The Connection Between Personality and Emotional Intelligence
5-minute read
Written by Justin Deonarine, I/O Psychologist
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and effectively use emotions in ourselves and others.
Emotional intelligence influences how people communicate, navigate conflict, build relationships, lead teams, and respond under pressure. Working in talent development, one important question often arises:
“Why do some people naturally demonstrate stronger emotional intelligence than others?”
The answer begins with personality.
While emotional intelligence skills can be developed over time, personality influences where each person starts. By understanding an individual's personality, organizations can better understand their natural emotional intelligence strengths, identify development opportunities, and provide coaching that is tailored to their needs.
How Are Personality and Emotional Intelligence Connected?
Research examining emotional intelligence alongside the Big Five model of personality has consistently found meaningful connections between personality traits and emotional intelligence. While personality and emotional intelligence are often framed as distinct concepts, they are actually closely connected.
Personality traits represent our natural behavioural tendencies and preferences, while emotional intelligence traits can be seen as a set of personality traits that can evolve and grow. In other words, personality determines where we start with our emotional intelligence skills, and acts as a foundation from which emotional intelligence develops.
This is encouraging because while personality tends to remain relatively stable over time, emotional intelligence skills can be strengthened through self-awareness, feedback, coaching, and intentional practice. Understanding personality helps identify the most effective place to begin that development journey.
Emotional Intelligence Traits and Their Personality Foundations
Many emotional intelligence assessments measure competencies such as empathy, adaptability, stress management, emotional self-control, and influencing others.
These same competencies are reflected in personality traits measured by the Work Personality Index®, providing valuable insight into an individual's natural strengths and development opportunities.
| Emotional Intelligence Competency | Related Work Personality Index Scale |
| Empathy | Concern For Others |
| Adaptability | Flexibility |
| Stress Management | Stress Tolerance |
| Emotional Self-Control | Self-Control |
| Managing Others’ Emotions | Persuasion |
Rather than viewing emotional intelligence in isolation, personality assessment helps explain why individuals approach these competencies differently and how they can most effectively develop them.
Using Personality to Develop Emotional Intelligence
Understanding personality allows coaches, leaders, and HR professionals to personalize development strategies instead of applying a one-size-fits-all approach. Here is how personality can be used to target the development of two of the core concepts above: Empathy and Emotional Self-Control.
Developing Empathy
Empathy involves recognizing and understanding the emotions and perspectives of others. Within the Work Personality Index, this is reflected by the Concern for Others scale, which measures how sensitive and understanding an individual is to the needs and feelings of others.
If you're working with someone who demonstrates:
| Lower Concern For Others | Higher Concern For Others |
| Help them recognize the impact their decisions have on others. Encouraging them consider different perspectives will highlight implications that they may overlook, and allow them to prevent or account for these impacts ahead of time. | Help them establish healthy boundaries. Individuals with high Concern for Others may take on the emotional needs of everyone around them, sometimes at the expense of their own well-being. Learning when to say "no" allows them to support others more sustainably. |
Developing Emotional Self-Control
Emotional self-control is the ability to manage one’s own emotions, as well as the emotions of others. The Work Personality Index measures this concept as part of the Self-Control scale. This scale measures the extent to which individuals maintain their composure and keep emotions in check.
If you're working with someone who demonstrates:
| Lower Self-Control | Higher Self-Control |
| Encourage them to step away from emotionally charged situations when possible. Creating space allows emotions to settle and provides time for them to gather their thoughts, so they can return with greater clarity and perspective. | Due to these individuals remaining calm under pressure, others may perceive them as detached or disengaged. Encourage them to communicate their thoughts with trusted individuals, so others understand they are invested and engaged. |
These examples illustrate an important principle: Effective emotional intelligence development depends on understanding the individual’s core preferences. Two people may share the same development goal, but will need to take two different paths to get there.
Can Personality Assess Emotional Intelligence?
Yes. Many of the traits commonly associated with emotional intelligence are also measured as personality traits. Research suggests that personality provides the foundation from which emotional intelligence develops, making personality assessment a valuable way to understand an individual's natural emotional intelligence strengths and development opportunities.
By measuring personality traits such as Concern for Others, Flexibility, Stress Tolerance, Self-Control, and Persuasion, the Work Personality Index helps identify where an individual is likely to excel and where targeted development may have the greatest impact.
Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach to emotional intelligence development, organizations can use these insights to tailor coaching, leadership development, and employee growth initiatives to each individual.
Build Emotional Intelligence on a Foundation of Personality
Emotional intelligence begins with understanding the individual.
The Work Personality Index measures 21 scientifically validated workplace personality traits that provide valuable insight into how people communicate, respond to challenges, work with others, and approach leadership. These insights help organizations tailor coaching, leadership development, and employee development initiatives to the unique needs of each individual.
When you're looking to support emotional intelligence development with deeper personality insights, the Work Personality Index provides a practical, evidence-based foundation for helping people reach their full potential.
Connect with our team to explore how our assessment insights can support your organization's talent development initiatives.
