The MSCEIT measures emotional intelligence from an ability perspective, meaning that individuals are asked to identify emotions expressed in a photo of a person. That person is feeling a certain way, and the MSCEIT gauges an individual’s ability to accurately identify that person’s emotions. In some cases, there is a single correct answer. The MSCEIT questions measure a certain set of emotional skills, inclusive of:

‍Identifying emotions – emotion contains information about ourselves, about other people and the world around us.Emotions are a form of data. We need to pay attention to emotions, but also to be accurate in identifying how we, and others, feel.

Using emotions to facilitate thought - our emotions influence both what we think about, and how we think. For example, if you are in a positive mood you will see things differently than if you were in a more negative mood.  

Understanding emotions - we can figure out why we feel a certain way and how these feelings will change over time. If you understand emotions, you can predict how an idea will go over, how others might react to you, and so forth.  

Managing emotions - since emotions contain data or information, we need to stay open to this information, and use it to help us make good decisions. We can’t always go with the current feeling, but we can return to that feeling later.  If we permanently suppress the feeling we will be ignoring critical information.  

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