The research aimed to establish the relationship between the results of measurement of emotional intelligence, their relation to the measure of verbal and nonverbal abilities, as well as age and gender of the participants. The study was conducted on a sample of 500 participants with a wide range of chronological age (15 to 65 years, mean 36.9 years) and both genders (M = 257, F = 243). Significant correlations between emotional intelligence, gender and age of participants were obtained. In other words, women achieve better results than men, and older respondents achieve better results than younger ones. Age is associated with higher results of emotional intelligence, and a negative correlation is established between established intelligence and age: in the elderly, significant lower levels of nonverbal abilities were observed. The key findings relate to the fact that age and experience result in improved results on emotional intelligence, especially in more complex branches such as understanding and emotion analysis, reflexivity and emotional regulation. These results, combined with correlations of the verbal factor of intelligence are in accordance with the understanding of emotional intelligence as an ability, opposed to the standpoint of emotional intelligence as a personality trait that should be measured by self-assessment scales.

verbal and nonverbal abilities, emotional intelligence