Emotional intelligence and suggestibility: Effects on anxiety in female undergraduates

The present paper presents two empirical studies. The first one aims to explore the possible relationship between suggestibility (measured by the Inventory of Suggestibility, IS; González-Ordi & Miguel-Tobal, 1999) and perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) (Trait Meta-Mood Scale, TMMS; Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995) in a sample of female undergraduate students. Based on the results of the first study, the second one examines the predictive and incremental capacity of PEI to explain anxiety levels (ISRA; Miguel-Tobal & Cano-Vindel, 1986) after controlling for explained variance associated with suggestibility. Results show that there is a clear relationship between suggestibility and perceived emotional intelligence in the sense that higher levels of suggestibility are more related with higher levels of emotional attention and lower levels of emotional clarity and repair. Moreover, such results add evidence to the incremental validity of PEI when explaining levels of anxiety. Finally, several hypotheses on the underlying basis of the relationship between suggestibility and PEI and its negative effect on emotional adjustment are proposed and results are discussed.