ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the status of the field with reference to the distinction between ability emotional intelligence (EI) and trait EI and with particular emphasis on two constructs. Interpersonal intelligence denotes a persons capacity to understand the intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and, consequently, to work effectively with others, while Intrapersonal intelligence involves the capacity to understand oneself, to have an effective working model of oneself including ones own desires, fears, and capacities and to use such information effectively in regulating ones own life. The distinction between mixed versus ability models is at variance both with established psychometric theory as well as with all available empirical evidence. We believe that the conceptualization flaws and operationalization dead-ends that plague ability EI will soon leave the trait emotional self-efficacy (trait EI) framework as the only genuinely scientific alternative in the field of emotional intelligence.
