Emotional Intelligence (REIS)

Emotional intelligence concerns the knowledge and skills required to manage one’s own emotions and the emotions of others effectively to regulate social and emotional behaviour.

Application

The Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale can be applied in an advisory context in which it is desirable to gain an insight into a candidate’s emotional intelligence and their strong points and pitfalls. The REIS is a short questionnaire of just 5-10 minutes and can therefore be effectively combined with other measuring instruments.

Development

The questionnaire was developed by Keri Pekaar (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Please refer to the fact sheet in our database, or the article entitled “Self- and other-focused emotional intelligence: Development and validation of the Rotterdam Emotional Intelligence Scale (REIS)” by Pekaar et al. (2018) for more details and background information.

Benefits

Many instruments that measure emotional intelligence do not differentiate between the recognition and regulation of one’s own emotions and the recognition and regulation of the emotions of others, whereas REIS does. As it happens, there are indications that the recognition and management of one’s own emotions differs from the recognition and management of those of others. It is possible to be better in one than in the other. This variation can subsequently have an impact on different aspects of life. For example, research has shown that recognition of one’s own emotions is particularly important for mental and physical wellbeing, while recognition of the emotions of others ensures smooth social interaction. If only the total score is considered, no differentiation can be made between these aspects and their consequences.

Reporting

The questionnaire reports on four different scales of emotional intelligence:

1. Emotion recognition in oneself (self-focused)
   This concerns the observation, recognition and understanding of one’s own emotions. Is the candidate able to recognise his/her own emotions and explain where they come from?
2. Emotion recognition in others (other-focused)
   This scale concerns the observation, recognition and understanding of emotions in others. Does the candidate observe when others are emotional and understand what others are experiencing and why?
3. Emotion regulation in oneself (self-focused)
   This scale concerns the ability to inhibit, modulate or intensify one’s own emotions. This scale indicates whether the candidate becomes overwhelmed by their own emotions, or is able to remain calm and only express the emotion when it is appropriate.
4. Emotion regulation in others (other-focused)
   This scale concerns the ability to modulate or intensify the emotions of others. Is the candidate capable of influencing the emotions of others? Emotion regulation in others can have different purposes. On the one hand, to help others (for example, comforting someone who is grieving) and on the other, for one’s own gain (enthusing a client).