Study of emotional intelligence of a medical university students

This article examines the role of emotional intelligence in the professional work of doctors. The understanding of emotional intelligence in foreign and Russian psychology is presented. The general characteristic of the basic models of emotional intelligence is given. The components included in the structure of emotional intelligence are described. The urgency of this line of research is substantiated. In the study, the percentage of students of a medical university with a low, medium and high level of emotional intelligence development was revealed. Features of the development of empathy, emotional consciousness and self-motivation in these students are described.

The idea of the unity of the emotional and rational principle in man has been of great interest since the time of the great philosophers. With the development of psychological science, changes in the views of psychologists on the relationship between emotional and cognitive processes led, among other things, to the emergence of the concept of emotional intelligence.

The term «emotional intelligence» was most widely used in psychology in the 1990s when information on the results of theoretical and practical research in this field began to appear in the scientific literature, but up until now the essence of the concept of «emotional intelligence» has not been unambiguously defined in science.

The first concept of emotional intelligence was created by American scientists J. Mayer, P. Salovey and Caruso. They also introduced into science and term «emotional intellect». They defined the phenomenon being studied as the ability to process information contained in emotions, in particular, to determine the meaning of emotions and their relationship to each other, and also as the ability to use emotional information as a basis for thinking and making decisions. In the structure of emotional intelligence, the following components were identified, relating to both their own and others' emotions: the identification of emotions (the ability to perceive, as well as to recognize genuine emotions and their imitation); the use of emotions to increase the efficiency of thinking and activity (the ability to evoke the necessary emotions, use them to direct attention to important events); understanding of emotions (the ability to understand the connections between emotions, the transitions from one emotion to another); management of emotions (ability to control emotions, to realize their emotions) [1-4].

Later, on the basis of this concept, the American psychologist D. Goleman proposed a model of emotional intelligence supplemented, in addition to the cognitive characteristics, by a number of personalities such as enthusiasm, perseverance and social skills. It was this concept that later acquired the greatest popularity among psychologists.

In domestic psychology, the development of ideas about emotional intelligence was promoted by the idea of the unity of affective and intellectual processes, presented in the works of L.S. Vygotsky, S.L. Rubinshtein, A.N. Leontiev. At the present stage, the results of the study of emotional intelligence are reflected in the works of I.N. Andreev, D.V. Ushakov, D.V. Lyusin, E.A. Sergienko, O.V. Belokon et al. [2].

The model proposed by D.V. Lyusin, in which emotional intelligence is defined as a combination of abilities to understand one's own and others emotions (the ability to establish the fact of having an emotion, to identify them, and also the ability to understand the causes of the emotion and the consequences of their expression) and management of emotions (the ability to control the intensity of emotions, their external expression, the ability to arbitrarily cause this or that emotion). D.V. Lyusin points to the dual nature of emotional intelligence, namely, its relationship, both with cognitive abilities and with personal characteristics. The formation of emotional intelligence occurs during a person's life under the influence of a number of factors that determine its level and individual characteristics. Such factors are cognitive abilities, ideas about emotions (as an important source of information), features of emotionality. Thus, the fundamental difference of D.V. Lyusin's model is that the personality is not introduced into the construct, personality is correlate of the ability to understand and control emotions. It is possible to introduce only such personal characteristics that directly affect the level and individual characteristics of emotional intelligence [3].

So, even a brief review of the psychological theories of emotional intelligence allows us to conclude that there is no unity of views on the nature of this phenomenon, however, all authors recognize following characteristic of emotional intelligence such as combination of abilities to understand and control both their own emotions and the emotions of other people.

Within the framework of our research, the level of emotional intelligence of students — future doctors was studied. In our opinion, the ability to understand the emotions of other people and the ability to control their own emotional states and, formed on their basis the ability to empathize, to establishemotional contact, ability to listen and hear the interlocutor and in general to have people to themselves, are professionally important qualities in the work of a specialist in the field «Man-man».

To diagnose emotional intelligence, we used the technique of N. Hall, designed to identify the ability to understand the relationship of personality, represented in emotions, and manage the emotional sphere through decision-making. The questionnaire contains 5 scales [5]:

• emotional awareness;
• managing your emotions (rather emotional resourcefulness);
• self-motivation (rather arbitrary management of emotions);
• empathy;
• the recognition of the emotions of other people (rather the ability to influence the emotional state of other people).

In the course of working with the technique, subjects are asked to evaluate 30 statements in accordance with the degree of agreement (disagreement) with them.

The results of the study determine the integrative level of emotional intelligence (70 or more points — high, 40-69 — medium, 39 and less — low), as well as levels of partial emotional intelligence (14 or more points — high, 8-13 — average, 7 and less — low).

The study, conducted on the basis of the Karaganda State Medical University, involved 85 students (58 females and 27 males) aged 20 to 22 years.

The results of the study indicate that the majority of subjects (56.5 %) is characterized by a low level of emotional intelligence. The average level was detected in 37.6% of respondents, while high level was found only in 5.9 % of students (Fig.).

