Does emotional intelligence make you a better leader, soldier, athlete?

The suggestion that 85% of successful leadership performance can be explained by EI (Goleman, 1995), is probably a gross exaggeration, however it has attracted the training industry. Despite the popularity that surrounds EI training interventions, empirical studies on EI development are limited in number. Furthermore, most information on this issue is anecdotal and widely dispersed across a host of academic books, professional websites, consulting literature, and trade magazines (Groves, et al., 2008). The majority of EI training programs were designed for managers, few for athletes and coaches, and the idea to use EI training for the fighting force is only now being discussed.

Developing EI in project managers, international governmental and nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders

Studies that investigate the influence of EI training on manager performance are rare, even rarer are those that employ adequate methodology (e.g., random sampling, an active control group). Clarke (2010) in a pre/posttest quasi-experimental design investigated the influence of a two-day training program that was designed to improve a number of emotional abilities and empathy among UK project managers. Because project management attempts to get the best input from a wide range of technical specialists and experts, it was assumed that EI training could increase their performance. Especially as it is estimated that almost 80% of project success depends on the ability of project managers to effectively manage relationships between all of the parties involved. The results showed positive effects in a 6 months follow up on the EI factor of understanding emotions as well as on two project manager competences – teamwork and managing conflict.

The study by Nafukho et al. (2016) investigated the influence of an EI training program on 38 NGO leaders coming from 30 countries. The 5-day EI training workshop focused on self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, and relationship-management skills. The sessions allowed participants to (i) review the results of their EI test scores, (ii) discuss the challenges that they faced, (iii) receive personal feedback based on the coach’s observations of their behaviors during the workshop, and (iv) develop individual strategies to improve their emotional intelligence skills with the assistance of the instructor. The results showed that after the training there was growth in all five EI dimensions as well as in the total EI score. The highest growth occurred in the interpersonal dimension followed by general mood, adaptability and total EI. The smallest growth was observed for stress management and intrapersonal dimensions.

Two studies by Kathryn Thory (2013; 2016), investigated the influence of different EI training programs on the ability to regulate emotions and develop meaningfulness at work. Her analysis was based on data collected from participant observations and interviews with trainers and managers of ‘popular’ EI training courses. In her first study eight emotion regulation strategies that were classified as attention deployment, cognitive change and response modulation were analyzed. Data were collected from 40 hours of participant observation on three EI training courses (Bar-On, Goleman and hybrid courses) and 30 in-depth interviews. Training participants worked in a range of industry sectors as well as local government, police and education. After training the participants most often used the stop[1] and mindfulness[2] strategy, as well as the pencil[3] method, but were less inclined to use cognitive change strategies such as the ABCD method which requires participants to examine thoughts, emotions and beliefs arising from an event, exploring the consequences of these processes and then disputing them. In comparison with the more popular methods, the ABCD technique is most complex and time consuming which is probably the reason for the low popularity given the time constraints managers face in their everyday work.

Her second study (Thory, 2016) followed a similar design as the first one. The obtained qualitative data were analyzed with the Lips-Wiersma and Morris’s (2009) model of meaningful work. Meaningfulness at work was defined as the value of a work goal, judged in relation to individuals’ ideals and standards. The Lips-Wiersma and Morris model identifies four sources of meaningfulness (self versus others, and doing versus being): Developing the inner self (self/being), expressing full potential (self/doing), unity with others (others/being) and serving others (others/doing). The interviews with the participants revealed that all of the interviewed managers engaged in developing the inner self, half of them drew on a drive towards achievement and tried to make their work more meaningful by expressing one’s potential. In addition, two-thirds of the respondents adopted increased practices in unity with others or serving others at work as a consequence of attending the EI training course.

EI training in sports

In a systematic review of 36 studies on the influence of EI on sport performance, Laborde et al. (2016) found that EI relates to emotions, physiological stress responses, successful psychological skill usage, and more successful athletic performance, positive attitudes toward physical activity and to effective leadership and function of athlete coaches. From this perspective, EI training in sports would be beneficial to all individuals involved in sport. However, few studies were conducted to address this question. Crombie et al. (2011) investigated the influence of EI training on 24 cricketers who were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. The experimental group received 10 3-h EI training sessions that targeted the four branches of Mayer and Salovey’s EI model – namely emotion perception, facilitation, understanding, and managing. The study found that EI training was associated with greater increases in ability EI than a control condition.

In the second study, 20 netballers were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group (Barlow & Banks, 2014). The participants of the experimental group attended a 30-min one-to-one coaching session that consisted of feedback and discussion of EI scores. The study found that trained netballers had greater increases in self-efficacy and greater decreases in anxiety than those assigned to the control condition. Campo et al. (2016) investigated the effectiveness of an EI training intervention on 67 rugby players. The intervention consisted of four face-to-face sessions over a 5-month period. The results showed that the intervention was effective in regard to increasing specific aspects of trait EI (i.e., social competence, emotion perception, and emotion management) but not global trait EI. In addition, when using age as a covariate, it decreased the effect size and as a result no significant improvements could be found on the individual EI subscales and EI factors.

I am in the army now

The usefulness of EI training for the fighting force is still only being discussed. It is most often believed that as a high-risk profession, the military should prioritize technical ability and training (Daffey-Moore, 2015). However in most missions, the boundaries between conflict and humanitarian assistance are often blurred, forcing the soldiers to make unprepared decisions. “It was suggested that if the military were to introduce EI into the training programme, it should be commenced on entry to the military and then continued all the way through with the support of the leaders from the top” (Daffey-Moore, 2015, p. 16). A similar conclusion was also put forward by Lackey (2011). Army leaders facing the Long War[4] should be emotionally intelligent.

EI training holds promise for improving the emotional experience of leaders, athletes, coaches, officials, spectators, regular exercisers and the fighting force - yet when analyzing the empirical data one could conclude: much ado about nothing.

References

Barlow A, Banks AP. Using emotional intelligence in coaching high-performance athletes: a randomised controlled trial. Coaching 2014: 1–8: 132–139.

