Relations Between Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence, Specific Aspects of Empathy, and Non-verbal Sensitivity

Summary

In this work, on the one hand, we examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and empathy and, on the other, the relationship between EI and non-verbal sensitivity, through two independent studies. The first study analyzed the relationship between dimensions of EI and aspects of empathy, in a sample of 856 participants who completed two measures of EI, the trait meta-mood scale (TMMS) and the trait emotional intelligence questionnaire (TEIQue), and a measure of empathy, the interpersonal reactivity index (IRI). The results showed a similar pattern of significant positive relations in all the EI domains with empathic perspective-taking (PT), and significant negative relationships with empathic personal distress (PD), except for the EI domain of attention, which had a posit