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Вестник Карагандинского университета

The data obtained suggests that most students underestimate the importance of the emotional sphere, they may have difficulties in controlling their own emotions, ascertaining their causes, and also difficulties in identifying other people's emotional states. Often such people are characterized by low self-esteem, as well as a tendency to experience an unfounded sense of guilt. In the medical profession, this can lead to difficulties in establishing emotional contact with colleagues, patients and their relatives, and also contribute to the rapid emotional burnout of a specialist [2].

Respondents with an average level of emotional intelligence, as a rule, do not experience difficulties with recognizing other people's emotions, they are able to control their own emotional states, analyze their causes and consequences, which together has a positive effect on the activities of the doctor, as it helps to prevent the emergence of negative emotions of the patient, fosters the development of trusting relationships, and as a result, contributes to increase the effectiveness of therapeutic measures.

A high level of emotional intelligence may indicate a well-developed ability to control and manage one's own emotions, in particular, to demonstrate the right emotions in different situations. Control over the emotional sphere is an extremely important quality of medical workers whose professional activities are associated with emotional overload. The ability to feel, understand and take into account the emotions and feelings of the partners in the interaction also reaches a high level of development. As a rule, people with a high level of emotional intelligence tend to attach great importance to their own emotional sphere, they feel psychological well-being, are in harmony with themselves and the world around them, strive to develop their own abilities.

Next, let us turn to the results obtained from the individual scales of the questionnaire (Table).

Table

Average arithmetic indicators on the scales of emotional intelligence

The most developed component of emotional intelligence is empathy (9.2 score for the group, which corresponds to the average level of development characteristic).

Respondents with an average level of empathy are capable of empathy, are able to listen and hear the interlocutor, are able to be attentive and sensitive to the emotional states of the interaction partners; own emotional manifestations are more likely to yield to a high level of self-control.

Less likely, students have the ability to control emotions (the average for the group is 1.8 points). The low level of development of this characteristic testifies to the difficulties in the process of regulation by one's own emotional states, weakly expressed self-control of the emotional sphere, emotional instability, which negatively affects the processes of interpersonal interaction.

Characteristics of «emotional awareness» and «recognition of the emotions of other people» have an average level of development (9.0 and 8.6 points, respectively). In our opinion, students have some knowledge that allows them to analyze the characteristics of their own emotional states, as well as to comprehend the emotions of other people (understand and recognize them). However, a level of development of these characteristics suggests that respondents are not always able to accurately identify the emotions of other people and influence other people's emotional states, or to analyze the causes of their emergence and change, perhaps the students also do not always take into account the possible consequences of manifesting their own emotions.

The results obtained on the scale of «self-motivation» (7.7 points) indicate a lack of internal motivation to manage their own emotions.

Respondents do not attach much importance to the development of the emotional sphere of the individual as a whole, and, perhaps, do not feel the need to improve the skills of self-control.

So, after analyzing the results obtained by the method of N. Hall, we note that for most of the medical students who participated in our study, the average level of emotional intelligence is typical, while the mostdeveloped are its components, such as the ability to empathize, emotional awareness and recognition of the emotions of others. The indicators of self-motivation and the ability to control emotions are less pronounced.

Analyzing the obtained results, we come to the conclusion that students of the medical university need to raise the level of development of emotional abilities, in particular, the ability to control one's own emotions, and also to identify the emotional states of other people. The health of the emotional sphere of medical workers directly affects the success of their professional activities, which is characterized by high emotional stress in constant interaction with other people, including preventing the emergence of professional deformities of the individual.

References

1. Andreeva, I.N. (2006). Emotsionalnyi intellekt: izucheme yavleniia [Emotional intelligence: the study of the phenomenon]. Voprosy psikholohii — Questions of psychology, 4, 78–86 [in Russian].
2. Andreeva, I.N. (2011). Emotsionalnyi intellekt kak fenomen sovremennoi psikholohii [Emotional intelligence as a phenomenon of modern psychology]. Novopolotsk: Polotskii hosudarstvennyi universitet [in Russian].
3. Degtyarev, A.V. (2012). «Emotsionalnyi intellect»: stanovlenie pomatna v psikholohii [«Emotional Intelligence»: formation of the notion in psychology]. psyedu.ru. Retrieved from http://psyedu.ru/files/articles/psyedu_ru_2012_2_2912.pdf [in Russian].
4. Lyusin, D.V. (2004). Sovremennye predstavleniιa ob emotsionalnom intellekte [Modern ideas about emotional intelligence]. creativity.ipras.ru. Retrieved from http://creativity.ipras.ru/texts/books/social_IQ/lusin1_Social_IQ.pdf [in Russian].
5. Fetiskin, N.P., Kozlov, V.V., & Manuylov, G.M. (2002). Sotsialno-psikholohicheskaia diahnostika razvitiia lichnosti i malykh hrupp [Socio-psychological diagnosis of personality development and small groups]. Moscow: Izdatelstvo Instituta Psikho- terapii [in Russian].