Campo, M., Laborde, S., & Mosley, E. (2016). Emotional Intelligence Training in Team Sports: The Influence of a Season Long Intervention Program on Trait Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Individual Differences, 37(3), 152–158. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000201

Clarke, N. (2010). The impact of a training programme designed to target the emotional intelligence abilities of project managers. International Journal of Project Management, 28(5), 461–468. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2009.08.004

Crombie D, Lombard C, Noakes TD. (2011) Increasing emotional intelligence in cricketers: an intervention study. Int J Sports Sci Coach 6: 69–86.

Daffey-Moore, E. K. (2015). Is emotional intelligence relevant to a fighting force? Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps, 161(Suppl 1), i14–i16. https://doi.org/10.1136/jramc-2015-000548

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

Groves, K. S., Pat McEnrue, M., & Shen, W. (2008). Developing and measuring the emotional intelligence of leaders. Journal of Management Development, 27(2), 225–250. https://doi.org/10.1108/02621710810849353

Laborde, S., Dosseville, F., & Allen, M. S. (2016). Emotional intelligence in sport and exercise: A systematic review: Emotional intelligence. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 26(8), 862–874. https://doi.org/10.1111/sms.12510

Lackey RB. Emotional Intelligence Training: a missing element in our army? Fires 2011. http://www.thefreelibrary.com//print/printArticle.aspx?id=265575071

Lips-Wiersma, M. and Morris, L. (2009), ‘Discriminating between “meaningful work” and the “management of meaning”, Journal of Business Ethics, 88, 3, 491–511.

Nafukho, F. M., Muyia, M. H., Farnia, F., Kacirek, K., & Lynham, S. A. (2016). Developing Emotional Intelligence Skills among Practicing Leaders: Reality or Myth? Performance Improvement Quarterly, 29(1), 71–87. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21215

Thory, K. (2013). Teaching managers to regulate their emotions better: insights from emotional intelligence training and work-based application. Human Resource Development International, 16(1), 4–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2012.738473

Thory, K. (2016). Developing meaningfulness at work through emotional intelligence training: Developing meaningfulness at work. International Journal of Training and Development, 20(1), 58–77. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijtd.12069

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[1] Participants were asked to shout the word ‘STOP’ in their mind whenever an anxious or a troublesome thought appeared.

[2] Fostering present moment awareness in guiding attention away from worrying about things beyond one’s control.

[3] Managers were asked to stand up and hold a pen tightly in front of them in an outstretched hand repeating: “Could you let this feeling go?”

[4] "Long War", a name proposed in 2006 by U.S. military leaders for the war on terror.

Misbehavior and aggression

Aggressive behavior and interpersonal conflicts among children and youth continue to be common problems in educational systems across the globe. Therefore, many emotional training programs have been developed in the school context with the aim of improving social and emotional learning in children and adolescents. Although these programs cannot be regarded as pure EI training, they target some of the components of the EI construct. A recent meta-analysis by Durlak et al. (2011) on social and emotional learning (SEL) programs, consisting of 213 studies involving 270,034 kindergarten through high school students, revealed significantly improved social and emotional skills, attitudes, behavior, and academic performance. The overall effect size was = 0.30, highest for social skills 0.57, and lower for the components more close to the EI ability construct (0.22 – 0.24). Trained students demonstrated enhanced SEL skills, attitudes, and positive social behaviors and also demonstrated fewer conduct problems and had lower levels of emotional distress. The effect sizes remained significant also at follow-up.

The number of studies designed within the EI theoretical framework is less prominent (e.g., Bagheri et al., 2016;  Castillio et al., 2013; Hojjat et al., 2017;  Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012). Most often used was the INTEMO project (Castillio et al., 2013; Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012). It consists of four groups of interventions with core training procedures and supplementation activities:

1. Perception, appraisal and expression of emotion. Students are asked to work in groups to identify the emotions shown in specific pictures and deducing some emotional clues in hypothetical scenarios, according to theoretical evidences.
2. Emotional facilitation of thinking. Induced are different types of emotions through music, poems, stories, etc. The classroom then continues to work in two teams in which they debate and brainstorm the meaning of several uncertain questions or abstract designs. The responses are evaluated with respect to their usefulness.
3. Understanding and analyzing emotions and employing emotional knowledge. In this activity the trainer displays a great amount of emotional vocabulary according to seven emotional types (e.g., happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, surprise and shame). Students must match every emotional word according to its meaning into the appropriate emotional category.
4. Reflective regulation of emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth. Debated are effective and ineffective regulation strategies. Students are assigned an emotion and they are asked to think about situations that have made them feel well and note what strategies have been used to reduce, avoid or increase such emotions. Then, they are asked to fit the regulation strategies into four quadrants (Coping  versus Avoidance and Thought versus Behavior)

The program has been carried out in two Spanish samples: (1) 147 (69 control group) randomly selected and distributed students attending secondary school (mean age = 14 years) (Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012), and (2) 590 (229 control group) adolescents (mean age = 14 years) (Castillio et al., 2013). Both studies revealed that students who participated in the INTEMO program reported better psychosocial adjustment (e.g., lower levels of depression and anxiety, less atypicality, somatization, and social stress, and higher self-esteem) compared to students in the control group. The study by Castillio et al. (2013) additionally showed that the EI program was particularly effective for males’ empathic abilities.

In the Bagheri et al. (2016) study, the sample consisted of undergraduate students of law, mechanical engineering, computer and civil engineering from a university in Iran. There were 60 participants in the training group and 30 in the control group. The EI training course was based on the ability EI theoretical framework similar to the INTEMO. The training involved six sessions of two and half hours spread over six weeks. The results indicated that the experimental group had a significant increase in emotion regulation, utilization, the appraisal of emotions and emotional intelligence scores between pre- and post-test.

