The Relationship between Emotional Competence and Implicit Social Cognition

Abstract

The contribution of emotional intelligence towards healthy interpersonal interaction has been well documented (Lopes et a., 2004, Lopes et al., 2005, Schutte et al., 2001, Vescio et al., 2003). Presumably, holding implicit bias against others interferes with positive interpersonal interactions with both diverse individuals and diverse communities. This research study addressed the question “Is there a correlation between emotional intelligence and implicit social cognition?” It was hypothesized that individuals with greater levels of emotional intelligence would demonstrate less implicit bias against Black people, women, and homosexuals. To test this hypothesis, participants completed measures of their emotional intelligence and implicit bias. As hypothesized, the results indicated that emotional intelligence was negatively correlated with implicit race bias. However, the results indicated that only interpersonal emotional intelligence is correlated with implicit gender bias, and implicit sexuality bias was not correlated with emotional intelligence at all. Further research is required in order to understand whether there is a causal relationship between emotional intelligence and implicit bias.