Clarity Of Feelings Research Articles

The Relations of Attention to and Clarity of Feelings With Facial Affect Perception.

Attention to emotions and emotional clarity are core dimensions of individual differences in emotion awareness. Findings from prior research based on self-report indicate that attention to and recognition of one’s own emotions are related to attention to and recognition of other people’s emotions. In the present experimental study, we examined the relations of attention to and clarity of emotions with the efficiency of facial affect perception. Moreover, it was explored whether attention to and clarity of emotions are linked to negative interpretations of facial expressions. A perception of facial expressions (PFE) task based on schematic faces with neutral, ambiguous, or unambiguous emotional expressions and a gender decision task were administered to healthy individuals along with measures of emotion awareness, state and trait anxiety, depression, and verbal intelligence. Participants had to decide how much the faces express six basic affects. Evaluative ratings and decision latencies were analyzed. Attention to feelings was negatively correlated with evaluative decision latency, whereas clarity of feelings was not related to decision latency in the PFE task. Attention to feelings was positively correlated with the perception of negative affects in ambiguous faces. Attention to feelings and emotional clarity were not related to gender decision latency. According to our results, dispositional attention to feelings goes along with an enhanced efficiency of facial affect perception. Habitually paying attention to one’s own emotions may facilitate processing of external emotional information. Preliminary evidence was obtained suggesting a relationship of dispositional attention to feelings with negative interpretations of facial expressions.

Role of trait meta-mood scale on academic achievement among adolescents

Although emotional intelligence is related to psychological and social adjustment, currently there is not any tool that enables valid and reliable measurement of such construct in the adolescent population. The TMMS is a well-established assessment tool of perceived emotional intelligence in adolescence that measures peoples beliefs and attitudes about their own emotional experience. We examined the psychometric properties of TMMS in a sample of 300 participants (ages ranging between 12 to 16 years). The results corroborated the three – factor structure of the scale (Attention to feelings, Clarity of feelings, and Mood repair). Moreover, these dimensions showed adequate internal consistency and temporal stability and correlated among themselves in the expected direction. In the Pre-test finding, the impact of TMMS on Academic achievement of adolescents was studied. Those adolescents who were found low in TMMS in Pre-test were given intervention and after that its impact w.r.t academic achievement was studied. We found that intervention have positive impact on academic achievement.

Impaired emotional intelligence is related to symptoms severity and suicidal attempts in depression.

Few studies demonstrated the impairment of perceived emotional intelligence 'EI' among depressed patients. This study aimed to assess the perceived EI in a group of depressed patients, and its association with different clinical characteristics. Forty-five patients diagnosed with depression were assessed by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and compared to 45 controls that were assessed by the Arabic version of General Health Questionnaire to exclude Psychiatric disorders. The Arabic version of Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS) is used to evaluate EI in both groups. Patients with depression showed significantly lower EI scores in the three parts of TMMS (repair, clarity and attention) compared to the controls (p < .001). Patients showed significant difference in clarity subscale (p = .005) and attention regarding severity of depression (p < .001). Clarity of feelings was significantly higher in patients who suffered more than two episodes (p = .012). Depressive patients with suicidal attempts showed significantly lower scores of repair (p = .044) and attention (p = .016) subscales. There were no significant differences of TMMS subscales between patients with and without suicidal ideation, sleep disturbance and somatic symptoms. The current study demonstrates impaired perceived EI among patients with depression that is correlated with symptom severity and suicidal attempts.

Emotional Self-Regulation through Introjective Practices in Physical Education

This study analyzed emotional self-regulation in relation to K-9 and K-10 school children’s emotional intelligence defined on three dimensions: Emotional attention, clarity of feelings, and emotional repair. The objective was to analyze the students’ perceptions of skills and capacities that promoted the awareness of emotions when performing introjective motor practices, i.e., motor skill exercises in which the inner logic provokes a process of sensorial self-awareness and psychosomatic balance. A total of 90 fourth-year primary school students from four different schools participated in the study and a reduced version of the Trait-Meta Mood Scale (TMMS) questionnaire was used to measure students’ individual self-regulation. First, pre- and post-test results showed significant differences with a 20.1% improvement in the three dimensions of intrapersonal emotional attention (emotional attention, clarity of feeling, and emotional repair) after having performed a set of in-class introjective practices. Second, while there were no significant differences between the boys and girls during the pre-test, significant changes—an 8.1% difference—were found in the post-test results for girls.

