Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

How is emotional intelligence associated with moral disgust? The mediating role of social support and forgiveness

  • Published:
Current Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on the perspective of positive psychology, this study explored the influence of emotional intelligence on moral disgust for the first time. Meanwhile, based on the perspective of external support resources and internal resilience resources, it explored the mediating role of social support and forgiveness. In this study, 956 participants aged 17–26 were recruited by cluster sampling and random sampling, and they completed 4 related questionnaires. We used the structural equation model for analysis and found that emotional intelligence significantly correlated with moral disgust in a positive way. Meanwhile, forgiveness is the important mediating mechanism between the two, and emotional intelligence also influence forgiveness through social support and ultimately positively affect moral disgust. The results of this study not only enrich the theoretical research in the field of positive psychology and morality, but also have important implications on how to improve the moral disgust of the public.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ahmad, S., Bangash, H., & Khan, S. A. (2009). Emotional intelligence and gender differences. Sarhad J. Agric, 25(1), 127–130.

    Google Scholar 

  • Akaike, H. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52(3), 317–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arbuckle, J. (2003). Amos 5.0 update to the Amos user’s guide. Marketing department, SPSS incorporated.

  • Asadollahfam, H., Salimi, A., & Pashazadeh, F. M. (2012). Emotional intelligence, gender and vocabulary. Procedia Social & Behavioral Sciences, 46, 833–837.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athota, V. S., O’Connor, P. J., & Jackson, C. (2009). The role of emotional intelligence and personality in moral reasoning. In R. E. Hicks (Ed.), Personality and individual differences: Current directions. QLD, Australian Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aybek, E. C., Çavdar, D., & Özabacı, T. M. N. (2015). University students’ moral judgment and emotional intelligence level: A model testing. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 191, 2740–2746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W., Worthington Jr., E. L., Parrott III, L., O’Connor, L. E., & Wade, N. G. (2001). Dispositional forgiveness: Development and construct validity of the transgression narrative test of forgiveness (TNTF). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27, 1277–1290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boone, R. T., & Buck, R. (2004). Emotion receiving ability: A new view of measuring individual differences in the ability to accurately judge others' emotions. In G. Geher (Ed.), Measuring emotional intelligence: Common ground and controversy (p. 73–89). Nova Science Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brackett, M. A., & Katulak, N. A. (2006). Emotional intelligence in the classroom: Skill-based training for teachers and students. Applying emotional intelligence: A practitioner’s guide, 1-27.

  • Brackett, M. A., Rivers, S. E., Shiffman, S., Lerner, N., & Salovey, P. (2006). Relating emotional abilities to social functioning: A comparison of self-report and performance measures of emotional intelligence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 780–795.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. D., & Marshall, M. A. (2001). Self-esteem and emotion: Some thoughts about feelings. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 27(5), 575–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. P. (2003). Measuring individual differences in the tendency to forgive: Construct validity and links with depression. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(6), 759–771.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, R. P., & Phillips, A. (2005). Letting bygones be bygones: Further evidence for the validity of the tendency to forgive scale. Personality & Individual Differences, 38(3), 627–638.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Browne, M. W., & Cudeck, R. (1992). Alternative ways of assessing model fit. Sociological Methods & Research, 21(2), 230–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burrus, J., Betancourt, A., Holtzman, S., Minsky, J., MacCann, C., & Roberts, R. D. (2012). Emotional intelligence relates to well-being: Evidence from the situational judgment test of emotional management. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 4(2), 151–166.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming (multivariate applications series). New York: Taylor & Francis Group, 396, 7384.