The EI training by Nelis et al. (2011) targeted emotional competencies in adult individuals. Conducted were two studies – the first evaluated the effectiveness of the training by relying on tests measuring near transfer effects, while in the second study also far transfer effects (e.g., mental disorders, somatic complaints, happiness, life satisfaction, global social functioning and employability) were analyzed. The training was designed to enhance specific emotional competences, such as understanding emotions, identifying one’s own emotions, identifying others’ emotions, regulating one’s own emotions, regulating others’ emotions, and using positive emotions to foster well-being. These competences were introduced to participants in short lectures, role-playing games, group discussions, and work in dyads. The results of both studies showed that participants in the EI training group reported a significant improvement of their physical health, mental health, happiness, life satisfaction, and global social functioning. Likewise, employability also increased following the EI intervention, as a diverse panel of human resource professionals were more likely to hire participants after the training.

EI training interventions have also been designed to target specific vulnerable subgroups. Hojjat et al. (2017) analyzed the effectiveness of emotional intelligence group training on anger in adolescents with substance-abusing fathers. The sample consisted of 60 high school boys in the city of Bojnurd in northeastern Iran. The training consisted of 7 sessions providing information on emotions, understanding their meaning, the effects of extreme emotions on behavior, reviewing the necessity of managing emotions and developing emotion control skills. The results of this study indicated that training for emotional intelligence skills was effective in reducing anger in adolescents with substance-abusing fathers. The training was effective in all four areas of trait anger, state anger, anger control-in, and anger control-out.

This brief review indicates that ability EI-based interventions, as well as the more broadly designed training of social and emotional learning, show substantial positive effects on aggressive behavior and reduce misbehavior in the classroom.

References

Bagheri, Z., Kosnin, A. M., & Besharat, M. A. (2016). Improving Emotion Regulation skills through an Emotional Intelligence Training Course. Retrieved from http://dspace.khazar.org/jspui/handle/123456789/3466

Castillo, R., Salguero, J. M., Fernández-Berrocal, P., & Balluerka, N. (2013). Effects of an emotional intelligence intervention on aggression and empathy among adolescents. Journal of Adolescence, 36(5), 883–892. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2013.07.001

Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2010). To appear in Child Development (In press). Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joseph_Durlak/publication/49807966_The_impact_of_enhancing_students’_social_and_emotional_learning_a_meta-analysis_of_school-based_universal_interventions/links/09e4150edd42ebba38000000.pdf

Hojjat, S. K., Rezaei, M., Namadian, G., Hatami, S. E., & Norozi Khalili, M. (2017). Effectiveness of Emotional Intelligence Group Training on Anger in Adolescents With Substance-Abusing Fathers. Journal of Child & Adolescent Substance Abuse, 26(1), 24–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/1067828X.2016.1178614

Nelis, D., Kotsou, I., Quoidbach, J., Hansenne, M., Weytens, F., Dupuis, P., & Mikolajczak, M. (2011). Increasing emotional competence improves psychological and physical well-being, social relationships, and employability. Emotion, 11(2), 354–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0021554

Ruiz-Aranda, D., Salguero, J. M., Cabello, R., Palomera, R., & -Berrocal, P. F. (2012). Can an Emotional Intelligence Program Improve Adolescents’ Psychosocial Adjustment? Results from the Intemo Project. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 40(8), 1373–1379. https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2012.40.8.1373

How to get rid of stress and burnout?

The idea that higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI) are beneficial in preventing occupational stress and burnout can be to some extent deduced from the theoretical models explaining them. According to the transactional model, a person experiences stress when the perceived demands of the environment are greater than their ability to cope with them (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). As shown in Figure 1, individuals differ in their stress response. The appraisal of the same situation will for some persons be threatening, whereas to others it will appear harmless. In other words, individuals can either think that it is possible to deal with the problem (prepare to take some action towards handling the situation), or have the feeling that one cannot cope with the situation that causes stress – feeling a sense of helplessness in relation to managing the situation. 

Figure 1: The Stress appraisal and coping model (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984).

Burnout and depression represent two major public health concerns affecting not only employed adults but also students (Tement et al., 2016). While depression tends to be context-free, burnout is a work-related mental health impairment comprising three dimensions: emotional exhaustion (state of reduced emotions), depersonalization (negative approach to people) and reduced personal accomplishment (low self-efficacy) (Awa et al., 2010). Most often it results from stress in asymmetrical professional relationships between a helper (being under stress) and the help recipient. This is usually the case with professionals like physicians, nurses, teachers or social workers, to name just the most common ones. Hence, most EI training programs have been designed to address the needs of these professionals.

The Swinburne Stress Management Program (SSMP) was designed to teach employees to manage occupational stress through the development of EI (Hansen et al., 2007). The program, although from its theoretical framework designed to meet the needs of a broader group of professionals, was mainly used with teachers (e.g., Veseley et al., 2014). In a three level classification of approaches to manage occupational stress, SSMP addresses the secondary level including activities designed to change an individual’s reaction to stressors [1].  The program consists of three components: (i) conceptual information about the nature of stress, its relationship to the emotional intelligence construct and the value of developing emotional intelligence in the workplace; (ii) self-assessments as tools to build awareness of individual EI strengths and deficiencies; (iii) skills training to develop personal strategies to improve emotional intelligence and to manage work stressors (e.g., developing a more expansive emotional vocabulary to improve interpersonal communication; identifying and practicing skills underpinning active listening, practicing emotional reasoning skills; learning emotional management strategies, and rehearsing better ways to control strong emotions when experiencing stress).

The efficiency of the SSMP was first assessed on a sample of 79 primary and secondary school teachers. The results indicated that the program was successful in improving the participants’ EI, reducing their occupational stress and improving their psychological and physical well-being, which was maintained at a five-week follow-up interval (Hansen et al., 2007). In a more recent study by Veseley et al. (2014), a modified version of the SSMP was administered to pre-service teachers (n = 49) over a five-week period. The results indicated that the trained group had higher self-report scores on just one EI scale (WLEIS). WLEIS is a self-report EI measure with four ability dimensions based on the appraisal, understanding, expression, and management of emotion in the self and others.

