Interestingly, Mayer et al. (in press) cited a study by Davies, Stankov, and Roberts (1998) that used a scale Goleman created to measure emotional cognition. The items consisted of hypothetical situations to which individuals responded. Davies et al. (as reported in Mayer et al.) found that Goleman's measure correlated with self-reported empathy and emotional control. Mayer et al. noted that it is not clear whether Goleman's scale was intended for empirical use, so the findings of Davies et al. are tentative.

A more measurement-based approach is represented by Bar-On (1997), who defined emotional cognition as all non-cognitive skills and competencies that enable one to cope successfully with life. Bar-On identified five broad areas of skills or competencies, and within each, more specific skills that appear to contribute to success. These include intrapersonal skills (emotional self-awareness, assertiveness, self-regard, self-actualization, independence); interpersonal skills (interpersonal relationships, social responsibility, empathy); adaptability (problem solving, reality testing, flexibility); stress management (stress tolerance, impulse, control); and general mood (happiness, optimism). According to Mayer et al. (in press), Bar-On's model combines skills that can be characterized as mental skills (e.g., problem solving) and others that can be considered personality traits (e.g., optimism), thus making it a mixed model.

Bar-On (1997) developed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi) based on his broad-based model of non-cognitive skills. Thirteen subscales of the EQi were identified, roughly corresponding to the specific skills in his model. These subscales were found to be highly intercorrelated, and thus a single test score is computed. Bar-On has found that scores on his test correlate negatively with measures of negative affect (Beck Depression Inventory; Beck, Ward, Mendelson, Mock, and Erbaugh, 1961; Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale); positively with measures of positive affect (e.g., emotional stability; extraversion); and nonsignificantly with measures of general cognition (e.g., WAIS-R; Wechsler, 1981). Again, it is clear from these results that Bar-On's EQi measures aspects of personality, and possibly mental skill. Because the measure is one of self-report, it is difficult to assess how generalizable the results would be to behavior.

Initial theorizing by Salovey and Mayer (1990) also related emotional cognition to personality factors such as warmth and outgoingness. But in the time since, they have argued that these personality factors are distinct from emotional cognition. They consider the latter to be more strictly a skill (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Mayer et al., in press). They define emotional cognition as the skill to recognize the meanings of emotions and to use that knowledge to reason and solve problems. They have proposed a framework of emotional cognition to organize the various skills involved in the adaptive processing of emotionally relevant information.

Emotional cognition consists of four main classes of skills. These skills pertain to (1) the accurate appraisal and expression of emotions in oneself and in others, (2) assimilation of emotional experience into cognition, (3) recognition, understanding, and reasoning about emotions, and (4) the adaptive regulation of emotions in oneself and in others (Mayer et al., in press; Salovey and Mayer, 1994).

Mayer and Salovey (1993) offered several mechanisms underlying emotional cognition that suggest its association with mental skills. First, emotions are associated with thought processes—certain emotions may increase thoughts and direct attention to certain tasks. Second, the effective regulation of emotions may be related to other skills, such as empathy and openness. Third, research on alexithymia (the inability to appraise and verbally express emotions) suggests possible disconnections between areas of the brain that prohibit the integration of thoughts and emotions.