International Journal of Learning & Development

ISSN 2164-4063
2012, Vol. 2, No. 1

Influence of Emotional Intelligence in Self-Concept

Carmen María Salvador Ferrer
Profesora Titular en la Universidad de Almería
UNIVERSITY OF ALMERÍA
FACULTY OF PSYCHOLOGY
Carretera de Sacramento. La Cañada de San Urbano, s/n. C.P. 04120, Almería
E-mail: [email protected]

Accepted: December 2, 2011 Published: January 9, 2012

Doi:10.5296/ijld.v2i1.1256 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5296/ijld.v2i1.1256

Abstract
With the completion of this work is to study the impact of emotional intelligence and
self-concept, being the sample size of 134 students. To measure emotional intelligence 24 and
TMMS was used for self AF5 was used. The results released into the Cronbach's alpha show
that all scales have adequate internal consistency. The data analysis showed that there is an
influence of emotional intelligence on self-concept, emotional care being the dimension which
has a higher weight.

Keywords: Emotional intelligence, Self-concept, Structural equations.

Introduction
In recent years, emotional intelligence has attracted the interest of researchers (Bar-On, 2006,
Goleman, 1995). As pointed out by Goleman (1995, 1998), emotional intelligence can
understand the ability to recognize feelings in themselves and others, and have enough ability
to handle satisfactorily. For their part, Mayer, Salovey and Cause (2000) argue that it is the
ability to perceive and express emotion, assimilate emotion in thought, understand and reason
with emotions and regulating emotions of oneself and also of others. For Goleman (1996)
emotional intelligence is reflected in the way people interact with the world. In this sense,
emotionally intelligent people take into account their own feelings and those of others. They
are aware of their strengths and weaknesses, are reflective and self-assured, among other
things. Thus, we understand that emotional intelligence is a skill, which involves three
processes (Berrocal Fernandez and Ramos, 2000): 1. Perception, or the ability to consciously
recognize our emotions and identify what we feel, being able to give a label. 2. Understanding,
that is, integrating what we feel in our thoughts, being able to consider the complexity of

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emotional changes. 3. Regulation, ie, lead and manage effectively both positive and negative
emotions.
Therefore, being emotionally intelligent involves using and managing emotions effectively. In
line with the tenets of Bar-On (1997), an emotionally intelligent person has a set of skills,
noncognitive skills and competencies essential for success in life, meet the demands and
pressures of the environment. Furthermore, some authors, such as Schutte, Malouff, Simunek,
McKenley Hollander (2002), found a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
self-esteem. To all we must add, to paraphrase Musitu and García (2001), that the delimitation
of the term self-esteem and self-concept is not clear, to the point that both approaches are used
interchangeably to refer to as knowledge man has of himself.
Self-concept is one of the most important variables within the motivational (Núñez, Pienda
González-García, González-Pumariega, Rods, Alvarez and González Torre, 1998). As noted
by Malo, Bataller, Houses, Gras and Gonzalez (2011), the self is a psychological construct
studied from almost all areas of psychology (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger and Vohs, 2003;
Gergen, 1984, Palacios and Zabala, 2007, Stevens 1996). Thus, Sanchez (2009) believes that
the self is responsible for many successes and failures, as it promotes a positive self-esteem,
promoting safety and personal trust to develop skills. Broadly speaking, we could identify
components are self-knowledge (Sanchez, 2009): (a) recognize what emotions you are feeling
and why they feel, (b) Understanding the links between thoughts, feelings, words and actions;
(c) Understand how emotions influence the performance and actions, (d) Know the
intra-personal characteristics, that is, the ethical and moral values, goals, etc.. (E) Identify
interpersonal skills, and finally, (f) Recognize attitudes and behavioral characteristics.
In summary, empirical evidence shows that the self is related to self-acceptance and well-being
(Garcia and Musitu, 1999; Garcia, Musitu and Veiga, 2006). The data seem to indicate that the
self is crucial to psychosocial well-being of people. Well, in this study sought to determine
whether a relationship exists between emotional intelligence and self-concept. To our
knowledge, the dimension of emotional intelligence relevant to the definition of self is the
emotional attention. It is the human capacity to feel and know one's feelings in the moments
that are happening. We understand, therefore, to identify the emotions is the first step to learn
to control our emotional states, which in turn affects a safer personal and professional life
(Goleman, 1998). These approaches lead us to establish that the overall objective of this study
is to analyze how emotional intelligence influences on self-concept. To achieve this goal, we
set the following assumptions:

Hypothesis 1. The three components of emotional intelligence (emotional attention, emotional

clarity and emotional repair) significantly and positively influence self-concept.
Hypothesis 2. We predict that feeling and expressing emotions appropriately (emotional care)
will exert greater dimension and positive significant influence on self-concept.
Method
Participants
The sample comprised 134 students from the University of Almería. With respect to gender, it
should be noted that 67 were girls (50%) and the remaining amount (67 people) are boys. With

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regard to the age of the participants should be noted that the ages are between 18 and 60 years,
with a mean age of 19.2 (SD = 1.1).