  • Carvalho, D., Neto, F., & Mavroveli, S. (2010). Trait emotional intelligence and disposition for forgiveness. Psychological Reports, 107(2), 526–534.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, H. A., Kim, D. A., Susskind, J. M., & Anderson, A. K. (2009). In bad taste: Evidence for the oral origins of moral disgust. Science, 323(5918), 1222–1226.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, K. B. (2008). Can we improve emotional intelligence? Addressing the positive psychology goal of enhancing strengths Kelly BT Chang. Emotional Intelligence: Perspectives from Educational and Positive Psychology, 336, 25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cobb, S. (1976). Social support as a moderator of life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 38(5), 300–314.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Deeley, S. T., & Love, A. W. (2013). A preliminary investigation into the emotion self-confidence model of suicidal ideation in adolescents. Archives of Suicide Research, 17(2), 161–172.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Eisenberg, N. (2000). Emotion, regulation, and moral development. Annual Review of Psychology, 51(1), 665–697.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Enright, R. D., Gassin, E. A., & Wu, C. R. (1992). Forgiveness: A developmental view. Journal of Moral Education, 21(2), 99–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Enright, R. D., Knutson, J. A., Holter, A. C., Baskin, T., & Knutson, C. (2007). Waging peace through forgiveness in Belfast, Northern Ireland II: Educational programs for mental health improvement of children. Journal of Research in Education, 17, 63–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eshbaugh, E. M. (2008). Brief report: Gender, social support, and loneliness among residence hall students. Journal of College & University Student Housing, 35(2).

  • Ford, G. G., & Procidano, M. E. (1990). The relationship of self-actualization to social support, life stress, and adjustment. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 18(1), 41–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frydenberg, E. (2017). Positive psychology, mindset, grit, hardiness, and emotional intelligence and the construct of resilience: A good fit with coping. In coping and the challenge of resilience (pp. 13–28). Palgrave Macmillan, London.

  • Froman, L. (2010). Positive psychology in the workplace. Journal of Adult Development, 17(2), 59–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gallagher, E. N., & Vella-Brodrick, D. A. (2008). Social support and emotional intelligence as predictors of subjective well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 44(7), 1551–1561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gliebe, S. K. (2012). A study of the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation, optimism, and perceived stress among selected teachers in Lutheran schools. Lutheran Education, 135(1).

  • Goleman, D. (1995). Emotional intelligence. Why it can matter more than IQ. Bantam.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heerde, J. A., & Hemphill, S. A. (2017). Examination of associations between informal help-seeking behavior, social support, and adolescent psychosocial outcomes: A meta-analysis. Developmental Review, 47, 44–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hodgson, L. K., & Wertheim, E. H. (2007). Does good emotion management aid forgiving? Multiple dimensions of empathy, emotion management and forgiveness of self and others. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 24, 931–949.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu, L. T., & Bentler, P. M. (1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ioannidou, F., & Konstantikaki, V. (2008). Empathy and emotional intelligence: What is it really about? International Journal of Caring Sciences, 1(3), 118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, A., & Fitness, J. (2008). Moral hypervigilance: The influence of disgust sensitivity in the moral domain. Emotion, 8(5), 613–627.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Karremans, J. C. (2005). Forgiveness and its associations with prosocial thinking, feeling, and doing beyond the relationship with the offender. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(10), 1315–1326.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kauten, Rebecca Lynn, (2016). The influence of informant and measurement on the relations among adolescent narcissism, prosocial behavior, and emotional and social intelligence. Dissertations. 120.

  • Kendler, K. S., Myers, J., & Prescott, C. A. (2005). Sex differences in the relationship between social support and risk for major depression: A longitudinal study of opposite-sex twin pairs. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 250–256.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., & Zhao, J. (2013). Affective mediators of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction in young adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 197–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Zhao, J., & You, X. (2012a). Social support mediates the impact of emotional intelligence on mental distress and life satisfaction in Chinese young adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 513–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kong, F., Zhao, J., & You, X. (2012b). Emotional intelligence and life satisfaction in Chinese university students: The mediating role of self-esteem and social support. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 1039–1043.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Law, K. S., Wong, C. S., & Song, L. J. (2004). The construct and criterion validity of emotional intelligence and its potential utility for management studies. The Journal of Applied Psychology, 89, 483–496.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindsey, M. A., Joe, S., & Nebbitt, V. (2010). Family matters: The role of mental health stigma and social support on depressive symptoms and subsequent help seeking among African American boys. Journal of Black Psychology, 36, 458–482.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Little, T. D., Cunningham, W. A., Shahar, G., & Widaman, K. F. (2002). To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 151–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, P. N., Salovey, P., & Straus, R. (2003). Emotional intelligence, personality, and the perceived quality of social relationships. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(3), 641–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, P. N., Salovey, P., & Cotˆ e S, Beers M. (2005). Emotion regulation abilities and the quality of social interaction. Emotion, 5, 113–118.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lopes, P. N., Brackett, M. A., Nezlek, J. B., Schutz, A., Sellin, I., & Salovey, P. (2004). Emotional ¨ intelligence and social interaction. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 1018–1034.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, J. (2005). An Investigation of Primary and Secondary School Teachers’Job Burnout and Its Related Factors. Psychological Science, 28(5), 1246–1249.