Emotional intelligence and frequency of alcohol use and during adolescence

AbstractIntroduction: Emotional intelligence has proven to be a relevant construct during adolescence and includes three components: attention to feelings, clarity of feelings, and mood repair. Within this age group, alcohol consumption is a central problem. Objective: The aim of this work is to study the relation between emotional intelligence and frequency of alcohol consumption in adolescents that attendant a high school from the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Methodology: The TMMS-21 was administered to assess emotional intelligence, and an ad hoc questionnaire was administered to assess alcohol consumption. We performed comparisons between age groups and between genders, and we studied the predictive power of emotional intelligence through a lineal regression. Results: Attention to feelings was lower in those adolescents with frequent alcohol consumption. Moreover, results showed that attention to feelings was a predictor of alcohol consumption frequency in women, while age was a predictor of frequency of alcohol consumption for both genders. Conclusion: These findings suggest that alcohol consumption could function as a way of coping with the emotions that are not being attended to.

Emotional Intelligence and Self-Perception in Adolescents.

Emotional intelligence includes self-perception regarding attention to feelings, clarity of feelings and mood repair. The aim of this work is to study the relationship between emotional intelligence, self-concept, and self-esteem. The sample included 137 adolescents from Buenos Aires City, that attended middle school, with a mean age of 13.12 years old (SD = 1.79). Correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were performed. Results showed significant positive correlations between self-esteem and clarity of feelings on the complete sample and the female subsample, and between mood repair and self-esteem on the male subsample. The linear regression analyses showed results on the same line. It´s concluded that positive self-evaluation regarding emotions, emotion comprehension and recovery can minimize the effect of negative experiences.

Inteligência emocional e engagement em professores do ensino básico e secundário da Ilha da Madeira || Emotional intelligence and engagement in teachers of basic and secondary education of Madeira Island

O construto de inteligência emocional tem sido estudado em várias áreas do desenvolvimento humano, nomeadamente na área da saúde organizacional. No entanto, está ainda muito pouco estudada a sua relação com o engagement, e menos ainda com a saúde dos Professores. O engagement é considerado saudável para o desempenho dos professores e o seu bem-estar, beneficiando não somente o indivíduo, mas também, as organizações para onde trabalha. Este estudo teve precisamente como objetivo compreender a relação entre a inteligência emocional e o engagement. A amostra foi constituída por 250 professores do 2º ciclo (5.º e 6.º ano) (26.4%), 3º ciclo (7.º, 8.º e 9.º ano) (57.2%) e Secundário (10.º, 11.º e 12.º ano) (16.4 %), do género feminino (70.4%) e do masculino (29.6%), da Região Autónoma da Madeira (RAM), Portugal. Utilizámos como instrumentos, o Trait Meta-Mood Scale, o Questionário de Expressividade e o de Regulação Emocional de Berkeley e o Utrech Work Engagement Scale. Nos nossos resultados encontramos que quanto maior a atenção às emoções, clareza de sentimentos e reparação do estado emocional, maior é o vigor, dedicação e a absorção. A idade e o tempo de serviço não se mostraram relevantes para a explicação da relação entre os construtos. Concluiu-se que os professores que conseguem regular as suas emoções envolvem-se mais no trabalho e utilizam todas as suas capacidades físicas, cognitivas e emocionais, enquanto desempenham as suas funções, ultrapassando os obstáculos que se lhes interpõem.

Emotional Competence Disorders and Social Communication in Young Victims of Abuse

This research analyses the emotional competence difficulties (measured through emotional intelligence and empathy) and social communication disorders of young victims of abuse. These minors are in residential care centres with protective measures after suffering maltreatment and/or neglect. The relation between their emotional competence and social communication is analysed, as well as the contribution of empathy and emotional intelligence in predicting their social communication. The results indicate that a lack of emotional competence is related to and can predict their difficulties in social communication. The study manifests a scarcity of emotional intelligence, affecting attention, emotional repair and clarity of feelings, as well as a deterioration in affective and cognitive empathy. The minors’ scarce ability to put themselves in the place of others, to understand others’ intentions and emotional states, limits their use of language in social interactions. The research stresses the need to set up intervention programmes aimed at training in interpersonal and intrapersonal emotional competences which can encourage social communication.

Commentary: Dimensions of emotional intelligence related to physical and mental health and to health behaviors.

