Developing a scale for measuring ability-based emotional intelligence in Indian context

Emotional intelligence (EI) involves the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions and the ability to use emotions and emotional knowledge to enhance thought. Over the past two decades, EI has emerged as one of the most visible and high-profile constructs in individual differences research. Although proponents of EI argue that it affects people's physical and mental health as well as career achievements, there has been debate about both the conceptual definition and empirical measures of EI in recent years. In this paper, we first discuss the definition and domain of the EI construct. Next, we develop psychometrically sound and practically short ability-based EI measure using three different samples. The 20-item scale shows significant correlation with academic achievement and conflict avoidance behaviour. This developmental effort could facilitate future EI studies for Indian society, in particular, and for other Asian countries, in general.