The relationship between psychological reactance and emotional intelligence

•For females there is no significant difference between high and low behavioral reactance, and any of the EI subscales.•Males with higher verbal reactance scores have higher EI scores on self-control, well-being, emotionality, and sociability.•Females with higher verbal reactance scores have higher EI scores on emotionality and sociability.

Psychological reactance is a motivational force that may arise when ones freedom is threatened (Brehm, 1966). Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to label and control emotions. The purpose of this study is to explore relationships between reactance and emotional intelligence. A total of 298 undergraduate students (54.4% male) completed a measure of psychological reactance and EI. Results show that males with low behavioral reactance have significantly higher EI subscale scores on well-being, self-control, and emotionality. For females there is no significant difference between high and low behavioral reactance, and any of the EI subscales. However, for verbal reactance males with higher reactance scores have higher EI scores on self-control, well-being, emotionality, and sociability. Females with higher verbal reactance scores have higher EI scores on emotionality and sociability. These findings suggest that the relationship between reactance and EI is somewhat gender dependent and that overall emotionality is highly associated with reactance in both genders.