Emotional intelligence (EI) measured through mixed and ability self-report has been related to a broad range of health-related outcomes, including mental and physical health (e.g., Martins et al., 2010; Zeidner et al., 2012). Most of these studies have looked at whether overall self-report EI correlates with health, leaving open the question of whether specific dimensions of self-report EI correlate with specific health dimensions. The recent article by Fernandez-Abascal and Martin-Diaz (2015) begins to address this gap by examining possible relationships between various dimensions of self-report EI and several physical and mental health dimensions and behaviors. Using a cross-sectional sample of Spanish adults (N = 855) aged 18–64 years (M = 34.27, SD = 9.61), the authors applied the two most frequently used instruments (Martins et al., 2010) to evaluate various dimensions of self-report EI. The Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS; Salovey et al., 1995) examines Attention to Feelings, Clarity of Feelings, and Mood Repair; while the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue; Petrides and Furnham, 2003) examines Well-being, Self-control, Emotionality, and Sociability. The authors examine whether these dimensions are linked to any of several health components, including Physical and Mental Health on the Health Survey SF-36 Questionnaire (SF-36), as well as Preventive Health Behavior and Risk-Taking Behavior on the Health Behavior Checklist (HBC). Their results suggest that the dimensions of self-report EI in their study are better predictors of Mental Health (48.4%) than of Physical Health (15.6%). Even after controlling for gender and age, Physical and Mental Health correlated positively with Well-Being, Self-Control and Sociability, while Mental Health correlated negatively with Attention to Feelings. Preventive Health Behavior correlated positively with Mood Repair, while Risk-Taking Behavior correlated negatively with Self-control. Effect sizes were smaller for HBC dimensions (ranges from 8.3 to 9.3%) than for SF-36 ones (ranges from 48.4 to 15.6%). These findings help clarify the relative importance of different dimensions of self-report EI in the prediction of health outcomes. Overall, the authors' results confirm previous research associating the ability to regulate one's emotions (Repair and Self-Control factors in this study) with health outcomes (e.g., Fernandez-Berrocal and Extremera, 2008; Freudenthaler et al., 2008; Martins et al., 2010). On the other hand, the results with Physical Health contrast with previous work identifying the ability to understand one's emotions as the self-report EI dimension that most strongly predicts physical health (Mikolajczak et al., 2015). This discrepancy may be due in part to the fact that Fernandez-Abascal and Martin-Diaz (2015) measured physical health using self-report instruments, whereas Mikolajczak et al. (2015) measured objective health indicators. While the results of Fernandez-Abascal and Martin-Diaz are interesting in themselves, they are even more interesting because of the questions they raise. The observed association between specific dimensions of self-report EI and health is likely to be the product of multiple biopsychosocial factors. Future studies should examine, for example, how self-report EI interacts with other factors to influence health-related variables such as anxiety, depression, perceived stress, risky behavior and substance abuse. These “other factors” may include socio-demographic variables, such as gender, age, and educational background (Cabello et al., 2014); as well as psychological dimensions, such as implicit theories, social relationships and personality (Cabello and Fernandez-Berrocal, 2015a,b). Since self-report measures of EI and performance-based ability measures of EI are complementary, future studies may also wish to examine whether the two types of measures interact to influence health outcomes. Clearly, detailed understanding of how EI affects health outcomes is just beginning to emerge, and the work of Fernandez-Abascal and Martin-Diaz has moved us closer to this goal. If prospective studies can confirm the hypothesis that increasing EI can improve health, it would have significant practical and social implications for training programs aimed at increasing social and emotional competencies in patient groups as well as the general population.

Perceived emotional intelligence and social competence in neglected adolescents

ABSTRACTThis research work analyses the emotional intelligence (EI) and the social cognitive attitudes and strategies in adolescents between 12 and 17 years of age in residential care. The aim of the work is to identify those aspects that hinder their socio-emotional competence, requiring a more urgent intervention. We explore the presence of significant differences between the variables under study according to gender and age range (12–14 and 15–17) and we analyse the relationship between the dimensions of their EI and their social competence. The results show a lack of EI in these adolescents, with all three dimensions being affected: emotional attention, clarity of feelings and emotional repair. As for social competence, it can be seen that the adolescents are characterised by a lack of confidence and firmness in their interactions. Worthy of note is the impulsive cognitive style, as are the rigidity of thought and the tendency towards social mistrust and suspicion. There are many difficulties concerning the strategies for resolving social problems. This research highlights the need to design training programmes for the residential care centres that will favour their socio-emotional development.

Oxytocin modulates meta-mood as a function of age and sex.

