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Dispositional Empathy and Emotional Intelligence in terms of Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2021

María Pilar Aparicio-Flores Open the ORCID record for María Pilar Aparicio-Flores [Opens in a new window] ,
José María Esteve-Faubel Open the ORCID record for José María Esteve-Faubel [Opens in a new window] ,
María Vicent Open the ORCID record for María Vicent [Opens in a new window] ,
Carolina Gonzálvez Open the ORCID record for Carolina Gonzálvez [Opens in a new window] ,
Ricardo Sanmartín Open the ORCID record for Ricardo Sanmartín [Opens in a new window]  and
José Manuel García-Fernández Open the ORCID record for José Manuel García-Fernández [Opens in a new window]
María Pilar Aparicio-Flores
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
José María Esteve-Faubel
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
María Vicent*
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
Carolina Gonzálvez
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
Ricardo Sanmartín
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
José Manuel García-Fernández
Affiliation:
Universitat d'Alacant (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to María Vicent. Departament de Psicologia Evolutiva i Didàctica de la Universitat d'Alacant. Sant Vicent del Raspeig (Spain). E-mail: maria.vicent@ua.es
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Abstract

The maladaptive nature of Perfectionistic Automatic Thoughts (PAT) increases the importance of evaluating the construct. This study aims to identify different clusters of PAT in undergraduates, and to check possible inter-cluster differences in the dimensions of dispositional empathy and emotional intelligence in a sample of 691 Spanish undergraduates (Mage = 23.1; SD = 5.26). The Perfectionism Cognitions Inventory, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and the Trait Meta-Mood Scale were used. Three clusters with low (LPAT), moderate (MPAT) and high (HPAT) levels of PAT were identified. Statistically significant differences were observed between these clusters in terms of dispositional empathy and emotional intelligence dimensions. HPAT significantly scored higher than LPAT on Fantasy, Empathic Concern, Personal Discomfort and Perception, as well as in comparison with MPAT on Fantasy, Empathic Concern, Personal Discomfort and Perception. Moreover, MPAT obtained significantly higher scores on Comprehension and Repair than LPAT. Effect sizes for these differences were of a small magnitude, except for the HPAT and LPAT contrasts, whose differences were of a moderate magnitude.

Keywords

clusterdispositional empathyemotional intelligenceperfectionistic automatic thoughts
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 24 , 2021 , e10
Copyright
© Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2021

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest: None.

Funding statement: This work was supported by the University of Alicante (MP AF, Grant UAFPU2017-006).

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