Percepciones de estudiantes de Psicología respecto a la teoría y metodología de la inteligencia emocional

Abstract

Emotional intelligence it is of even more relevant meaning in the educational field, just where the student is disposed and open to learning, and the teacher is ready to teach. This study offers a general review of the emergence of theories and main models of emotional intelligence. The general objective is to identify students’ perception of the careers in Psychology at the University of Cuenca, in terms of theoretical and methodological conceptions regarding the emotional intelligence construct. The study had a qualitative approach, as the information collected was systemized as referred to the subjects of the investigation in correspondence with the explored variables; the scope was of the exploratory type and phenomenological type design. The techniques used included discussion in focus groups and structured interviews; the first were formed by the president or the class representative, as well as a randomly selected man and woman, alternately and the interview was only between presidents from the last cycle. The relevant results show that most of the students relate the identification of emotions with gestural verbal and non-verbal affective states that describe how they feel with themselves and the environment. The difference between the careers is that, the clinical careers have a better understanding regarding theory and methodology; while social and educational careers showed less clarity in the explored knowledge of emotional intelligence. It is also evident that this content does not exist in the subjects received. The general conclusion of the work is based on the fact that the students' perception shows that they have elementary knowledge about the theory and scarce knowledge about the methodology of the investigated construct.