Attending to and understanding one’s own feelings are components of meta-mood and constitute important socio-affective skills across the entire lifespan. Growing evidence suggests a modulatory role of the neuropeptide oxytocin on various socio-affective processes. Going beyond previous work that almost exclusively examined young men and perceptions of emotions in others, the current study investigated effects of intranasal oxytocin on meta-mood in young and older men and women. In a double-blind between-group design, participants were randomly assigned to self-administer either intranasal oxytocin or a placebo before responding to items from the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS) about attention to feelings and clarity of feelings. In contrast to older women, oxytocin relative to placebo increased attention to feelings in older men. Oxytocin relative to placebo enhanced meta-mood in young female participants but reduced it in older female participants. This pattern of findings supports an age- and sex-differential modulatory function of the neuropeptide oxytocin on meta-mood, possibly associated with neurobiological differences with age and sex.

Perceived emotional intelligence is impaired and associated with poor community functioning in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have been associated with shared and distinct emotion processing abnormalities. Initial findings indicate that these disorders differ with respect to the domain of emotional intelligence (EI). Individuals with schizophrenia display deficits on performance measures of EI, whereas those with bipolar disorder do not. However, no research has examined patients' subjective beliefs about their own EI (referred to as “perceived EI”). This study examined perceived EI, assessed with the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS), and its clinical and functional correlates in outpatients with schizophrenia (n=35) or bipolar disorder I (n=38) and matched healthy controls (n=35). The TMMS includes three subscales that assess beliefs about one's ability to attend to (Attention to Feelings), understand (Clarity of Feelings), and repair emotions (Mood Repair). Participants in the clinical groups also completed community functioning and symptom assessments. Both clinical groups reported significantly lower perceived EI than controls, but did not differ from each other. Higher total TMMS correlated with higher levels of independent living in the schizophrenia group (r=.36) and better social functioning in the bipolar group (r=.61). In addition, although higher Attention to Feelings scores correlated with greater psychiatric symptoms in the schizophrenia group, higher scores across all subscales correlated with less manic symptoms in the bipolar group. The findings suggest that perceived EI is impaired and related to community functioning in both disorders.

Validating an indirect measure of clarity of feelings: Evidence from laboratory and naturalistic settings.

This study analyzed the reliability and validity of an indirect measure of clarity of feelings that is based on response latencies (RTs) of mood ratings. Fifty-two participants completed a laboratory session and an experience-sampling week with 6 measurement occasions per day. Shorter RT of mood ratings measured in the laboratory (but not self-reported dispositional clarity) predicted higher overall mood regulation success during the experience-sampling week. As a new indirect ambulatory measure of clarity, RTs of mood ratings were measured on handheld devices during the experience-sampling week. The new ambulatory RT measure of clarity demonstrated good psychometric properties. Within-occasions reliability (internal consistency) was satisfactory, and between-occasions reliability (consistency of aggregated scores) was high. Ambulatory RT of mood ratings demonstrated moderate to high convergence with RT of mood ratings measured in the laboratory session. Both RT measures were unrelated to self-reported dispositional clarity of feelings. However, momentary RT converged with a self-report measure of momentary clarity on the within-persons level: Participants were faster to rate those mood items that they were more certain about. Evidence for the predictive validity of the new ambulatory RT measure was provided by the finding that on the within-persons level, shorter RT (but not self-reported momentary clarity) predicted higher mood regulation success and better mood at subsequent measurement occasions. The results suggest that RT of mood ratings can be used as a reliable and valid indicator of an individual's clarity of feelings in laboratory and experience-sampling studies.

Measuring Perceived Emotional Intelligence in the Adolescent Population: Psychometric Properties of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale

The Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS; Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, &amp; Palfai, 1995) is a well-established measure of perceived emotional intelligence, an aspect of emotional intelligence that includes people's beliefs and attitudes about their own emotional experience. Although the TMMS has been widely used in adult populations, until now no data have been reported on its validity in the adolescent population. In the present work we analyzed the psychometric properties of the TMMS in a sample of 1,497 adolescents aged 12 to 17. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the 3-factor structure of the original scale (attention to feelings, clarity of feelings, and mood repair); moreover, these dimensions showed adequate reliability and correlated among themselves in the expected fashion. We also found evidence of discriminant validity with the Big Five personality factors and analyzed differences in the TMMS dimensions according to participants' age and sex. We discuss both the implications of these results and the utility of this scale in research on the emotional intelligence construct.

