Tolerance for Uncertainty and Emotional Intelligence and the Use of Hints in Decision-Making (in Russian)

Abstract

The study raises the question of personal regulation of decision-making as manifested in the use of hints in the decision-making process. In a specially designed computerized "decision support procedure" the subjects had to make choices "for themselves" and "for others”. Ambiguous results were obtained on the student sample (N = 85): subjects with significantly higher scores in "Tolerance for uncertainty” and low scores in "Intolerance for uncertainty" and “Reflexivity” used the hints. They also had lowered scores in emotional intelligence on the “Understanding of emotions” scale. Receiving additional information by taking a hint in this case meant more effort to overcome subjective uncertainty and at the same time extension of the considered decision consequences. Emotional intelligence turned out to be linked to the decision making process in an ambiguous way: the higher the index of the interpersonal intelligence (“Understanding of the emotions of others”) was the fewer hints the subjects used; the subjects with lowered scores on this scale used the hints; at the same time increase in time spent on the task was positively correlated with the indices of intrapersonal emotional intelligence (“Emotional perception” and “Emotional management”). “Intolerance for uncertainty” as a desire for clarity and intolerance for ambiguity in interpersonal relationships were not related to the emotional intelligence; at the same time, decrease in «Interpersonal intolerance for uncertainty”, as well as decrease in “Understanding of emotions of others” both increased the time on decisions “for themselves”, i.e. lead to lengthy reflections in a more meaningful situation of personal choice.