Measuring the Machiavellian Mind

• Published in: PsycCritiques Vol. 50; no. 15; p. No Pagination Specified
• Main Author: Springer, Jonathan D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Psychological Association 13.04.2005
• Subjects: Emotional Intelligence; Human; Psychometrics
• ISSN: 1554-0138; 1554-0138
• DOI: 10.1037/041267

Reviews the book, Measuring Emotional Intelligence (see record 2004-19636-000). Major questions about the construct of intelligence are why and how it evolved in the first place. What role did emotion play in that process? There have been at least two major explanations advanced by researchers addressing these questions. One theory, known as the "Machiavellian mind," emphasizes the manipulation of the motives of others in ancestral social environments. A second, known as the "mating mind," emphasizes intrasexual and intersexual competition traits in the same arenas. The psychometrics of both general factor intelligence (g) and emotional intelligence (EI) have been perhaps among the most controversial in psychology. This collection of the two major approaches to the measurement of EI is intended to address EI's particular controversies. It is the purpose of this volume "to provide a forum for the disparate voices that represent different brands of EI, to describe the various models of EI in general, and a forum for addressing how this construct may be [specifically] measured" (pp. 4-5). This volume contains no EI measures but does contain very well-presented arguments for measuring EI, however conceptualized, and is well worth anyone's time who is concerned with EI psychometrics and conceptualizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)