Recommendations for further research

This study was exploratory, and the report of findings has been limited by the questions posed. In addition, however, further statistical analyses of results have revealed other avenues of research that would add to the literature. In this study, mention has been made about the interaction of emotions and cognition in controlling thoughts and behaviour (Bar-On, Tranel, Denburg, & Bechara, 2003; Côté & Miners, 2006; Damasio, 1995; Gray, 2004;

Lam & Kirby, 2002; Muramatsu & Hanoch, 2005; Shaw, 2007). In fact, the theoretical model proposed by Mayer and his associates, and used in this research, views emotional intelligence as positioned at the intersection of emotions and cognition (Mayer, Salovey &

Caruso, 2008). Muramatsu and Hanoch (2005) argue that emotions are crucial for focusing on pertinent cues in the environment which then initiate the cognitive processes necessary to respond adaptively. In the current study, when a preliminary analysis was performed using interaction between IQ and aspects of EI as predictors for negative career thinking change as well as pre- and post- program negative career thinking, the interaction variable predicted criterion variables where neither EI alone nor IQ alone did, in some cases up to as much as seven percent of the variance. This has implications for a variety of areas of research: the study of intelligence as a psychological construct in general, for emotional intelligence as a

specific construct, and also for our evaluation of intelligence(s) as resources in adapting to particular academic, work, and life situations.

Research regarding emotional intelligence as a possible resource to deal with life outcomes is still in its infancy. One of the barriers to this research concerns accurate and valid measurement of what is currently a poorly defined construct (Brody, 2004; Landy, 2005;

Matthews, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2002; Zeidner, Roberts, & Matthews, 2008). The manifestation of emotional intelligence in an ability-based test cannot be said to be necessarily related to the emotional intelligence manifest in managing one’s negative career thinking. As discussed in chapter 3, emotions arise in response to events in the environment that trigger appraisals of those events and involve somatic, cognitive, and motivational components. A major deficiency of the ability-based measure used in this research is that it is unlikely to initiate the somatic experience in the artificial setting of the test that would occur in a real-life situation. In other words, while the problems presented in the MSCEIT might resemble situations in which a client might find him/herself, it is not actually happening, and so the emotional intelligence displayed involves mostly the cognitive response to the problem without any appreciable somatic or motivational influence.

Knowing how one should respond to an emotionally charged problem is often quite different than how one actually does respond. In this respect, Ortony, Revelle, and Zinbarg (2007) argue that what the MSCEIT measures is more in line with crystallized emotional intelligence. They suggest that future measures of EI need to include a fluid component whereby individuals can be observed to respond to on-the-spot situations, ideas, and materials that are novel and require mental manipulation of emotional information and quick adaptation in more real-life scenarios (Deary, 2001; Hunt, 2005; Stankov, 2003). This would be a challenging task and would likely need to involve the use of a variety of currently developing technologies to accomplish. In the interim, the assessment of EI should include not only performance that is based on hypothetical problems posed in the MSCEIT, but also on information from multiple sources such as other person, interview, and self-report.

Combining and analyzing data from a variety of sources and comparing them with individual test results could reveal relationships otherwise not available.

On a related topic, the measure of cognitive g used in this study produced a global IQ score.

If emotional intelligence does have a fluid component it might be associated with fluid

intelligence as conceptualized by Cattell. A study in which both fluid and crystallized aspects of intelligence are measured could shed light on this possibility.

Of interest for the sample assessed in this study is that EI Understanding and EI Managing scores are considerably lower than either of Perceiving or Facilitating. In the hierarchical Mayer-Salovey ability model of EI, understanding and managing emotions represent higher levels of processing with managing requiring the foundation provided by the lower three branches. To determine whether these values are typical of unemployed adults, it would be useful to administer the MSCEIT to other samples engaging in career exploration, as well as unemployed adults who are not in career exploration. Analyzing mean differences would help determine whether the current sample was unique.

The implementation of a true or quasi-experimental design would address concerns such as regression to the mean as well as shed light on possible causes of negative career change. To do this would require the inclusion of a control group who did not participate in the career exploration program but completed the necessary assessments.

The developmental trajectory of emotional intelligence over the lifespan needs to be investigated further (Mayer et al., 2004). At this point there is conflicting information regarding the development of emotional intelligence with age. Cursory analyses of age groupings in the current study revealed different levels of EI and IQ at different ages. It is recommended that further research investigate the developmental trajectory of IQ, EI, and their interaction over time and their relationship with important life outcomes.

Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1982) proposes that one attachment style (i.e. the avoidant style) is associated with more suppression of negative affect in order to cope with stress in the environment (Feeney & Ryan, 1994). Attachment style has also been investigated with respect to one’s work and family relationships (Sumer & Knight, 2001). So far, no research can be located that investigates emotional intelligence and its relationship with attachment style. A study such as the current one in which other factors were used as predictor variables would be useful in determining their contributions to change in negative career thinking above and beyond those studied here.