AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATION BETWEEN ABILITY EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND PSYCHOPATHY

Abstract

The present study investigated whether a negative relation between psychopathy and ability emotional intelligence (AEI) exists. One hundred fifty one undergraduate student participants (72 men and 79 women) completed the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-III (SRP-III), and a brief demographic questionnaire. After controlling for gender, an overall association of psychopathy and AEI was found, r = .-22, p < .01. Furthermore, exploratory analyses examining MSCEIT subscales showed that this negative association was mainly driven by deficits found for the faces, sensations, and emotional management subscale. The present findings suggest a deficit in emotional processing in higher psychopathy individuals is linked to emotional stimuli and contextual cues.