  • Macaskill, A., Maltby, J., & Day, L. (2002). Forgiveness of self and others and emotional empathy. The Journal of Social Psychology, 142, 663–665.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S., & Coatsworth, J. D. (1998). The development of competence in favorable and unfavorable environment: Lessons from research on successful children. American Psychologist, 53, 205–220.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Masten, A. S. (2001). Ordinary magic: Resilience processes in development. American Psychologist, 56(3), 227–238.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mavroveli, S., Petrides, K. V., Rieffe, C., & Bakker, F. (2007). Trait emotional intelligence, psychological well-being, and peer-rated social competence in adolescence. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 25, 263–275.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Solovey, P. (1999). Emotional intelligence meets traditional standard for an intelligence. Intelligence, 27(4), 267–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard, C. (2013). A phenomenological study of the role of supportive others in the forgiveness process (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).

  • Medvedova, L. (1998). Personality dimensions-" Little five"-and their relationships with coping strategies in early adolescence. Studia Psychologica, 40(4), 261.

    Google Scholar 

  • Montes-Berges, B., & Augusto, J. M. (2007). Exploring the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence, coping, social support and mental health in nursing students. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 14(2), 163–171.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mugrage, M. S. (2014). The relationship between emotional intelligence and forgiveness (Doctoral dissertation, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology).

  • Najafi, M., & Baseri, A. (2018). Relationship of perceived social support and self-actualization with life expectancy in the elderly in Tehran. J Educ Community Health, 4(4), 56–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ozbay, F., Johnson, D. C., Dimoulas, E., Morgan, C. A., & Southwick, S. (2007). Social support and resilience to stress: From neurobiology to clinical practice. Psychiatry, 4(5), 35–40.

    PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. (2004). Character strengths and virtues: A handbook and classification (Vol. 1). Oxford University press.

  • Pizarro, D. A., & Salovey, P. (2002). Being and becoming a good person: The role of emotional intelligence in moral development and behavior. In improving academic achievement (pp. 247-266). Academic press.

  • Reis, D. L., Brackett, M. A., Shamosh, N. A., Kiehl, K. A., Salovey, P., & Gray, J. R. (2007). Emotional intelligence predicts individual differences in social exchange reasoning. NeuroImage, 35(3), 1385–1391.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reniers, R. L. E. P., Corcoran, R., VLlm, B. A., Mashru, A., Howard, R., & Liddle, P. F. (2012). Moral decision-making, tom, empathy and the default mode network. Biological Psychology, 90(3), 202–210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • REN, J., & GAO, X. X. (2011). Moral emotions: The moral behavior’s intermediary mediation. Advances in Psychological Science, 19(8), 1224–1232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, P. S., & Giner-Sorolla, R. (2013). Bodily moral disgust: What it is, how it is different from anger, and why it is an unreasoned emotion. Psychological Bulletin, 139(2), 328–351.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Satne, & Paula. (2016). Forgiveness and moral development. Philosophia, 44(4), 1029–1055.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schermelleh-Engel, K., Moosbrugger, H., & Müller, H. (2003). Evaluating the fit of structural equation models: Tests of significance and descriptive goodness-of-fit measures. Methods of Psychological Research Online, 8(2), 23–74.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seligman, Martin, E. P., Steen, Tracy, A., Park, & Nansook, et al. (2005). Positive psychology progress. American Psychologist., 60, 410, 421

  • Seligman, M. E., & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2014). Positive psychology: An introduction. In flow and the foundations of positive psychology (pp. 279–298). Springer, Dordrecht.

