Research
Preprints and papers developed within The Judgmentalism Project. All documents are published open access on Zenodo, with DOI and version history.
Residualised Scoring for Component-Process Isolation: A Regression-Based Framework, with Application to Ability Emotional Intelligence
Preprint · 19 May 2026 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20279125 · CC BY 4.0
Abstract
In psychological ability testing, component processes are often conceptually separable but operationally entangled. When one task depends on another as input, raw scores confound downstream ability with upstream detection: high performance may reflect strong input detection, strong downstream reasoning, or both. This paper develops Branch-Residualised Interpretation (BRI), a regression-based scoring framework for isolating downstream variance from upstream detection variance, using ability emotional intelligence as the worked case.
Six simulation studies evaluate BRI. Studies 1 and 2 show that BRI recovers latent downstream variance under classical measurement assumptions and characterise its behaviour under unequal component reliabilities, including a disattenuation correction. Studies 3 through 5 stress-test BRI under ceiling effects, heavy-tailed measurement error, and nonlinear coupling. Study 6 provides regression-power guidance for detecting downstream effects on outcomes. An open-source R pipeline implements the estimator, diagnostics, simulations, worked example, and reproducibility materials end to end.
This is the methods companion paper to the Branch Dissociation Hypothesis (Boullineau, 2026). The estimator validated here is the scoring procedure that subsequent empirical work uses to test the hypothesis on existing branch-level MSCEIT data and on a new Self-Referential Attribution Task pilot.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2026). Residualised Scoring for Component-Process Isolation: A Regression-Based Framework, with Application to Ability Emotional Intelligence. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20279125
Licensed under CC BY 4.0
Seeing the Signal, Missing the Meaning: Affective Perception and Misattribution in Emotional Intelligence
Preprint · 3 May 2026 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.20028594 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Abstract
This preprint introduces the Branch Dissociation Hypothesis: a refinement of the four-branch model of emotional intelligence that identifies a previously undertheorised profile within the EQ measurement tradition. The framework argues that detecting affective signals and attributing their causes are separable capacities, and that their dissociation produces a specific failure mode the paper calls interpretive miscalibration.
The diagnostic profile is people who detect affective signals well but attribute their causes poorly, with high confidence in the wrong attribution. When the situation is ambiguous and the perceiver could plausibly be its cause, this profile may make emotional perceptiveness a liability rather than an asset, because confident misreading prompts action while non-detection prompts none.
The paper proposes two reusable methodological tools: Branch-Residualised Interpretation, a scoring approach that isolates attribution accuracy from detection accuracy, and the Self-Referential Attribution Task (SRAT), a procedure designed to surface the diagnostic profile under self-relevant ambiguity. Eight numbered falsifiable predictions and an eight-item research agenda are offered.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2026). Seeing the Signal, Missing the Meaning: Affective Perception and Misattribution in Emotional Intelligence. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20028594
Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Trait Judgmentalism: Contextual Moderation Failure and the Architecture of Evaluative Rigidity
Preprint · 16 December 2025 · DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17946128 · CC BY 4.0
Abstract
Judgmentalism is pervasive across everyday life, yet the phenomenon has remained largely unformalised within psychological science. Existing constructs such as self-criticism, dogmatism, perfectionism, and Need for Closure capture narrow aspects of harsh evaluation but do not explain why some individuals maintain rigid, negatively biased judgments even when mitigating contextual information is available. This paper introduces Trait Judgmentalism as a stable cognitive, emotional, and behavioural disposition to evaluate oneself and others through rigid standards that resist contextual moderation.
A mechanistic account is proposed via Contextual Moderation Failure (CMF), defined as a specific utilisation deficit in which reflective processing fails to update initial intuitive appraisals. CMF explains how initial negative evaluations persist, expand into global character inferences, and shape downstream behaviour. A Tripartite Model is presented, linking cognitive evaluative rigidity, violation-contingent negative affect, and a punitive orientation – which may be expressed overtly or through latent silent sanctioning.
The model distinguishes Trait Judgmentalism from adjacent constructs, including conscientiousness, humility, and Emotional Intelligence, by identifying its core feature not as simple interpersonal coldness but as a mechanistic failure to integrate context. No empirical data are presented; the paper is intended as a conceptual foundation to guide subsequent measurement development and empirical testing.
Cite this paper
Boullineau, E. (2025). Trait Judgmentalism: Contextual Moderation Failure and the Architecture of Evaluative Rigidity. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17946128
Licensed under CC BY 4.0