The relationship between personality, cognition and emotional intelligence

Abstract

intelligence that has flowed from the personality–intelligence interface, hence emotional intelligence. The accepted body of knowledge regarding emotional capability is under scrutiny and middle ground is yet to be found. The general aim of this research was to gain an understanding of the relationship between independent variables (personality and cognition) and a dependent variable (emotional intelligence). The study was descriptive in nature, as the relationship between the variables was described rather than assumed. A quantitative, empirical study investigated independent variables and statistically analysed the results. This study found that 28% of the variance in EQ can be explained by personality and only 6.4% by cognition. The variance percentage increases to 30.4% when personality and cognition are combined. However, it seems that personality still carries most of the weight in this combination.Keywords: Organisational Psychology; Personnel Psychology; humanistic existential approach; descriptive research; quantitative empirical study; emotional intelligence; personality; cognition; Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ); Cognitive Process Profile (CPP); Bar-On EQ-i