PERC Research Seminar: Emotional intelligence in education: Development of SJTs and Meta-analysis predicting academic achievement

ABSTRACT: Emotional intelligence as well as social and emotional learning are increasingly used in both educational research and classroom applications. In this talk, I cover two key questions for social-emotional skills in education research and practice: (1) whether EI relates to student achievement; and (2) how EI can be measured. In part 1, I present the results of a recent large meta-analysis on the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance. In a total sample of 45,368 (k=188), emotional intelligence showed a moderate relationship with academic performance (rho = .27). This relationship was stronger for secondary school students than university students. The relationship also differed depending on how EI was measured--self-ratings showed a weaker relationship compared to ability tests. In the second part of the talk, I discuss the development of ability tests of EI, focusing on the Situational Test of Emotion Management (STEM). I include extensions into multi-media presentations, the Youth version, and discuss measurement issues in situational judgment test development (item format, instruction type, and scoring procedures).

Carolyn MacCann is an Associate Professor at Sydney University’s School of Psychology. She received her PhD from Sydney University in 2006, and has completed post-docs at the Educational Testing Service (Princeton, NJ, USA) and the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW). Her research has focused on two main areas: (a) psychological testing and test development, particularly of noncognitive constructs (“soft skills” like personality, emotional competencies, time management, and teamwork), and considering non-standard methods such as situational judgment tests, and multi-media assessment; and (b) emotional intelligence, including both measurement issues, the prediction of key educational outcomes, and the processes by which emotional intelligence affects such outcomes.