INDIVIDUAL-DIFFERENCES IN DISPOSITIONAL EXPRESSIVENESS - DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE EMOTIONAL EXPRESSIVITY SCALE

Although emotional expressivity figures prominently in several theorie s of psychological and physical functioning, limitations of currently available measurement techniques impede precise and economical testing of these theories. The 17-item Emotional Expressivity Scale (EES) was designed as a self-report measure of the extent to which people outwa rdly display their emotions. Reliability studies showed the EES to be an internally consistent and stable individual-difference measure. Val idational studies established initial convergent and discriminant vali dities, a moderate relationship between self-rated and other-rated exp ression, and correspondence between self-report and laboratorymeasured expressiveness using both college student and community populations. The potential for the EES to promote and integrate findings across div erse areas of research is discussed.