How do emotionally intelligent individuals react to other people’s emotions? A study on emotional and facial reactions

Article Article scientifique Article How do emotionally intelligent individuals react to other people’s emotions? A study on emotional and facial reactions eng 2025-03-10 author Gillioz Christelle Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training, Lausanne, Switzerland. christelle.gillioz@hefp.swiss. 633913 author Nicolet-Dit-Felix Maroussia Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training, Lausanne, Switzerland.,Cognitive Science Center, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. 872026 author Delplanque Sylvain 0000-0002-9025-4754 Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 634389 Services communs du CISA (EMCO) author Mortillaro Marcello 0000-0002-1785-6732 Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 651081 Services communs du CISA (EMCO) author Sander David Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. 558712 Section de psychologie (PSICO) author Fiori Marina Swiss Federal University for Vocational Education and Training, Lausanne, Switzerland. marina.fiori@hefp.swiss. 663152 10.1186/s40359-025-02425-5 40065434 2050-7283 https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40359-025-02425-5 Background: According to the hypersensitivity hypothesis, highly emotionally intelligent individuals perceive emotion information at a lower threshold, pay more attention to emotion information, and may be characterized by more intense emotional experiences. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether and how emotional intelligence (EI) is related to hypersensitivity operationalized as heightened emotional and facial reactions when observing others narrating positive and negative life experiences. Methods: Participants (144 women) watched positive and negative videos in three different conditions: with no specific instructions (spontaneous condition), with the instructions to put themselves in the character's shoes (empathic condition) and with the instructions to distinguish themselves from the character (distancing condition). The activity of the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major muscles was recorded and after each video, the participants reported the arousal corresponding to their emotion during the video. The EI facets emotion recognition (ER), emotion understanding (EU), and emotion management (EM) were measured. Results: Participants' self-reported arousal and facial motor responses increased in the empathic condition compared to the spontaneous condition and then decreased in the distancing condition. Although there was no effect of EI on reported arousal, EI, specifically EU and EM, seemed to influence facial reactions during the task. In the spontaneous and empathic conditions, EU was associated with a greater difference in zygomaticus activation between positive and negative videos, suggesting that individuals high on this EI facet may react more to positive emotion of others. In the spontaneous and distancing conditions, EM predicted less corrugator activation when watching negative videos, suggesting that individuals high on this EI facet may spontaneously regulate their negative emotions. Conclusions: This study suggests that hypersensitivity effects might better be captured by implicit measures such as facial reactions rather than explicit ones such as reporting of emotion. They also suggest that some EI facets and viewing conditions (spontaneous, empathic, and distancing view) influence emotional facial reactivity. Emotion information processing Emotional contagion Emotional intelligence Facial mimicry Hypersensitivity Dewey 128.37 Dewey 150 15 Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives 0D8 108 Section de psychologie 71 false 593 Emergence et expression de l'émotion (E3 Lab) BMC psychology 13 1 5d0546be-2914-4729-9642-e3a760eee7df Article (Published version) Public Article_scientifique_from_crossref.pdf 1659306 application/pdf 654c610444588e003be9698fe79eeaa459d35f70010e62967532fb56b4b4f62a openAccess Centres et instituts / Centre interfacultaire en sciences affectives Faculté de psychologie et des sciences de l'éducation / Section de psychologie

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How do emotionally intelligent individuals react to other people’s emotions? A study on emotional and facial reactions	BMC psychology			2025	148	347

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