M.A. / The principal aim of the study was to determine whether or not certain aspects of emotional intelligence account for the difference between students' academic success or failure. Although an in-depth study of existing literature on the topic of academic prowess soon disclosed that all aspects of an individual's functioning play a part in his or her academic performance, a flaw was uncovered in this argument in terms of the link between the individual's ability to deal with emotional processes and his or her academic functioning. The present study could, therefore, be considered to be the springboard for theory-building regarding the link between aspects of emotional intelligence and academic performance. Various studies in the domain of emotions have been undertaken with a view to study the manner in which individuals evaluate, communicate and apply emotions in their bid to solve problems and to adapt to circumstances of life. Emotional intelligence can be viewed as a meta ability that co-determines the extent to which an individual develops his or her potential, acquires and hones skills (including his or her intellect) and achieves his or her objectives. The manner in which the individual processes emotional contents could, therefore, have a profound effect on all intra and interpersonal aspects of his or her functioning, including his or her academic performance. In addition, existing literature soon discloses the multidimensional nature of the concept academic success to be a complex interchange between cognitive and non-cognitive factors. The interdependency between a number of these factors often serves to complicate any attempt to study them, however, and oft-times results in inconsistent and even contradictory findings. In the present study, the part that the individual's way of coping with emotional contents plays in his or her academic performance is subjected to close scrutiny. The experimental group selected for the purposes of the present study comprised 133 students in the age group 18 to 23 enrolled for a course in Psychology 1 at the Rand Afrikaans University. The said experimental group was deemed to represent the population of Human Sciences students at this institution. Based on their final-marks for Psychology 1, these students were divided into two categories, namely students who achieved academic success and students who failed to achieve academic success. Following, both groups of students were subjected to the Emotional Intelligence Battery of tests. Hotelling's T2-test was then used to determine whether or not the mean vectors of the two groups differed from each other. The F-test was applied to determine whether or not the variances between the two independent groups were homogeneous. Student's t-test was used to determine whether or not there be a statistically significant difference between the two means in terms of the five sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery. A stepwise discriminant analysis was conducted to determine which of the five variables (viz. the Social Translations (CBT) sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence, the Hogan Empathy Scale (HIES), the Self—Control Schedule (SCS), the Neuroticism sub-scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ), the total score of the Adolescent Self-Concept Scale (ASCS)) to the greatest extent contributed towards the differences between the two criterion groups (viz. academically successful students; academically unsuccessful students). The results of Hotelling's T 2-test indicated that the Emotional Intelligence Battery did indeed differentiate between students who achieved academic success and those who failed to achieve academic success in the specified population. Statistically significant differences were found in the vectors of means of Group 1 (viz. students who achieved academic success) and Group 2 (viz. students who failed to achieve academic success) with respect to the five sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery taken together. Statistically significant differences were found between the means of the two groups in respect of both the Social Translations sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence and the Hogan Empathy Scale. No statistically significant differences were, however, uncovered between the means of the two groups in respect of the rest of the sub-scales of the Emotional Intelligence Battery. The results of the stepwise discriminant analysis indicated that the variables Test 1 (the Social Translations sub-scale of the Four Factor Tests of Social Intelligence) and Test 5 (the Adolescent Self-Concept Scale (ASCS)) contributed towards the discrimination between Group 1 (academically successful students) and Group 2 (academically unsuccessful students). All in all, 64.8% of the experimental subjects was correctly classified by the two variables. In the present study, research was only undertaken in respect of the link between certain aspects of emotional intelligence and academic success. The present study could, therefore, be deemed to constitude an exploratory study, as no other study has ever been undertaken in the domain of the processing of emotional content in academic success. It is recommended that future research subject academic performance to a multidimensional scrutiny, with emotional intelligence being one of the factors. Further, it is recommended that future research be undertaken to determine the skills and abilities of experimental subjects from different cultural backgrounds and of both sexes, and that a comparison be drawn between these subjects' abilities and skills and their emotional intelligence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:2599 |
| Date | 16 August 2012 |
| Creators | De Korte, Annemari |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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