Abstract
Since Salovey and Mayer (1990) first proposed the emotional intelligence (EI) as an independent intellectual component, research on the field of EI has developed rapidly. A large number of studies have shown that emotional intelligence is an important predictor that affects our lives, such as job performance, mental health, and so on. However, we observed that some effect sizes in the field of emotional intelligence decreased over time. Is this kind of decline simply due to random errors, or is emotional intelligence field undergoing decline effects? The present study analyzed 484 effect sizes based on the responses of 102,579 participants from nine meta-analyses in emotional intelligence field to estimate the average effect size, and evidence for decline effects in this field. This study finds that the average effect size of EI is 0.244 (p < 0.001), and the average effect size of mixed EI (r = 0.272, p < 0.001) is significantly higher than that of ability EI (r = 0.160, p < 0.001). Effect sizes in the field of EI decrease with time, there are decline effects in emotional intelligence field. Furthermore, there are also decline effects in mixed EI field. However, we find no evidence that there are decline effects in ability EI field. Base on the significant average effect size of mixed EI, the most likely explanation for the decline in effect sizes is that effect sizes of mixed EI in the original studies were overestimate. This study considers decline effects in mixed EI research as inflated decline effects. To sum up, decline effects in the field of emotional intelligence are mainly due to the choice of emotional intelligence model and measurement method.
Highlights
Can results of psychological research be replicated? With the discovery that a large number of published psychological research results could not be successfully replicated in new samples, the problem has received increasing attention, and researchers have found that many results were overly optimistic and effect sizes were overestimated (Francis, 2014)
The funnel plot was plotted with effect size on the X axis and the sample size or variance on the Y axis
It illustrates that effect sizes in the field of ability emotional intelligence (EI) do not decrease with time, we find no evidence that there are decline effects in ability EI field
Summary
Can results of psychological research be replicated? With the discovery that a large number of published psychological research results could not be successfully replicated in new samples, the problem has received increasing attention, and researchers have found that many results were overly optimistic and effect sizes were overestimated (Francis, 2014). COS organization repeated 100 psychological studies (Hartgerink and Pernet, 2015), they found that the average effect size in repetitive studies was half of that in the original studies. The original studies’ results in 97% were statistically significant, but only 36% of repetitive studies had significant results. The researchers began to doubt the credibility of psychological research results and discuss “replicability crisis” (Baker, 2016). The replicability crisis is a term used by psychologists in the current introspection phase, and the psychology community is undergoing a revolution (Spellman, 2015).
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