The study by Patil et al. (2016) assessed the effect of EI training in physiotherapy interns to help them understand their patients better and enhance their self-awareness while patients' perceived change in care was examined. Included were 8 physiotherapy interns who were trained on EI via lectures, case vignettes and discussion. The training program encompassed 6 modules including (i) general information about EI, (ii) the relevance of EI in day to day life, hospital and doctor-patient settings, (iii) discussions with examples using EI in managing anger, fear, guilt and resentment with a focused awareness of self and relationship management; (iv) EI at the workplace with friends and colleagues, social skills training and relaxation techniques, (v) case examples and discussions on EI in physiotherapy settings; in career growth; in dealing with difficult patients, and in end of life care; (vi) revision of all modules; feedback and reflective writing. The analysis of scores on the retrospective questionnaire revealed a significant change in self-awareness and personal emotional attitudes in the interns. Furthermore, patients under the care of the trained group perceived a significant increase in therapist consultation and relational empathy.

The study by Biggart et al. (2016) evaluated the effect of EI training on stress and burnout in 209 child and family social workers in the UK. A 2-day EI training course was offered that included information on EI, the function of emotions, identifying and understanding them along with managing them and interpreting EI individual feedback profiles. Each participant received an EI profile and feedback from the MSCEIT. The study also employed an active control group. The results showed no statistically significant effects of EI training on psychological or physiological strain or on emotional exhaustion.

This brief review of EI training approaches has revealed several methodological shortcomings of the studies, such as small sample size, lack of a control group or the use of passive control groups. However, when a more conservative methodology was applied (e.g., Biggart et al., 2016), no training effects could be observed - a conclusion which is in line with the shortcomings in EI training already discussed in our previous blog on general characteristics of EI training approaches.

References

Awa, W. L., Plaumann, M., & Walter, U. (2010). Burnout prevention: A review of intervention programs. Patient Education and Counseling, 78(2), 184–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2009.04.008

Biggart, L., Ward, E.,  Cook, L., Stride, C., Schofield, G., Corr, P., Fletcher,C., Bowler, J., Jordan, P and Baile, S. (2016). Emotional Intelligence and Burnout in Child and Family Social Work: Implications for policy and practice. Centre for Research on Children and Families, University of East Anglia.

Hansen, K., Gardner, L., & Stough, C. (2007). Improving occupational stress through emotional intelligence development. Organizations and People, 14, 70-75.

Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, Appraisal and Coping. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Patil, V., Naik, R., & De Sousa, A. (2016). A Study of the Impact of Emotional Intelligence Training in Physiotherapy Interns a Pilot Study. International Journal of Physiotherapy, 3(2). https://doi.org/10.15621/ijphy/2016/v3i2/94874

Tement, S., Pahor, A., & Jaušovec, N. (2016). EEG alpha frequency correlates of burnout and depression: The role of gender. Biological Psychology, 114, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2015.11.005

Vesely, A. K., Saklofske, D. H., & Nordstokke, D. W. (2014). EI training and pre-service teacher wellbeing. Personality and Individual Differences, 65, 81–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.052

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[1] Primary interventions include strategies that aim to prevent the occurrence of work stress; tertiary interventions are those that are used to treat the symptoms of stress. 

Can emotional intelligence be taught?

As stressed by Kunnanatt (2004), although emotional intelligence is a new branch of psychology, it is perhaps the record holder of growth in the field of behavioral sciences. One reason for that are the claims that EI can explain  66% of effective performance at work and 85% of successful leadership performance (Goleman, 1995). These claims lack scientific evidence, which was discussed in our blogs about academic performance and leadership.

Another circumstance that contributes to the interest in EI training programs is the fact that in recent years there has been a worldwide increase in work-related mental disorders, affecting all industries and professions (Hansen et al., 2007). Occupational stress, burnout, and job dissatisfaction are considered as primary reasons for low job performance.

Additional support for the idea that higher levels of EI might be helpful in reducing work-related disorders comes from research on the relationship between mental health and emotional intelligence. The growing body of research has already allowed to meta-analyze available evidence on associations of emotion-related skills with physical and mental health (e.g., Martins et al., 2010; Schutte et al., 2007; 2013).  Both meta-analyses revealed moderate effect sizes between EI and health.

The meta-analysis by Schutte et al. (2007), including 44 effect sizes based on the responses of 7,898 participants, found that higher emotional intelligence was associated with better health (r = 0.29 with mental health, r = 0.31 with psychosomatic health, and r = 0.22 with physical health). The strongest associations were observed for the Bar-On EQ-i measure. The second meta-analysis by Martins et al. (2010), which was based on 105 effect sizes and 19,815 participants, revealed a similar trend. When measured as a trait, EI was more strongly associated with health (r =  0.34) than when it was measured as an ability (r = 0.17). The average association with mental (r =  0.36) and psychosomatic health (r =  0.33) was higher than the association with physical health (r =  0.27). From the three moderator variables analyzed – gender, age, and origin of the participants – only gender produced significant differences in the relationship. Studies that used just females significantly increased the effect sizes between trait EI and health.

More recently, Schutte and colleagues (2013, p.67) concluded: “Evidence from studies contrasting emotional intelligence intervention groups with comparison  groups, suggests that training may increase emotional intelligence and improve outcomes related to emotional intelligence. These outcomes include mental and physical health, social relationships and work performance. Much work remains to be done to verify these initial findings and to uncover how training increases emotional intelligence, what specific training works best, and what important outcomes can be produced.”

Multinational corporations have realized that emotions play an equally important role as intelligence in enhancing corporate performance, thus, emotional intelligence training in business is growing into a multimillion dollar training industry, similar to the brain training industry in the increasing intelligence venture.

