This thesis is concerned with the key areas of social interaction and emotional understanding in children with autism with regard to their development. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a ten sessions long intervention programme with the objective of facilitating the children’s social-emotional understanding, as well as promoting their social skills and interaction with both peers and adults. Two methods of studies were used with 6 children - aged 7 to 11 - who had previously been diagnosed with high-functioning autism. The quasi-experimental study divided the sample into an experimental and control group in order to evaluate the intervention. The second method was a case study involving two children in the experimental group. Both approaches provided evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention programme in enhancing the social and emotional components. The results from the first study showed that the intervention programme was associated with improvements for the children in the experimental group in their overall social-emotional understanding, as well as their social skills and interaction with their peers. Moreover, there was strong agreement between the three sources (parents, teachers and children) about this improvement, which supports the reliability of the outcomes. On the other hand, children from the control group did not improve in the tested areas. The results from the second study revealed the typical description of emotional and social deficits in the two children with high-functioning autism. In each case there were specific aspects to their level of difficulties and the way in which they interacted with their friends and family. The data collected after the intervention supports the hypothesis that children with autism can learn emotional understanding (including empathy), and this was associated with an improvement in their social functioning. The case studies also showed agreement between the parents in their dissatisfaction about the level of support that their children received at school. None of the children had received any type of social training programme particularly aimed at teaching them these specific skills. The two methods of evaluation complemented each other. Although caution should be taken when interpreting the findings, owing to the small sample size, the study suggests that children with high-functioning autism respond well to interventions designed to support their social and emotional understanding.

The objective of this thesis is the relationship between emotional intelligence and individual conflict styles. In the theoretical part of the thesis the construct of emotional intelligence is introduced, followed by description of the most significant theoretical conceptions and models of emotional intelligence and by description of various approaches to its measurement. Theoretical debate about the relevance and validity of the construct of emotional intelligence and the main arguments of its proponents as well as of its critics are summarized. In following chapters the theory of conflict styles and its typology as well as ways of its measurement are described. Also the main findings about the group differences in conflict styles are presented. After introduction of these two concepts, emotional intelligence and conflict styles, existing research findings on their relationships are described. In the empirical part of the thesis the relationships between two dimensions of the emotional intelligence, emotional understanding and emotional management, and conflict styles are tested. Obtained results are not unequivocal. While there was not found any significant relationship between emotional understanding and conflict styles, in the case of emotional management analysis revealed negative relationship with the...

Im Rahmen des Leistungsansatzes von emotionaler Intelligenz sehen Mayer und Salovey (1997) Emotionsverstaendnis als Voraussetzung für Emotionsregulation. Es sollte nützlich sein zu wissen, wie man sich in bestimmten Situationen fühlen wird. Zur Messung werden unter anderem Vignetten eingesetzt, in denen Emotionen für hypothetische Situationen vorhergesagt werden. Im Gegensatz dazu postulieren Gilbert und Wilson (2003) charakteristische Fehler bei affektiven Vorhersagen, die motivational günstig sind. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die Akkuratheit emotionaler Vorhersagen im natürlichen Umfeld untersucht, um dessen adaptiven Wert zu beurteilen. Zunächst sollten Beamtenanwärter ihre Emotionen in einer bedeutenden Testsituation vorhersagen (N=143). Dann wurden studentische Arbeitsgruppen (180 Mitglieder in 43 Gruppen) gebeten, Gefühle zwischen den Mitgliedern zu prognostizieren (Zuneigung, Zufriedenheit mit der Zusammenarbeit, Freude und Ärger). Akkuratheit wurde als geringer Bias (euklidische Distanz) und hohe Korrespondenz (Profilkorrelation) definiert. Das Round Robin Design der zweiten Studie ermöglichte die Varianzzerlegung der Akkuratheit nach Cronbach (1955). In beiden Studien ist ein niedriger Bias adaptiv in Hinblick auf harte Kriterien, auch inkrementell über Intelligenz und Persönlichkeit hinaus. Bias hing teilweise mit Allgemeinwissen zusammen, aber nicht mit Intelligenz. Zusammenhänge zu emotionaler Intelligenz waren inkonsistent. Die Akkuratheit als Korrespondenz ist theoretisch interessant aber deutlich weniger reliabel. Auf Gruppenebene konnte die Korrespondenz Kriterien vorhersagen, aber es zeigte sich keine inkrementelle Validität. Zukünftige Forschung sollte sich auf spezifische Situationen und spezifische Emotionen konzentrieren sowie die Prozesse untersuchen, die emotionalen Vorhersagen zugrunde liegen. / In the ability model of emotional intelligence by Mayer and Salovey (1997), emotional understanding is a prerequisite for emotion regulation. Knowing which emotions occur in which situations should be beneficial and adaptive. One of the subtests for emotional understanding asks for likely emotional reactions in hypothetical situations. In contrast, Gilbert and Wilson (2003) argue that characteristic biases in affective forecasting are adaptive. The current thesis aims to measure accuracy of emotional predictions in a natural setting and examines its adaptive value. In the anxiety study, public officials were asked to predict future emotions in an important test (N=143). The second study focused on freshman student work-groups (N=180 in 43 groups). Group members predicted interpersonal feelings for each other (affection, satisfaction with the collaboration, fun, and anger). In both studies, accuracy of emotional predictions is defined as low bias (i.e. Euclidean distance) and high correspondence (i.e. profile correlation). The round robin design in the work-group study also allows to decompose accuracy following Cronbach (1955). In both studies, a low bias was adaptive in terms of strong criteria, also incrementally over and above intelligence and personality alone. Accuracy was partly related to general knowledge but not to intelligence. Associations to emotional intelligence were inconsistent. Accuracy as correspondence is theoretically interesting but much less reliable. There is some evidence for its adaptive value on a group level but no indication of incremental validity. Future research should focus on specific situations and specific emotions. Also, processes underlying affective forecasts should be evaluated in detail.