Procedure
The administration of the questionnaires was carried out collectively during school hours,
being entirely voluntary participation. The implementation of the activity was conducted under
the supervision of a researcher who submitted the job objective and ensures absolute
confidentiality of the results. After conducting the survey data, the matrix was purified and
then subjected to statistical analysis, with the main purpose of the hypotheses proposed in the
package Lisrel.

Measuring instruments
Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS 24). To analyze the emotional intelligence scale was used for
meta-knowledge traits of emotional states of Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey and Palfai
(1995), in the Castilian version adapted by Fernández-Berrocal, Alcaide, Dominguez
Fernandez- McNally, Ramos and Ravira (1998). As regards the structure of the instrument, it
should be noted that includes three subscales, consisting of 8 items each: emotional attention
(being able to feel and express feelings appropriately); clarity of feelings (emotional states
fully understand ) and emotional repair (being able to properly regulate emotional states).
Thus, this instrument consists of 24 questions with response format is Likert 5-point value of 1
indicating "strongly disagree" with the content of the question, while the score of 5 reflects that
the person is "totally agreement "(for example," Pay close attention to the feelings ").
Regarding the reliability of the instrument, it should be noted that Cronbach alpha score
amounts to .65.
Self-Concept Form 5. (AF5). The analysis of this construct was performed using a
questionnaire that is expanded and updated version of the Self-Concept Test Form A (AFA).
The questinnaire consists of 30 items that assess 5 dimensions of the self: self-concept
academic/occupational, social selfc-concept, self-concept emotional, phsysical self-concept,
self-concept and family (eg, “easily with friends”). Specifically, we use the validated version
(Garcia and Musitu, 1994), which showed adequate reliability (Cronbach's alpha of .70).
Data Analysis
To perform the hypothesis testing were performed analyzes. First, we calculated descriptive
statistics (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) for all subscales of emotional
intelligence and the self-concept construct. Second, mean differences were conducted for all
levels (student t-test). Third, we calculated the Pearson correlation analysis for all subscales of
emotional intelligence and self-concept. Fourth, we conducted a structural analysis (linear
regression Conventional, being self dependent variable and independent variables the three
subscales of emotional intelligence: emotional attention, emotional clarity and emotional
repair).

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Results

Descriptive statistics and mean differences

Table 1 shows the data for descriptive statistics for the subscales of emotional intelligence and
self-concept (mean, standard deviation, skewness, standard error of skewness, kurtosis and
standard error of kurtosis). As you can see, most of the values for skewness and kurtosis are
within normal range. With respect to the mean scores and standard deviations, the values are
above the cutoff in all cases. Specifically, in the case of the subscales of emotional intelligence,
we found that emotional care is that scores a higher average of 3.41 (SD =. 7535), followed by
repair of the emotions of 3.41 (SD = 0.977) and emotional clarity with an average score of 3.22
(SD =. 68).

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of the subscales of emotional intelligence and self-concept

EMOTIO EMOTI
NAL ONAL EMOTIO
SELF-CO ATTENTI CLARIT NAL
NCEPT ON Y REPAIR
Mean 5.9819 3.4128 3.2252 3.4104
typical deviation .74110 .75355 .68378 .97740
asymmetry -.321 .114 .402 2.512
Asymmetry error .209 .209 .209 .209
kurtosis 1.296 -.665 .066 16.769
Kurtosis Error .416 .416 .416 .416

The results obtained in the comparison of mean scores (t-student test, see Table 2) indicate that
statistically significant differences inter-constructs (self-concept and emotional intelligence
subscales) and intra-construct (emotional intelligence subscales). Specifically, the data show
that all values are within the range of confidence, shedding the following results: t = 93,435
self, p =. 000; emotional clarity t = 54,600, p =. 000; emotional attention t = 52,427, p =. 000
and t = 40,392 emotional repair, p =. 000.

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Table 2. Mean differences (t for a sample) on the subscales of emotional intelligence and
self-concept

95% confidence
interval for the
difference
Mean
Differenc
Sig. e
t gl (bilateral) lower Higher
EMOTIO
NAL
52.427 133 .000 3.4128 3.2841 3.5416
ATTENTI
ON
EMOTIO
NAL 54.600 133 .000 3.2252 3.1084 3.3421
CLARITY
EMOTIO
NAL 40.392 133 .000 3.4104 3.2434 3.5775
REPAIR
SELF-CO
93.435 133 .000 5.9819 5.8553 6.1085
NCEPT

Correlation Analysis
In order to identify whether emotional intelligence and self-concept related to a statistically
significant, conducted a correlation analysis using Pearson test (r). The results given in Table 3
show the correlations between the three subscales of emotional intelligence (emotional
attention, emotional clarity and emotional repair) and the self-concept. As reflected by the data,
only shows a statistically significant and positive relationship between self-concept and
emotional care (r =. 180).

