THE EFFECTS OF PERSONALITY TRAITS AND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON EMOTIONAL INFORMATION PROCESSING SPEED

Abstract

In this present study, we aimed to explore whether personality traits within the Big Five model and trait emotional intelligence may have the ability to predict the response speed to emotional stimuli in athletes. We also investigated whether athletes' response speed may differ due to the stimuli's emotional content. The sample included 62 male student-athletes who participated in the study. Participants first completed measures of personality and emotional intelligence. Afterward, they completed an experimental task to measure response speed to emotional stimuli. In this experiment, participants responded to neutral, positive, or negative emotional pictures selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Results demonstrated that extraversion and neuroticism were not correlated to response speed to emotional stimuli. However, consistent with our predictions, openness to experience was associated (p< .01) with the emotional information processing speed of positively valenced stimuli. Besides, the appraisal of emotions dimension of the trait emotional intelligence was also significantly and negatively correlated to response speed to positively valenced pictures. Although the present study provided only partial support for our predictions regarding the link between emotional information processing speed, personality, and emotional intelligence, our results have some preliminary implications for both researchers and practitioners. Accordingly, our study showed that openness to experience and appraisal of emotions might be a valuable construct for a better understanding individuals' responses to positive emotional stimuli and previously known personality traits.