An investigation of the relationship between Personality dimensions and emotional intelligence

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between personality dimensions and emotional intelligence (EI) in a sample of students from the University of Tehran. A correlational analysis was performed to assess the kind of association that exists among five personality dimensions including neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, conscientiousness and emotional intelligence. Four hundred and fourty three students (237 females, 206 males) were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) and Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). Analysis of the data involved both descriptive and inferential statistics including means, standard deviations, t-test and pearson's correlation coefficients and regression analysis. The results revealed that (EI) could positively and negatively predicted by extraversion and neuroticism, respectively. Associations of the two constructs could be explained by “affect regulation”, “tendency to have positive experiences”, and “tendency to have negative experiences.”