The central question is, can EI be increased? The programs that claim to do so usually start with some diagnostic of one’s rational-emotional processes (Kunnanatt, 2004). Thereafter participants are trained in different skills based on the theoretical framework of the training program. The program typically focuses on the development of skills related to emotional self-awareness and expression, emotions attached to awareness of others, reasoning, self-management, management of others, self-control, emotional mapping, emotional diagnosis, emotional authentication, emotional navigation, empathy building, and social-influence building (e.g., Kunnanatt, 2004; Vesely, et al., 2013).

Some programs have been designed to meet requirements of specific professional groups such as teachers. The teaching job has been categorized as one of high “emotional labor” (Vesely et al., 2013). The primary source of occupational stress and burnout has been identified in teacher–student interactions. A remedial program developed by Maag (2008) is the Rational–Emotive Therapy (RET) which helps the teacher to deal with students’ misbehavior, to recognize their irrational beliefs (e.g., demandingness, awfulizing, I-can’t-stand-it, condemning, and damning) and provides strategies for combating irrational thinking.

Based on a critical review, Zeidner et al. (2002) pinpointed several shortcomings of these so-called EI training programs. One cardinal issue already outlined in our blog on the construct of EI is whether EI actually exists as a distinct entity that is not explained by constructs such as intelligence and personality. If not, it seems pointless to design programs to enhance and develop it. This issue is also closely related to the problem how to measure the multifaceted construct of EI. As stressed by Zeidner, there is a myriad of programs with a rather meager specific EI content, targeting a wide array of behavioral objectives, including improving social, communication, and life skills, modifying emotional regulation and coping techniques, effective peer-relation training, fostering conflict-resolution and responsible decision-making skills, promoting health, preventing alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drug use; reducing violence, developing self-esteem, and enriching linguistic experiences. Thus a yes/no answer to the question in the title is at the moment not possible.

In our forthcoming blogs, we will focus on two types of EI training programs (i) targeting occupational stress, misbehavior, aggression, drug abuse; and (ii) enhancing EI competencies in project managers, nongovernmental organization leaders, armed forces, in sport and physical activity. 

References

Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence: Why it can matter more than IQ. New York: Bantam Books.

Hansen, K., Gardner, L., & Stough, C. (2007). Improving occupational stress through emotional intelligence development. Organizations and People, 14, 70-75.

Kunnanatt, J. T. (2004). Emotional intelligence: The new science of interpersonal effectiveness. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 15(4), 489–495. https://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.1117

Maag, J. W. (2008). Rational--Emotive Therapy to Help Teachers Control Their Emotions and Behavior When Dealing With Disagreeable Students. Intervention in School and Clinic, 44(1), 52–57. https://doi.org/10.1177/1053451208318680

Martins, A., Ramalho, N., & Morin, E. (2010). A comprehensive meta-analysis of the relationship between Emotional Intelligence and health. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(6), 554–564. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.029

Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., Thorsteinsson, E. B., Bhullar, N., & Rooke, S. E. (2007). A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between emotional intelligence and health. Personality and Individual Differences, 42(6), 921–933. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2006.09.003

Schutte, N. S., Malouff, J. M., & Thorsteinsson, E. B. (2013). Increasing Emotional Intelligence through Training: Current Status and Future Directions. The International Journal of Emotional Education, 5 (1), 56-72.

Vesely, A. K., Saklofske, D. H., & Leschied, A. D. W. (2013). Teachers—The Vital Resource: The Contribution of Emotional Intelligence to Teacher Efficacy and Well-Being. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 28(1), 71–89. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573512468855

Zeidner, M., Roberts, R. D., & Matthews, G. (2002). Can emotional intelligence be schooled? A critical review. Educational Psychologist, 37(4), 215–231.

Emotional intelligence in the leader–follower interaction

Interdisciplinarity in science, cooperative learning in education and team work in business have become the credo of modern societies. In a knowledge–work economy, teams become the production unit rather than the individual (Lindebaum and Cartwright, 2010). Their success crucially depends on the quality of interpersonal relationships and on an optimal leader–follower bond (Martin, 2015). It has been further suggested that this dyad is essential to all types of organizations in their struggle to prosper in the competitive and complex world. Thus, the main focus of the various leadership theories or styles was on the traits that the leader should have to support the effectiveness of the leader–follower interaction. Our previous blogs have outlined the influence EI has on academic performance and on aggressive behavior and interpersonal conflicts. It is therefore not surprising that in the creation of the leader–follower relationship a central role of emotional intelligence was assumed (e.g., Ashkanasy and Daus, 2005; Martin, 2015; Miao et al., 2016).

In the past, leadership styles were usually defined on a bipolar continuum, such as autocratic versus democratic leadership, directive versus participative leadership, and task- versus relationship-oriented leadership. Based on this research, Avolio and Bass (2004) developed their full range leadership model. The main concepts of this model are outlined in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The Full Range Leadership model visualizing different types of leadership on the active vs. passive and effective vs. ineffective continuum of leadership forms. 5 Is = transformational leadership; CR = contingent reward; MBE-A = management-by-exception: active; MBE-P = management-by-exception: passive; LF = laissez-faire. These leadership types are assessed with the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ). 

The most active and effective type is the transformational leader who is inspirational, intellectually stimulating, challenging, visionary and development oriented. The most ineffective and passive is the laissez-faire leader who avoids involvement. In-between are three leadership types: contingent reward and management-by-exception (active or passive). The first, also called transactional leadership, refers to a leader who sets out clear goals and expectations, rewarding followers for working toward them. Such motivation to perform provides a sense of direction and helps energize others. The second, active management-by-exception leader is focused on monitoring mistakes. The leader clearly specifies standards and what is considered as inefficient performance, as well as sanctions for not respecting the standards. The leader also keeps track of mistakes and how these errors were handled. The passive form of the same leadership type concentrates only on corrective measures after a mistake occurs. This behavior is not proactive, but reactive and focused on punishment.

