI. EI was associated more with personality than with cognitive ability, and EEG was found to explain a significant portion of the variance in EI scores. The finding that low EI is related to underarousal of the left-frontal cortex (increased theta EEG) is consistent with research on patients with depression, as well as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although EI did not display age-related increases, this might relate to the exclusion of adolescents from our sample. In conclusion, examination of the way in which EI measures relate to a complementary range of psychological and biological measures may help to further elucidate this construct.