  • Senland, A. K., & Higgins-D’ Alessandro, A. (2016). Sociomoral reasoning, empathy, and meeting developmental tasks during the transition to adulthood in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 46(9), 3090–3105.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sippel, L. M., Pietrzak, R. H., Charney, D. S., Mayes, L. C., & Southwick, S. M. (2015). How does social support enhance resilience in the trauma-exposed individual? Ecology and Society, 20(4).

  • Taylor, S. E. (2011). Social support: A review. In H. S. Friedman (Ed.), Oxford library of psychology. The Oxford handbook of health psychology (p. 189–214). Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toussaint, L., & Webb, J. R. (2005). Gender differences in the relationship between empathy and forgiveness. The Journal of Social Psychology, 145(6), 673–685.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tybur, J. M., Lieberman, D., & Griskevicius, V. (2009). Microbes, mating, and morality: Individual differences in three functional domains of disgust. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 97(1), 103–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y. (2015). Hearing-impaired upper secondary school Students' gratitude and subjective well-being: The mediating effect of social support. Chinese Journal of Special Education, 175(01), 35–38,86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wenjiao, T., Zhiyan, W., & Weijie, M. (2012). Moral emotions decade: Review and Prospect [J]. Psychological Research, 6.

  • Wong, C., & Law, K. S. (2002). The effects of leader and follower emotional intelligence on performance and attitude: An exploratory study. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 243–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worthington, E. L., Jr. (2006). Forgiveness and reconciliation: Theory and application.Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

  • Xiang, Y., Wang, W., & Guan, F. (2018a). The relationship between child maltreatment and dispositional envy and the mediating effect of self-esteem and social support in young adults. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 1054.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Xiang Y, Chao X, & Ye Y. (2018b). Effect of gratitude on benign and malicious envy: The mediating role of social support. Frontiers in psychiatry, 9, 139-.

  • Xiang, Y., Chen, D., & Zhao, J. (2020a). How is childhood abuse associated with moral disgust? The mediating role of social support and gratitude——Based on the theory of mind. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 1–13.

  • Xiang, Y., Chen, Z., & Zhao, J. (2020b). How childhood maltreatment impacts aggression from perspectives of social comparison and resilience framework theory. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 29(9), 1113–1124.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xin, Z. (2001). The relationship between happiness and social support. J Chin Psychol Acta Psychol Sinica, 33, 59–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yates, T. M., Tyrell, F. A., & Masten, A. S. (2015). Resilience theory and the practice of positive psychology from individuals to societies. Positive psychology in practice: Promoting human flourishing in work, health, education, and everyday life, 773–788.

  • Zhu, H. (2015). Social support and affect balance mediate the association between forgiveness and life satisfaction. Social Indicators Research, 124(2), 671–681.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zimet, G. D., Dahlem, N. W., Zimet, S. G., & Farley, G. K. (1988). The multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 30–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zong, P., & Bai, J. R. (2009). Review of research on forgiveness intervention -- the role of forgiveness in psychotherapy. Advances in Psychological Science, 17(5), 1010–1015.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Data Availability Statement

The raw data required to reproduce these findings cannot be shared at this time as the data also forms part of an ongoing study.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the project of National Social Science Foundation of China (19BSH114, Project Name: The Personality basis of Moral Perception and its Intervention Mechanism).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Lu Wang

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Yanhui Xiang & Rong Yuan

  2. Cognition and Human Behavior Key Laboratory of Hunan Province, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Yanhui Xiang

  3. Key Laboratory of Big Data for Basic Education, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, 410081, China

    Yanhui Xiang

Authors
  1. Lu Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yanhui Xiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rong Yuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

LW: Paper writing, paper revising, data analysis,

YX: Study design, data analysis, paper revising,

RY: Paper revising.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yanhui Xiang.

Ethics declarations

Ethical Approval

Ethics approval was obtained from the Academic Committee of the School of Psychology of Hunan Normal University.

Conflict of Interest

All author declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Lu Wang and Yanhui Xiang are co-first authors.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wang, L., Xiang, Y. & Yuan, R. How is emotional intelligence associated with moral disgust? The mediating role of social support and forgiveness. Curr Psychol 42, 10223–10233 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02218-0

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02218-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation