Emotional intelligence and psychological skills use among athletes

Psychological skills are the systematic and consistent practice of mental or psychological skills for the purpose of improving performance and /or enjoyment. Emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to carry out accurate reasoning about emotions. Both psychological skills and emotional intelligence have been found to associate desirable outcomes including increased pleasant emotions and improved performance. Further, given evidence showing emotions predict performance, strategies to improve emotional control could have performance and health-related benefits (see Lane, 2007). This study investigated relationships between psychological skills and emotional intelligence, extending recent research that found strong relationships between the two constructs (Lane, Thelwell, Lowther, & Devonport, 2009). Replication research has the value of demonstrating that findings occur consistently, and if practitioners wish to extend links found in one study, then they can do so with greater confidence. Participants (N=143) completed the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS; Schutte et al., 1998) and the Test of Performance Strategies (TOPS; Thomas, Murphy, & Hardy, 1999). Results demonstrated that scores of emotional intelligence and psychological skills inter-correlated. Specifically, self-talk, imagery, and goal-setting correlated with emotional intelligence. Findings are consistent with those reported by Lane et al. (2009) and lend value to encouraging athletes to engage in psychological skills in both training and competition.