It is obvious that the main characteristics of transformational leadership (individualized consideration, intellectual inspiration, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence) should be related to components of emotional intelligence such as empathy, self-confidence, and self-awareness (e.g., Harms and Crede, 2010; Lindebaum and Cartwright, 2010). Thus, it is not surprising that emotional intelligence was considered synonymous with good leadership, explaining 90 percent of what distinguishes outstanding leaders from those judged as average. To some extent such ideas have been also inspired by the disappointing results of intelligence and personality models in the prediction of exceptional leadership (Harms and Crede, 2010).

To our knowledge, two meta-analyses have tried to shed some light on the influence EI has on successful leadership. Harms and Crede (2010) based their meta-analysis on 62 independent samples, representing data from 7,145 leaders. The main finding of the analysis was that: “Overall, our results linking EI with transformational leadership variables were not as strong or as compelling as advocates of EI testing predicted” (Harms and Crede, 2010; p. 12). It was further found that moderate relations were only observed for studies that relied on the same source ratings for both EI and transformational leadership, and were much lower for studies that used multisource ratings (i.e., EI ratings and transformational leadership ratings came from different sources). Another finding was that studies which relied on the trait EI concept showed higher correlations (same r = 0.58; different r = 0.11) than those which used ability EI measures (same r = 0.20; different r = 0.04). The correlations for the other leadership types were either insignificant (MBE-A/P), or negative for the laissez-faire leader. However, they showed the same discrepancy between same/different rating procedures as observed for transformational leadership. The difference between studies using same/different raters for EI and leadership type also questions the methodological correctness of the obtained relations. A question that was addressed by Lindebaum and Cartwright (2010), showing that when using a strong methodological design, no relationship between emotional intelligence and transformational leadership was found.

In a recent meta-analysis Miao et al. (2016) investigated the relation between leaders' emotional intelligence and subordinates' job satisfaction. The latter was defined as an evaluative state that expresses contentment with and positive feelings about one's job. It is described by cognitive evaluation of one's job and by feelings towards one’s job (affective component). The meta-analysis included 20 samples with a sample size of 4665. The main finding was that overall leaders' EI was positively associated with subordinates' job satisfaction (ρ = 0.31). This relation was dependent on the EI measure used: ability EI (ρ=0.11), self-report EI (ρ=0.29) and mixed EI (ρ=0.43), indicating that ability EI is significantly smaller than self-report EI and mixed EI. The authors further analyzed several situational moderating variables such as different types of national culture distinguishing between institutional collectivistic cultures encouraging and rewarding collective distribution of resources and collective action and in-group collectivism defined as the degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families. Further cultural aspects analyzed were humane orientation – the level of encouragement provided by an organization or society for altruistic, fair, friendly, generous or caring behavior; and power distance –  the degree to which individuals are willing to accept hierarchical order.  The analysis showed no differences in  EI– job satisfaction in relation to the level of institutional collectivism. In contrast, the effect size in low in-group collectivistic cultures was significantly larger than that in high in-group collectivistic cultures. It was further found that the EI – subordinate job satisfaction effect size is larger in low humane oriented cultures than in high counterparts. Yet no differences were observed in relation to high/low power distance cultures; leader hierarchical levels and across firm types (private versus public).

It can be concluded that, although the EI – leadership – job satisfaction relation is not as high as propagated by some authors, “emotionally intelligent leaders take on the role of “mood managers” to influence their subordinates' emotions and to let them experience more positive feelings and less negative feelings via effective interpersonal interactions” (Miao et al., 2016, p.21).

References

Ashkanasy, N. M., & Daus, C. S. (2005). Rumors of the death of emotional intelligence in organizational behavior are vastly exaggerated. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26(4), 441–452. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.320

Avolio, B. and  Bass, B. (2004). MLQ: Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire, Mindgarden, Inc. Menlo Park, CA

Harms, P. D., & Credé, M. (2010). Emotional Intelligence and Transformational and Transactional Leadership: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), 5–17. https://doi.org/10.1177/1548051809350894

Lindebaum, D., & Cartwright, S. (2010). A Critical Examination of the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership: Emotional Intelligence and Transformational Leadership. Journal of Management Studies, no-no. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.2010.00933.x

Martin, R. (2015). A Review of the Literature of the Followership Since 2008: The Importance of Relationships and Emotional Intelligence <sup/>. SAGE Open, 5(4), 215824401560842. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015608421

Miao, C., Humphrey, R. H., & Qian, S. (2016). Leader emotional intelligence and subordinate job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of main, mediator, and moderator effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.06.056

Emotional Intelligence: correlations with aggressive behavior and interpersonal conflicts

Aggressive behavior was defined as any behavior directed toward another individual that is carried out with the intent to cause harm. In addition, the perpetrator must believe that the behavior will harm the target, and that the target is motivated to avoid the behavior (Anderson and Bushman, 2002). An extreme form of aggression is violence. Aggression has been further divided into hostile and instrumental aggression. The former is impulsive, unplanned, driven by anger, with the ultimate motive of harming the target, and often occurrs as a reaction to perceived provocation. In contrast, the latter is considered as a thought-out means of obtaining a goal other than harming the victim, and as proactive rather than reactive. 

Aggression has been explained by various theories which have been integrated into the General Aggression Model (GAM; Anderson and Bushman, 2002). The GAM provides a framework for understanding why people act aggressively. It describes a person in the situation, called an episode, consisting of one cycle of an ongoing social interaction  (see Figure 1). This episode is defined by three levels: (i) person and situation inputs; (ii) cognitive, affective, and arousal routes through which these input variables have their impact; and (iii) outcomes of the underlying appraisal and decision processes. Personal factors include all the characteristics a person brings to the situation, such as personality traits, attitudes and genetic predispositions. They interact with situational factors including any important features of the situation, such as presence of a provocation or an aggressive cue to create an internal state which influences behavior. The internal state is a composite of cognitions (e.g., hostile thoughts, aggressive scripts), affect (anger, general negative affect) and arousal (physiological and psychological arousal) influencing appraisals and decision-making processes which may or may not result in an aggressive response.

