A critical evaluation of the emotional intelligence construct Joseph V. Ciarrochi*, Amy Y.C. Chan, Peter Caputi University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia Received 31 December 1998; received in revised form 22 March 1999; accepted 10 April 1999 Abstract This study critically evaluated the Emotional Intelligence (EI) construct (the ability to perceive, understand, and manage emotions), as measured by the Multi-factor Emotional Intelligence Scale (MEIS in press). We administered the MEIS to Australian undergraduates along with a battery of IQ, personality, and other theoretically relevant criterion measures, including life satisfaction and relationship quality. We also induced moods in the students and examined whether people high in EI were better than others at managing their moods and preventing their moods from biasing their social judgments. Analyses revealed that EI was not related to IQ but was related, as expected, to speci®c personality measures (e.g., empathy) and to other criterion measures (e.g., life satisfaction) even after controlling for IQ and personality traits. EI was also related to people's ability to manage their moods, but not to their ability to prevent moods from biasing their judgments. IQ was surprisingly related to both these mood processes. The results suggest that the EI construct is distinctive and useful, but that traditional IQ may also be important in understanding emotional processes. # 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Emotion; Emotional intelligence; Mood; IQ; Life satisfaction; Judgment 1. Introduction Many researchers and lay people have become dissatis®ed with a traditional, `narrow' conceptualisation of intelligence, which emphasises verbal and performance IQ and other more `academic' abilities (Bar-On, 1997; Cooper & Sawaf, 1997; Goleman, 1995; Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Recently, researchers have promoted the idea that our notion Personality and Individual Dierences 28 (2000) 539±561 0191-8869/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0191-8869(99)00119-1 www.elsevier.com/locate/paid * Corresponding author. Tel. +61-01-4221-4488; fax: +61-02-4221-4163. E-mail address: joseph_ciarrochi@uow.edu.au (J.V. Ciarrochi)