Measuring and Identifying Emotional Intelligence in Elementary School Students in Guatemala: A Research Proposal

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (EI) is the ability to monitor the emotions of oneself and the emotions of others, to discriminate among them, and to use that knowledge to give direction to one's thoughts and actions. It can be broken down into five basic domains: knowing one's own emotions, managing emotions, motivation, recognizing the emotions of others, and handling relationships. EI has been proven to be a more reliable predictor of success than IQ (Intelligence Quotient). This study proposes a first step toward evaluating the validity of a cross-cultural EI construct. The participants will be 43 elementary school students from Guatemala City, Guatemala. The students would be observed and evaluated using an inventory based on Daniel Goleman's framework of emotional intelligence. They will be observed in a number of group activities in order to more easily observe EI characteristics. Correlations between the self-evaluations and the observational ratings will be used to access the validity of the construct.