Figure 1: The general aggression model (GAM)

Emotional intelligence (EI), which is defined as a set of abilities involved in perception, usage, understanding, management and regulation of emotions, was therefore assumed to be related to aggressive behavior and can thus be a valuable tool in predicting deviant behavior (Petrides et al., 2004). Two recent review papers have tried to shed some light on this relationship.

García-Sancho et al. (2014) included 19 studies in their review. Five papers analyzed the relation between EI and aggression in children (e.g., disruptive behavior and bullying in primary school). Seven studies analyzed this relation in adolescents mainly focusing on bullying, telephone bullying, and cyberbullying. The remaining seven studies analyzed the relation in adults including trait and ability EI measures. Eighteen of the 19 studies reported a negative correlation between the two constructs. People with high EI exhibited fewer aggressive behaviors than those with low EI. The relation was consistent across age groups, cultural context, and was independent in relation to the type of aggression (physical, sexual or humor-based) as well as the type of EI assessment.

Similar findings were also reported by Resurrección et al. (2014)  reviewing the relation between emotional intelligence and psychological maladjustment in adolescence. Identified were 32 studies that found a negative association between EI and internalizing problems, depression, and anxiety. In addition it was found that EI correlated with less substance abuse and with better coping strategies. The authors further identified two potential moderating variables: sex and EI measures. EI assessed by self-reports showed stronger associations with psychological maladjustment than did EI assessed by tests of maximum performance. With respect to sex it was found that girls with either eating disorders or internalizing problems reported lower trait and ability EI. On the other hand, boys with a greater tendency towards substance abuse or clinical maladjustment showed lower levels of both trait and ability EI.

Some recent studies tried to further analyze the aggression-EI relationship by splitting up the EI construct. Coccaro et al. (2016) analyzed the EI components of attention to emotions (the level of noticing one’s own feelings), clarity of emotions (the level of clarity in understanding one’s own feelings) and repair of emotions (one’s own efforts directed at altering negative mood states towards maintaining a positive outlook or regulating emotions). The study included 1544 individuals (aged 18-55). A regression analysis showed that all three EI factors were related with aggression and impulsivity. Attention was positively, whereas repair and clarity of emotions were negatively related with aggression and impulsivity. This relationship suggests that impulsive aggressive individuals may be at heightened sensitivity to emotion, but may have difficulty in understanding and reconciling these emotions.

García-Sancho et al. (2016) investigated the role of angry rumination (repetitive, negative cognitions about an anger-inducing event, such as anger-inducing memories, angry thoughts and feelings, and plans for revenge) as a mediator of the relationship between ability EI and different types of aggression (physical, verbal and indirect aggression). Overall the results showed a negative association between ability  EI and angry rumination (r = −0.20), and with all three types of aggression (physical aggression r = −0.23; verbal aggression r = −0.15; indirect aggression r = −0.20). Further, angry rumination was positively correlated with physical aggression (r = 0.35), verbal aggression (r = 0.30) and indirect aggression (r = 0.27). The results supported the hypothesis that angry rumination might be a significant mediator in the relationship between ability EI and aggression.

A somewhat different perspective on the relationship between EI and aggression was put forward by Davis and Nichols (2016). The authors suggested that in certain contexts, EI does not appear to be helpful and may even be deleterious to a person, suggesting a “dark” side to the construct. Such relations are especially prominent in specific combinations between trait EI and personality factors, or in combinations between extreme levels of trait EI components. It was for instance reported that at low levels of agreeableness, those high in trait EI were prone to antisocial behavior (e.g., worsening others’ moods). Moreover, skill in emotion management served to intensify the relationship between Machiavellianism and deviance, acting as a useful tool for those with a propensity to harm. For emotion management and understanding, it was found that it increases the tendency to engage in confrontation in those who view this as an effective negotiation strategy. These relations were also sex dependent. Trait EI reduced Machiavellian tactics, moral thinking, and delinquency in males, yet promoted all of these aspects in females.

This brief overview has shown that although it appears that ability and trait EI reduces the level of aggressive and maladjusted behaviors in humans, there are combinations of EI components, personality and cognitive factors that show an opposite relation.

References

Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135231.

Coccaro, E. F., Zagaja, C., Chen, P., & Jacobson, K. (2016). Relationships between perceived emotional intelligence, aggression, and impulsivity in a population-based adult sample. Psychiatry Research, 246, 255–260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.004

Davis, S. K., & Nichols, R. (2016). Does Emotional Intelligence have a “Dark” Side? A Review of the Literature. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01316

García-Sancho, E., Salguero, J. M., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2014). Relationship between emotional intelligence and aggression: A systematic review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(5), 584–591. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2014.07.007

García-Sancho, E., Salguero, J. M., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2016). Angry rumination as a mediator of the relationship between ability emotional intelligence and various types of aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 89, 143–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.10.007

Petrides, K. ., Frederickson, N., & Furnham, A. (2004). The role of trait emotional intelligence in academic performance and deviant behavior at school. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(2), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-8869(03)00084-9

Resurrección, D. M., Salguero, J. M., & Ruiz-Aranda, D. (2014). Emotional intelligence and psychological maladjustment in adolescence: A systematic review. Journal of Adolescence, 37(4), 461–472. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.03.012

Emotional Intelligence: correlations with academic performance

As revealed in our previous blog, there is growing consensus on two conceptualizations of EI: (i) the ability model, measuring maximal performance (Mayer et al., 2008) and (ii) the trait model, measuring typical performance (Petrides et al., 2007).

Based on the view that EI is a form of intelligence, moderate relations should exist between EI and other measures of cognitive abilities. Correlations between MSCEIT scales with verbal intelligence and verbal SAT of about r = 0.36 (emotional understanding shows the strongest relation) were reported. The correlation with reasoning ability (fluid intelligence) was about  r = 0.20 or less (Mayer et al., 2008). Furthermore, several correlational studies between intelligence and success in life, defined as socioeconomic success (academic and job performance), have shown correlations around .50, with academic performance being the highest (.58), followed by educational attainment (.56),  job performance estimated by supervisory rating (.53), and occupational attainment (.43) (Strenze, 2007). Thus, one could expect positive correlations between measures of ability EI and academic performance.