Despite an increased interest in autism over the last decades, little research exists about life outcomes of autistic adults. The earliest follow-up studies of autistic individuals suggested that self- understanding and conscious efforts to change could be crucial factors in successfully reaching good life outcomes. However, these initial suggestions have not been further investigated. Therefore, this exploratory qualitative study examined the lives of eight highfunctioning autistic adults aged 25 to 63, from their own perspectives, through in-depth, semistructured interviews, to consider the relation of self-understanding and conscious efforts to change—in this study referred to as intentional personal development—to their life outcomes. All participants demonstrated a level of self-understanding beyond what would be predicted by current theoretical models of autism. Their self-understanding was assessed through participants’ self-definitions, meaning-making of life experiences, and understanding of emotions. In their self-definitions, the participants emphasized their abilities and personality characteristics, rather than their disabilities. For their self-defining memories, as indicators of their meaning making of life experiences, most participants chose positive experiences related to their personal development. Their autobiographical accounts revealed that most participants possess a large iii repertoire of emotion words, supporting an understanding of emotions. When a good life outcome is defined traditionally—as being employed, living independently, and having social relationships—this study, contrary to expectations, did not provide overwhelming evidence for the significant role of intentional personal development in achieving this. However, when a good life outcome is defined in terms of achieving personal excellence, then the study did provide confirmation of intentionality as important to attaining good life outcomes. This study therefore suggests that traditional life outcome measures are inadequate for assessing the life outcomes of autistic individuals because such measures do not take into account the individuals’ own sense of satisfaction with themselves and with their lives.

Despite an increased interest in autism over the last decades, little research exists about life outcomes of autistic adults. The earliest follow-up studies of autistic individuals suggested that self- understanding and conscious efforts to change could be crucial factors in successfully reaching good life outcomes. However, these initial suggestions have not been further investigated. Therefore, this exploratory qualitative study examined the lives of eight highfunctioning autistic adults aged 25 to 63, from their own perspectives, through in-depth, semistructured interviews, to consider the relation of self-understanding and conscious efforts to change—in this study referred to as intentional personal development—to their life outcomes. All participants demonstrated a level of self-understanding beyond what would be predicted by current theoretical models of autism. Their self-understanding was assessed through participants’ self-definitions, meaning-making of life experiences, and understanding of emotions. In their self-definitions, the participants emphasized their abilities and personality characteristics, rather than their disabilities. For their self-defining memories, as indicators of their meaning making of life experiences, most participants chose positive experiences related to their personal development. Their autobiographical accounts revealed that most participants possess a large iii repertoire of emotion words, supporting an understanding of emotions. When a good life outcome is defined traditionally—as being employed, living independently, and having social relationships—this study, contrary to expectations, did not provide overwhelming evidence for the significant role of intentional personal development in achieving this. However, when a good life outcome is defined in terms of achieving personal excellence, then the study did provide confirmation of intentionality as important to attaining good life outcomes. This study therefore suggests that traditional life outcome measures are inadequate for assessing the life outcomes of autistic individuals because such measures do not take into account the individuals’ own sense of satisfaction with themselves and with their lives.