Annotated Bibliography: Mayer, J. D., DiPaolo, M., Salovey, P. (1990).

Perceiving Affective Content in Ambiguous visual Stimuli: A Component of Emotional Intelligence. Journal of Personality Assessment, 54(3&4), 772-781. The authors, John D. Mayer from New Hampshire University, Maria DiPaolo from State University of New York at Purchase, and Peter Salovey from Yale University, tested the ability of adults to accurately assess the emotional content of various visual stimuli in order to test the hypothesis that individuals who were better able to accurately extract the amount and range of perceived emotions would have higher levels of emotional intelligence. They found that individuals could indeed perceive emotional content with varying degrees of accuracy and this ability was strongly correlated to empathy - an aspect of emotional intelligence. The article was quickly met with criticism from a number of researchers (cited below) who disagreed with the validity of the test, which by extension questioned the constructs veracity. As a result, they expanded on their study and created a formal emotional intelligence test (cited below). Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., Salovey, P. (2000). Emotional Intelligence Meets Traditional Standards for an Intelligence. Intelligence, 27(4), 267-298. Researchers John D. Mayer from New Hampshire University, David R. Caruso from Work Life Strategies, and Peter Salovey from Yale University, followed their landmark 1990 study with a formal outline in 2000, of a set of differentiated criteria which helped defined emotional intelligence (EI). They subsequently expanded on their visual stimuli test and created the Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. They hypothesized that EI should be capable of being operationalized as a set of abilities, that should correlate with other EI abilities and that emotional intelligence, like other abilities, should develop with age. They were able to determine that EI, as measured bMSCEIT, does in fact meet the criteria of intelligence. This study, while expanding considerable on their first study, did little to squelch the dissention regarding the constructs validity. As a matter of fact, it appeared to engender considerably more criticism from researchers like Zeidner, Matthews and Locke. Roberts, R. D., Zeidner, M., Matthews, G. (2001). Does emotional intelligence meet traditional standards for an intelligence? Some new data and conclusions. Emotion, 1, 196-231 Researchers Matthews from the University of Cincinnati, Richard Roberts from the Center for New Constructs Educational Testing Services and Moshe Zeidner from the University of Haifa, write in 2004 that emotional intelligence does not, like Mayer, Caruso and Salovey attest, meet the traditional standard for an intelligence. Their primary issue and point of dessention is whether there are correct answers to question alleging to test a set of abilities that correlate to emotional intelligence. They opinned that there are no correct answers that can be measured and subsequently, negate the viability of the construct.

Consequently, Mayer, Caruso, Salovey and Sitarenios published an article in Emotion (2001) reiterating their position and defending emotional intelligence as a standard intelligence. Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., Salovey, P., Sitarenios, G. (2001). Emotional Intelligence as a Standards Intelligence. Emotion, 1(3), 232-242. Following Zeidners and Matthews article published in 2001 decrying the validity of emotional intelligence as standard of intelligence, John D. Mayer from the University of New Hampshire, David R. Caruso from Work-Life Strategies, Peter Salovey from Yale University and Gill Sitarenos from Multi-Health Systems, Inc., published an article in Emotion defending the validity of their newly described intelligence. However lucid and succinct their subsequent defense may have been, it did little to quite the voices of dissention like Edwin A. Lockes who, in 2005, states in the Journal of Organizational Behavior that emotional intelligence is an invalid concept. Locke, E. A., (2005). Why emotional intelligence is an invalid concept. IJournal of Organizational Psychology, 26, 425-431. In his paper published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Edwin A. Locke from the University of Maryand, argues that emotional intelligence (EI) in an invalid construct for a number of fundamental reasons. First, emotional intelligence is not a form of intelligence that conforms to the standards of other intelligences and secondly, its definition is too broad and encompasses too may dimensions (e.g. traits as well as abilities), to be of any valuable meaning. While his points are well presented, he unfortunately points out authors of various popular books who have distorted the original researchers (Mayer, Caruso and Salovey) definition of EI. Daus, C. S., Ashkanasy, N. M., (2005). The case for the ability-based model of emotional intelligence in organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 26, 453-466 Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., Salovey, P. (2008). Emotional Intelligence: New Ability or Eclectic Traits? American Psychologist, 63(6), 503-517. Ciarrochi, J., Forgas, J. P., Mayer, J., (2001). Emotional Intelligence In Everyday Life: A Scientific Inquiry. Lillington, NC: Edwards Brothers.