Teachers think differently: Method effects on the evaluation of high intellectual ability students’ socio–emotional intelligence

This paper investigates the relationship between 566 students’, their parents’ and their teachers’ perceptions on the socio–emotional competence of such sample of learners with high intellectual abilities. The results indicated that parents’ and their children’s self-perceptions were positively related, the relationship being moderately statistically significant in all socio–emotional intelligence aspects. However, the relationship between teachers’ ratings and parents’ and students’ ratings was positively statistically significant at a low level. Using a multitrait–multimethod analysis (Campbell and Fiske, 1959), the authors demonstrated strong method effects, especially in the case of teachers, indicating that ratings from different sources provide different and complementary information on the socio–emotional skills of high intellectual ability students.