In this study, the authors reviewed the definition of emotional intelligence (EI) and argued that EI is conceptually distinct from personality. In Study 1, the authors showed that EI was related to yet distinct from personality dimensions and that it had incremental predictive power on life satisfaction. The authors examined the construct validity of self-reports and others' ratings of EI using two samples in Study 2. In a student sample, parents' ratings explained additional variance in the students' life satisfaction and feelings of powerlessness after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. In the work sample, peer ratings were found to be significant predictors of job performance ratings provided by supervisors after controlling for the Big Five personality dimensions. Other implications for future research on EI are discussed.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been an emerging topic among social and organizational psychologists in recent years (see, e.g., Fineman, 1993; Mayer & Salovey, 1997; Schutte et al., 2001). There have been serious academic discussions on whether EI is an elusive construct (Davies, Stankov, & Roberts, 1998) on its dimensions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990), and on whether it should be considered as an intelligence dimension (Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2000a; Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Proponents of the EI construct have argued that it is distinct from traditional personality traits and general mental ability and that it is a meaningful construct that can be used to explain various psychological and managerial phenomena. These proponents have developed various EI-related...