The Role of Trait Emotional Intelligence in Buffering

This thesis was completed as part of the Psychology Honors Program under faculty advisor Dr. Leslie Kirby. The study aims to explore how emotional intelligence may be related to protection against stress, or buffering, and if positive mood also influences this relationship.Narrowing in on coping and stress management aspects of trait emotional intelligence, this study aims to explore how emotional intelligence may be related to buffering, which is one’s ability to subjectively shield off stress. Building on a previous study, it also aims to disentangle whether trait emotional intelligence alone influences buffering or whether a state interaction, such as positive mood is also required to induce buffering. The study was divided into two parts and consisted of 45 Vanderbilt undergraduate students. The study found marginally significant results regarding emotional intelligence (specifically, clarity and attention) improving task performance and stress recovery when interacting with mood condition. Although the results fail to support the main hypothesis, they offer promising insights for future studies.Vanderbilt UniversityPsychologyCollege of Arts and ScienceThesis completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Honors Program in Psychological Science