Personality, Meta-Mood Experience, Life Satisfaction, and Anxiety in Australian versus Singaporean Students

This study explores two issues concerning the relationships between personality, meta-mood experience, life satisfaction, and anxiety. First, it explored the incremental value of Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience in predicting the three components of meta-mood experience (that is, attention to feelings, emotional clarity, clarity of feelings and mood repair), after controlling for demographic variables across Australia and Singapore. Second, it explored the incremental value of the three meta-mood experience components in predicting life satisfaction and anxiety, after controlling for demographic variables and personality variables across the two countries. One hundred and eighty nine tertiary students from Australia and 243 tertiary students from Singapore participated in this study. First, hierarchical regression analyses for both samples suggested that Agreeableness and Neuroticism are the two most important personality predictors of meta-mood experience, emotional attention, and emotional repair. Second, hierarchical regression analyses for both samples suggested that emotional repair was a significant predictor for life satisfaction and anxiety, even after controlling for demographic variables and personality variables. These results have implications for therapeutic interventions with life satisfaction versus anxiety.

Is attention to feelings beneficial or detrimental to affective well-being? Mood regulation as a moderator variable.

This research examined the functionality of attention to feelings for affective well-being. The authors found that mood regulation, but not clarity of feelings, moderated the attention-well-being relationship. For individuals with high mood regulation scores, attention was beneficial to affective well-being, whereas for individuals with low mood regulation scores, attention was detrimental to affective well-being. This finding was corroborated by self- and peer reports in Study 1 and replicated in Study 2. The validity of the scales was established by the convergence of self- and peer ratings. Moreover, Study 2 showed that dysfunctional and functional and self consciousness scales suppressed variance in attention to feelings, thereby revealing that attention incorporates both adaptive and maladaptive aspects.

Understanding when bad moods foster creativity and good ones don't: the role of context and clarity of feelings.

Using a mood-as-input model, the authors identified conditions under which negative moods are positively related, and positive moods are negatively related, to creative performance. Among a sample of workers in an organizational unit charged with developing creative designs and manufacturing techniques, the authors hypothesized and found that negative moods were positively related to creative performance when perceived recognition and rewards for creative performance and clarity of feelings (a metamood process) were high. The authors also hypothesized and found that positive moods were negatively related to creative performance when perceived recognition and rewards for creativity and clarity of feelings were high.

Understanding when bad moods foster creativity and good ones don't: The role of context and clarity of feelings.

Understanding when bad moods foster creativity and good ones don't: The role of context and clarity of feelings.

Development and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence

This series of studies describes the development of a measure of emotional intelligence based on the model of emotional intelligence developed by Salovey and Mayer [Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition and Personality, 9, 185–211.]. A pool of 62 items represented the different dimensions of the model. A factor analysis of the responses of 346 participants suggested the creation of a 33-item scale. Additional studies showed the 33-item measure to have good internal consistency and testretest reliability. Validation studies showed that scores on the 33-item measure 1. (a) correlated with eight of nine theoretically related constructs, including alexithymia, attention to feelings, clarity of feelings, mood repair, optimism and impulse control; 2. (b) predicted first-year college grades; 3. (c) were significantly higher for therapists than for therapy clients or for prisoners; 4. (d) were significantly higher for females than males, consistent with prior findings in studies of emotional skills; 5. (e) were not related to cognitive ability and 6. (f) were associated with the openness to experience trait of the big five personality dimensions.

Autonomy and Connectedness as Dimensions of Relationship Styles in Men and Women

This study identified a trichotomy of styles that characterize adults' relationships with partners: self-focused autonomy, other-focused connection, and mutuality. Each style was defined by several dimensions; dominance-submission, whose needs are met, sensitivity to the partner's feelings, clarity of feelings, separateness vs intimacy, and concern with the relationship. Participants were adults, aged 18-70 years, who responded to a newspaper survey in which they identified their own style of relationship and that of their partner. Mutual individuals most often reported that their partners shared the same style. Other-focused women most often reported self-focused male partners, and self-focused men most often identified their female partners as other-focused. Correlates of these partner combinations included perceived validation by one's partner and the ability to be one's authentic self within the relationship. Findings revealed that mutual individuals with mutual partners reported the highest levels of perceived validation and authentic-self behavior. Other-focused women paired with self-focused men reported the lowest levels of validation and authentic-self behavior, with self-focused men paired with other-focused women falling in between. Discussion emphasized the liabilities of the two more extreme styles, self-focused autonomy and other focused connection, as well as the dynamics of the different partner combinations.