On the other hand, a prevailing postulation of trait EI theory is that affective personality traits should be orthogonal and only weakly related to academic performance (Perera and DiGiacomo, 2013). However, some authors have argued that trait EI is likely to exert influence on academic achievement when academic demands outweigh cognitive resources (low IQ) and under stressful conditions (Ferrando et al., 2011). Additionally, Perera and DiGiacomo (2013) proposed that a link between trait EI and performance could be theoretically explained via (i) the motivational component referred to as willingness to perform or achieve which centers on initiative and determination; (ii) emotion regulation (opposite to neuroticism); (iii) facilitating interaction with academic processes in increasingly collaborative educational environments; and (iv) self-control that may contribute to sustained academic goal-approach.

There is far more research relating trait EI with academic performance than there are studies for ability EI. Furthermore, the problem with the latter was that MSCEIT or MEIS were usually not used as measures of EI, but more “exotic” instruments were employed, for which validity or reliability measures were not reported. Given that even the MSCEIT, which is probably the most investigated instrument in EI research, was criticized with respect to its validity measuring the EI construct, caution must be taken in interpreting the obtained correlations.

Peters et al. (2009) reported positive correlations between the MSCEIT and the reading subtests of the WJ-III Tests of Achievement (r = 0 .35). Positive correlations were observed for three EI branches (perceiving, facilitating and understanding emotions), while no relation was observed for the managing emotions branch. A similar trend was also observed for the SAT 10 reading subtest (r = 0.53), while on the math subtest a lower correlation was noted (r = 0.36), which was only significant for the branch of understanding emotions. A shortcoming of the study was a rather small sample size including just 50 students.

Using ability EI measures similar to the MSCEIT, positive correlations between the subtest understanding and analyzing emotions with achievement in literacy and numeracy in a group of preadolescents was observed (Billings et al., 2014). Similar findings were also reported in a longitudinal study by Costa and Faria (2015). Research further aimed to evaluate the prediction validity of EI measures in professions requiring communication skills. For instance, it was suggested that effective communication and interpersonal sensitivity in doctor-patient interactions influence therapeutic outcomes. Libbrecht et al. (2014) reported that the ability to regulate emotions predicted performance in courses on communication and interpersonal sensitivity, whereas no significant correlations for medical subject domains could be observed.

Yet another strand of research tried to shed light on the cognitive underpinning of the relation between academic performance and EI. The focus was mostly on compensatory effects of EI in low IQ individuals in relation to academic performance. Fiori (2015) for example found that in a self-presentation task that required participants to obtain positive evaluations from others, individuals low in IQ but high in EI performed as well as the high IQ individuals. Furthermore, Checa and Fernández-Berrocal (2015) observed that the branch of managing emotions (MSCEIT) negatively correlated with impulsivity, suggesting that EI competencies may contribute to human cognitive control processes.

All in all, it seems that EI as a predictor in academic performance has some value mainly in subject domains requiring communication and interpersonal sensitivity, but is less effective in subject domains such as math and language, where general intelligence is a superior predictor of success.

To our knowledge the only meta-analysis of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and academic performance was carried out by Perera and DiGiacomo (2013). Seventy-four effect sizes were drawn from 48 independent samples with a cumulative sample size of 10,292. The analysis included two methodological moderators (measurement unreliability and type of instrument) and four theoretical moderators (age, gender, academic level and transition status, such as the transition from primary to secondary school, or from high school to tertiary settings). It was shown that 45 of the 47 correlations were positive, yielding a small-to-modest summary effect of  .20 ± .04. Among the moderators, only age and academic level showed significant interactions, indicating that the effect was stronger at the primary level of education and consequently increased with decreasing age.

References

Billings, C. E. W., Downey, L. A., Lomas, J. E., Lloyd, J., & Stough, C. (2014). Emotional Intelligence and scholastic achievement in pre-adolescent children. Personality and Individual Differences, 65, 14–18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.017

Checa, P., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2015). The Role of Intelligence Quotient and Emotional Intelligence in Cognitive Control Processes. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01853

Costa, A., & Faria, L. (2015). The impact of Emotional Intelligence on academic achievement: A longitudinal study in Portuguese secondary school. Learning and Individual Differences, 37, 38–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2014.11.011

Ferrando, M., Prieto  M.D., Almeida, L. S., Ferrandiz, C., Bermejo, R., Lopez-Pina, J. A., et al. (2011). Trait emotional intelligence and academic performance: Controlling for the effects of IQ, personality and self-concept. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 29, 150–159.

Fiori, M. (2015). Emotional intelligence compensates for low IQ and boosts low emotionality individuals in a self-presentation task. Personality and Individual Differences, 81, 169–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.08.013

Libbrecht, N., Lievens, F., Carette, B., & Côté, S. (2014). Emotional intelligence predicts success in medical school. Emotion, 14(1), 64–73. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034392

Mayer, J. D., Roberts, R. D., & Barsade, S. G. (2008). Human Abilities: Emotional Intelligence. Annual Review of Psychology, 59(1), 507–536. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.59.103006.093646

Perera, H. N., & DiGiacomo, M. (2013). The relationship of trait emotional intelligence with academic performance: A meta-analytic review. Learning and Individual Differences, 28, 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2013.08.002

Peters, C., Kranzler, J. H., & Rossen, E. (2009). Validity of the Mayer--Salovey-- Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test: Youth Version--Research Edition. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 24(1), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0829573508329822

Petrides, K. V., Pita, R., & Kokkinaki, F. (2007). The location of trait emotional intelligence in personality factor space. British Journal of Psychology, 98, 273–289.

Strenze, T. (2007). Intelligence and socioeconomic success: A meta-analytic review of longitudinal research. Intelligence, 35(5), 401–426. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2006.09.004