Table 3. Correlations between the subscales of emotional intelligence and self-concept

EMOTIO EMOTI
NAL ONAL EMOTIO
SELF-CO ATTENTI CLARIT NAL
NCEPT ON Y REPAIR
SELF-CONCEPT ---
EMOTIONAL ATTENTION .180(*) ---
EMOTIONAL CLARITY .098 .075 ---
EMOTIONAL REPAIR .159 -.059 .078 ---
*p<.05

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Structural Equations "path analysis"

To determine whether the different subscales of emotional intelligence self-concept affect the
structural analysis was used. This procedure is useful to analyze which variables of emotional
intelligence can act as predictors of self-concept. This was used as the dependent variable
self-concept, being the independent variables all subscales that make up emotional
intelligence. To assess the accuracy of the model was used to different indices, such as the
statistic of Satorra and Bentler Chi which gives a value of 60.40 and associated p-value p =.
000. The confidence interval of the mean squared error is acceptable and the point estimate is
.130. The index values are not set standards and comparative fit index are clearly higher than
.95. In conclusion, all loadings and variances of exogenous factors are statistically significant.
Therefore, Figure 1, despite having low values with statistically significant results.

Figure 1. Structural model of the subscales of emotional intelligence and self-concept

Note: emotional attention –ATENEMOC-, emotional clarity –CLARIEMO-, emotional repair

–REPARAEM- and self-concept (AUTOCONC)

In this case, it is striking (see Figure 1) that the three predictors of self-concept scales. In a more
precise analysis of Figure 1, we found that the emotional care influences more on self-concept
(r =. 18), followed by repair of emotions (r =. 12) and, finally, emotional clarity (r = .08). In
summary, the data indicate that in the construction of self is essential the role of emotional
intelligence, being a little more precise, we could say that all components of emotional
intelligence (emotional care, repair of emotions and emotional clarity) are essential. In
addition, the data indicate to what extent each of these subscales affect self-concept. Thus, it is
especially important for self-concept that people are able to feel and express emotions
appropriately, followed by being able to regulate emotional states and, finally, a good
understanding of emotional states.

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Conclusions
The main objective of this work was to study the influence of emotional intelligence in the
self-concept. The results support this approach as well as to highlight the impact that all
subscales of emotional intelligence (emotional attention, emotional clarity and emotional
repair) in the self-concept. In regard to hypothesis testing, it should be noted that our first
approach, where the three components of emotional intelligence (emotional attention,
emotional clarity and emotional repair) significantly and positively influence self-concept, it is
confirmed. Specifically, the data seem to indicate that emotional intelligence is essential in
building the self-concept. These findings tend to confirm the arguments of Schutte et al.
(2002), who found a relationship between emotional intelligence and self-concept. In our case,
our data represent a further step as they reflect how emotional intelligence influences
self-concept.
On the other hand, in the second, where we stated that feeling and expressing emotions
appropriately dimension will exert a greater influence on the significant and positive
self-concept, is confirmed. Thus, these findings indicate that, despite all be important
components of emotional intelligence is particularly important is the impact of emotional care
in the dimension self-concept. In a sense, the findings reflect that feeling and expressing
emotions appropriately substantial influence on self-concept.
Broadly speaking, we could argue that the principles offered by Marchago (2002), who pointed
out that the self is a mental representation that is made to integrate the experience, feelings and
emotions, are confirmed by our work. Therefore, the most significant finding could be that not
only is evidence that emotional intelligence influences one's mental construction, but also the
data provide objective evidence of how this influence is generated.
Once you reach this point where we have shown the impact of emotional intelligence in
self-concept, it should be noted that this work is not without limitations. Among them we
highlight the characteristics the sample used, which is not equitable in terms of age and sex.
Moreover, it is necessary to emphasize that this work is a cross-sectional study, so that the data
are determined by the properties of the moment. With regard to the scope of the data is limited
to a specific context, it would be advisable to extend this research to other sectors and, if
possible, other socio-cultural contexts, so that these results could be generalized.
Despite these limitations, this research contributes to previous research in several directions.
One of them, the results show that knowledge of one's emotions is essential in the perception of
themselves that people make. Furthermore, these findings show the importance that seems to
have emotions, not only for integrating the environment (feel and express properly), but also
the image of ourselves. On the other hand, in our opinion, the fact that emotional control is the
second important aspect of self-concept, would have us believe that perceived control is a key
issue in the emotional control and self-concept. In summary, these data serve to reinforce the
need to train people in emotional intelligence to improve their self-concept.
In short, to paraphrase Torres, Pompa, Meza, Ancer and Gonzalez (2010), self-concept plays a
decisive position in the complex process of psychosocial development of the individual.
However, in light of the data, it seems fair to say that emotional intelligence is essential in
building the self-concept. In this sense, emotional intelligence becomes, once again, a key
variable in the well-being.

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