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http://dx.doi.org/10.9758/cpn.2018.16.4.391

In-Depth Relationships between Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits in Meditation Practitioners  

Choi, Soo-Hee (Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital)
An, Seung Chan (Korea Institute of Brain Science)
Lee, Ul Soon (Department of Brain Education, Global Cyber University)
Yun, Je-Yeon (Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital)
Jang, Joon Hwan (Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital)
Kang, Do-Hyung (Department of Psychiatry, Seoul National University Hospital)
Publication Information
Clinical Psychopharmacology and Neuroscience / v.16, no.4, 2018 , pp. 391-397 More about this Journal
Abstract
Objective: Meditation can elicit trait-like changes in psychological and social styles, as well as enhancement of emotional regulatory capacity. We investigated the relation between personality traits and emotional intelligence in meditation practitioners. Methods: Seventy-two long-term practitioners of mind-body training (MBT) and 62 healthy comparative individuals participated in the study. The participants completed emotional intelligence questionnaires and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Results: The MBT group revealed higher scores on all five emotional intelligence factors than did those in the control group, such as emotional awareness and expression, empathy, emotional thinking, emotional application, and emotional regulation (all $p{\leq}0.001$). MBT practitioners also had higher scores on the intuition of perceiving function (t=-2.635, p=0.010) and on the feeling of the judging function (t=-3.340, p=0.001) of the MBTI compared with those in the control group. Only the MBT group showed a robust relationship with every factor of emotional intelligence and MBTI-defined intuitive styles, indicating that higher scores of emotional intelligence were related to higher scores for intuition. Conclusion: Emotional intelligence of meditation practitioners showed notable relationships with some features of personality trait. In-depth associations between emotional intelligence and personality traits would help to foster psychological functions in meditation practitioners.
Keywords
Meditation; Mind-body training; Emotional intelligence; Personality; Intuition;
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