Emotional intelligence amongst undergraduate students at a higher education institution

Emotional Intelligence amongst undergraduate university students at a Higher Education Institution in the Western Cape Globalisation has brought increased complexity to employers. In these firms service and value for money are mostly delivered through decentralised organisational models. Midlevel managers and frontline staff have become more empowered. Therefore, employers increasingly judge graduate quality by conceptual, operational and especially emotional competencies. Gardner (1983; 1991) reported that business-related graduate programmes focused primarily on indicators of individual competence such as logical and linguistic intelligence, with less attention being given to spatial, interpersonal and naturalist forms of intelligence. Later research reported increased calls from industry to make curricula more relevant to `today's global workplace' through improved instruction in communication, leadership, as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal skills (Cherniss 1999; Doria, Rozanski and Cohen, 2003; Jaeger 2003; Myers and Tucker 2005). Lately, Daniel Goleman's research on emotional intelligence as a predictor of work performance has emerged (Goleman 1998, 2000; Weisinger, 1998) and continues to be highly influential. The traditional approach by educationists, however, has been to focus on logical and linguistic intelligence. This view have been challenged by many studies recently where researchers are beginning to argue that interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies and Emotional Intelligence (EQ) may be more important for success. Educational institutions have traditionally focussed primarily on logical and linguistic intelligence, with less attention given to other types of intelligence. Yet many researchers are beginning to argue that intrapersonal and interpersonal competencies, or emotional intelligence, may be more important for success in life than logical or linguistic intelligence (Tucker, Sojka, Barone & McCarthy, 2000). Though the concept of emotional intelligence was first introduced in organizations, its relevance made the concept an inevitable concept of consideration in the educational sector too. Teaching emotional intelligence skills in schools is very important because it can positively affect academic achievement not only during the session they are taught, but in subsequent years as well (Elias, Brune, Butler, Blum & Schumler, 1997). According to Caruso, Mayer and Salovey (2002), emotional intelligence skills and knowledge can be developed and learned and it matters most in times of change. Emotional intelligence is an ability to recognize one„s own feeling and those of others, for motivating self as well as one„s relationship with others. Laabs„ (1999) study of the climate of individual teacher„s classroom concluded that teachers who are more aware of how students feel in the classroom are better able to design a learning environment that suits students and better able to guide them towards success. Studies (e.g. Ediger, 1997; Parker, Summerfeldt, Hogan & Majeski 2004)) have shown that the acquisition of emotional intelligence skills can significantly contribute to positive thinking in students and increase their ability to concentrate for a long time. Gender differences in psychological well-being are important because of the many efforts being made in contemporary society to empower all individuals to achieve self-actualisation and utilise their full potential. In a post-feminist context this incorporates the idea of an “equal opportunities” society; yet social stereotypes still remain (Connors, 1990; Eagly, 1987; Turner & Sterk, 1994). Regarding race differences, Salovey, Mayer and Caruso (2002) indicated that it still has to be investigated whether EQ is culture bound. One hundred and fifty senior students (comprising of second and third year undergraduate students) completed a biographical questionnaire and the BarOn Emotional Quotient-Inventory questionnaire. The results indicate that there are statistically significant differences in total EQ based on gender and age, although there were no statistically significant differences based on race. Conclusions are drawn about the importance of emotional intelligence in students and recommendations for future research are provided.