The Roles of Fluid Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence in Affective Decision-Making During the Transition to Early Adolescence

Abstract

The current study mainly explored the influence of fluid intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EI) on affective decision-making from a developmental perspective, specifically, during the transition from childhood into early adolescence. Meanwhile, their age-related differences in affective decision-making were explored. A total of 198 participants aged 8–12 completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), the Cattell’s Culture Fair Intelligence Test and the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Child Form. Based on the net scores of IGT, the development of affective decision-making ability did not increase monotonically with age, and there was a developmental trend of an impaired IGT performance in early adolescence (aged 11–12), especially in the early learning phase (first 40 trials) of the IGT. More importantly, IQ and EI played different roles for children and early adolescents: IQ and EI jointly predicted the IGT performance for 8–10 years old children, whereas only EI contributed to the IGT performance of 11–12 years old early adolescents. The present study extends the evidence how cognitive processing and emotional processing interact in affective decision-making from the developmental perspective. Furthermore, it provides insights of future research and intervention with early adolescents’ poor affective decision-making.

The location of emotional intelligence measured by EQ-i in the personality and cognitive space: Are there gender differences?

“…Furthermore, no data are available on the relationship between EQ-i scores and measures of intelligence. Therefore, we compared the EQ-i scores with a measure of fluid intelligence associated with emotional and behavioral regulation and abstraction abilities ( Downey et al, 2014 ; Romanelli and Saggino, 2014 ; Li et al, 2020a , b ). Trait EI showed a minimal connection with fluid intelligence, according to ESEM analysis, but this connection can be judged as negligible.…”

“…In particular, the gf factor is based on rational processes, associated with the general factor g, which remains stable and is predictive of several outcomes during life ( Van der Linden et al, 2017 ). Furthermore, recent studies show the association between EI (measured through the EQ-i) and the Functional Connectivity in the Superior Parietal Lobule ( Li et al, 2020a ). In particular, higher Emotional Intelligence correlates with the “Default Mode Network” (DMN), which includes the medial-frontal cortex and parietal areas.…”

“…In particular, fluid intelligence measures abstract reasoning and the ability to organize a complex stimulus. Furthermore, gf is not a specific ability, such as memory and language ( Downey et al, 2014 ; Romanelli and Saggino, 2014 ; Li et al, 2020a ). Finally, the gf is associated with behavioral regulation, through cognitive resources, when an emotional conflict exists ( Li et al, 2020b ).…”

Interoceptive accuracy is associated with benefits in decision making in children

“… Yip et al (2020) proposed emotional intelligence as a moderator of the link between bodily responses and decision-making, such that adults with lower emotional intelligence tend toward a maladaptive association of bodily arousal and risky behavior. Accordingly, in children (aged 8–12) emotional intelligence is thought to contribute to IGT performance ( Li et al, 2020 ). Consistently, there is evidence for a positive association between cardiac interoceptive accuracy and interpersonal emotional intelligence ( Koch and Pollatos, 2014a ) as well as emotion regulation ( Opdensteinen et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Thus, assuming that concurrent levels of interoceptive accuracy influence decision making, this finding would provide an additional explanation for the missing longitudinal relationship between both variables. Apparently, interoceptive accuracy cannot yet be seen as a stable trait during middle childhood; interestingly, neither can be decision-making ( Smith et al, 2012 ; Li et al, 2020 ). It would be interesting for future studies to examine longitudinal relations throughout and later in development, with an assumingly increasing stability of interoceptive accuracy and decision making.…”