The items of the subtests of the strategic area of the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intellligence Test - MSCEIT, were analyzed to find the best key for each item. The participants were 522 aged from 16 to 65 (M=23,8 and SD = 7,5), and 281 (F=53,3%) male and 238 (f=45,2%) female. The data were collected collectively with different trained examiners in universities and in corporations located in the outside capital area of the state of São Paulo. The test section duration was on average 45 minutes. Results showed acceptable internal consistency reliabilities using the standards set by the Brazilian Psychology Federal Council althouth some problems have been found concerning the consensous method of scoring that make it difficult to construct hard items.
Psychological assessment; emotional intelligence; psychometric parameters
