The MSCEIT – (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, Emotional Intelligence Test)
The MSCEIT is designed to assess and measure emotional intelligence. It is an ability-based scale, that is, it measures how well people perform on specific tasks related to emotional intelligence. Responses to the MSCEIT represent the actual abilities to solve problems by integrating emotional and cognitive factors in dealing with various situations. The MSCEIT measures four main branches of emotional intelligence: Accurately perceiving emotions in oneself and others; using emotions effectively to facilitate thinking, problem solving, and creativity; understanding emotions in oneself and others; manage emotions in oneself and others.
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE MSCEIT ARE:
• A performance-based assessment of overall emotional intelligence for those 17 years and over
• Two area sub scores of emotional intelligence: Emotional Experience and Emotional Reasoning
• Measures of each of the four branches of emotional intelligence
• Proven reliability and unique predictive validity
• Psychometric developmental history
• Ease of use and interest for respondents
• User friendly scoring and reports
THE MSCEIT CAN BE APPLIED TO THE FOLLOWING WORK-BASED CONTEXTS:
• Candidate assessment in recruitment and selection for job fit particularly in a management or leadership position or positions that require a high level of human interaction
• Employee development for retention and engagement
• High potential and leadership development
• Management tool to optimally lead and support direct reports
• Self-awareness for career planning and personal development
• Coaching work behaviours for improved performance
• Increase understanding of others to enhance cohesiveness and reduce conflict
• Performance management and identification of training needs
• Succession planning and talent management
The MSCEIT is versatile in corporate environments, especially when hiring employees where emotional intelligence can impact performance. This is especially the case in selecting people for leadership and management positions. One of the major strengths of the MSCEIT is that unlike most personality tests, it is an ability-based instrument. This means that the candidate has to answer questions correctly in order to get a high score. The test does not rely on candidates’ self-awareness and opinion about themselves but on an objective scoring of right or wrong answers, very much like an IQ test. The MSCEIT is administered by a certified MSCEIT practitioner who was trained and licensed by Dr. David Caruso, one of the three creators of this test.
