‘I know how you feel’? A web-based investigation into global trait emotional intelligence and the Alternative Five factor model of personality

The research sought to investigate the relationship between global trait emotional intelligence (EI) and the Alternative Five dimensions of personality. Personality Traits found to have the strongest relations/associations with EI were Aggression-Hostility and Neuroticism-Anxiety, followed by Activity and Sociability. Impulsive Sensation-Seeking was not found to correlate significantly with global trait EI. Regression analyses showed that personality accounted for approximately half of global EI variance in the sample, however Activity did not independently contribute to the model. These results were consistent with previous research in that most aspects of personality were found to correlate with global trait EI. Since previous research into these measures’ long forms was supported, these results also support the use of shortened forms of assessment where full forms may be inconvenient. Analyses into sex differences in global trait EI proved insignificant for all personality variables except Impulsive Sensation-Seeking. This is in contrast to previous research, which has found significant sex differences for global trait EI. The findings further previous evidence that personality and trait EI are obliquely linked; extending this evidence to the Alternative Five has not been investigated previously