Increases in Emotional Intelligence After an Online Training Program Are Associated With Better Decision-Making on the Iowa Gambling Task

Abstract

Higher levels of emotional intelligence have been associated with better inter and intrapersonal functioning. In the present study, 59 healthy men and women were randomized into either a three-week online training program targeted to improve emotional intelligence ( n = 29), or a placebo control training program targeted to improve awareness of nonemotional aspects of the environment ( n = 30). Compared to placebo, participants in the emotional intelligence training group showed increased performance on the total emotional intelligence score of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, a performance measure of emotional intelligence, as well as subscales of perceiving emotions and facilitating thought. Moreover, after emotional intelligence training, but not after placebo training, individuals displayed the ability to arrive at optimal performance faster (i.e., they showed a faster learning rate) during an emotion-guided decision-making task (i.e., the Iowa Gambling Task). More specifically, although both groups showed similar performance at the start of the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining, the participants in the emotional intelligence training group learned to choose more advantageous than disadvantageous decks than those in the placebo training group by the time they reached the "hunch" period of the task (i.e., the point in the task when implicit task learning is thought to have occurred). Greater total improvements in performance on the Iowa Gambling Task from pre- to posttraining in the emotional intelligence training group were also positively correlated with pre- to posttraining changes in Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test scores, in particular with changes in the ability to perceive emotions. The present study provides preliminary evidence that emotional intelligence can be trained with the help of an online training program targeted at adults; it also suggests that changes in emotional intelligence, as a result of such a program, can lead to improved emotion-guided decision-making.

The effect of athletic expertise and trait emotional intelligence on decision‐making

“…These findings also suggest that individuals with higher levels of TEI make decisions with higher quality in comparison to individuals with lower TEI levels. This coincides with previous data reporting a facilitative effect of TEI on decision-making (Alkozei et al, 2016;Alkozei et al, 2018;Fallon et al, 2014;Pilarik & Sarmany-Schuller, 2009). Moreover, athletes with higher TEI may be more proficient at regulating emotion and achieving optimal mood states associated with improved performance (Lane et al, 2010).…”

“…The findings indicated a positive relationship between athletic expertise and TEI with quality of decisions, and a negative relationship of athletic expertise and TEI with risk-taking and deliberation time. The findings largely corroborate previous research indicating a facilitative link between athletic expertise and TEI with decision-making ability (e.g., higher quality, less risk and deliberation), on a non-specific decision-making task (Alkozei et al, 2016;Alkozei et al, 2018;Fallon et al, 2014;Panno, 2016;Pilarik & Sarmany-Schuller, 2009). The significant relationship between TEI and decision-making demonstrated a combined effectiveness that may be tapped during athletic performance.…”

Measuring decision‐making competence in Chinese adults

“…For example, Buelow and Blaine (2015) analyzed undergraduate performance on the IGT, balloon analogue risk task, and Columbia card task and concluded that these tasks measured unique, nonoverlapping decision-making processes. Alkozei and colleagues found that participants performed better on the IGT after an emotional intelligence training program (Alkozei et al, 2018). Simonovich, Stupple, Gale, and Sheffield (2018) discovered that stress reduced performance on the IGT, but reflective thinking and conscious awareness mediated this effect (Simonovich et al, 2018).…”

Effect of Emotional Intelligence and Leadership Styles on Risk Intelligent Decision Making and Risk Management

“…The quality of decision in this regard contributes to the risk attitude assumed in the face of uncertainty. While EI can improve decision quality, as shown by Alkozei et al (2019) and Fallon et al (2014), there is scope to model the flow of decision and the emotional regulation of decision-making process from the incipient presentation of facts, their passage through the personal subjective mental lens of the decision maker, and, appropriation or assumption of an informed risk attitude leading to the final decision.…”