INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ASSERTIVENESS ON PRO-SOCIAL BEHAVIOURS

1.1 Introduction

Emotional Intelligence is essential for any student, as they are the leaders in their own life and drive either their success or failure of obtaining a degree. As any student would know, the motivation to success has to lie within themselves as the demands and stress levels are all part of the pursuit of educational success (Tucker et al., 2000). Assertiveness is the tendency to exercise ones right without impinging on the right of others. Assertiveness involves appropriately expressing ideas, feelings, and boundaries while respecting other’s rights, maintaining positive affect in the receiver, and considering potential consequences of the expression. It includes both positive and negative expressions and seeks to achieve personal and/or instrumental goals (Tessa Pfafman, 2017).

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Emotion is derived from the word “emover” which means to move or excite. More recently, the term relates to any subjective experience. Emotions can relate to expression of love, hate, attraction, aggression and disappointment (Girdhalwal, 2007). Emotions are internal events that coordinate many psychological subsystems including physiological responses, cognitions and conscious awareness. Emotions arise in response to a person’s changing relationships, when a person’s relationship to memory, to his family, and to humanity changes, this person’s emotions will change” (Tucker, Sojka, Barone & McCarthy, 2000).

Historically, assertiveness was framed as vital to personal and relational well-being. Systematic study of assertiveness began in the late1940s and 1950s when psychologists theorized some mental illness might be caused by uncertainty (non-assertiveness) and resistance or inability to express ideas and feelings openly. Consequently, non-assertiveness was associated with anxiety and shyness. Individuals scoring low on assertiveness scales were generally more anxious and quiet; individuals scoring high on assertiveness were more talkative, precise, and remembered by others (Norton andWarnick 1976), so early assertiveness training simply encouraged patients to talk more in an effort to increase confidence and self-acceptance.

The seeds of Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been in bedded in what is known as Social intelligence (SI) which was first proposed by Thorndike in 1920 cited in (Kobe, Reiter-Palman & Rickers, 2001) and is defined as the ability to understand and manage men and women, boys and girls. The university and their staff complement act as a medium to obtain this degree, therefore, they are the management of the organization. Together with the leaders (students); who should be emotionally equipped to identify their own emotions and the emotions of other subjects; and the management (university) they play an ideal role in the performance and success of the student.

Hughes, Patterson and Terrell (2005) defined emotional intelligence as feelings individuals have in relationships. They stated that emotional intelligence can be defined as the capacity to reason with emotions and emotional signals and the capacity to enhance thought.

Evolutionary trend shows human beings to be the most pro-social of all species, which being a social species helps and guides their fellow mates to surge ahead in the battle for existence (Simpson et al., 2008). The term “pro-social” relates to behaviours which are positive and intend to benefit other individuals. This beneficial behaviour is further defined as which “covers the broad range of actions intended to benefit one or more people other than oneself-behaviours’ such as helping, comforting, sharing, and cooperating” (Batson etal., 2003).

Intelligence is considered as one of the most desirable personality qualities in today’s society. I.Q. and E.Q. tests are presently employed for many purposes such as selection, diagnosis and evaluation in all parts of society. It claims that, it is the single most effective predictor of individual performance at school and on the job (Andoh, 1998).

Identifying the conditions necessary for human flourishing depends in part on the perspective one chooses to take. One can take the perspective of an average person and ask, ‘what is necessary for an individual to flourish?’ (Heintzelmanrt et al., al, 2012). However, meaningfulness and happiness are distinct in important ways. For example, people find meaning in painful and stressful events in their lives, despite being unlikely to extract happiness from such events (Baumeister, Vohs, Aaker, & Garbinsky, 2013). Other experiences, such as nostalgic reflection on the past and thinking about one’s own mortality, increase people’s sense of meaning despite being hedonically negative (Benzoni & Tost, 2009). Compared to happiness, meaningfulness spans a wider range of emotions than simply positive ones, and is also associated with purely cognitive processes such as mental simulation and counterfactual thinking (Waytz, Hershfield, & Tamir, 2015). Therefore, simply because pro-social behaviour creates hedonic benefits does not necessarily mean that it also creates eudemonic benefits.

Therefore, in University of Uyo where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to explore the Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Assertiveness on Pro-social Behaviours.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation reveals that many adolescents find it difficult to express themselves effectively in social situations. This undermines their significant role in the development of modern Nigeria and also in improving and strengthening the society. They are the pillars of a nation and play an important role in contributing much to its social development. So it is important for an adolescent to be assertive, because being assertive can help them in many ways. It helps them in improving self-confidence, self-esteem and also helps them to stand up for their rights without being aggressive and without violating the rights of others. Thus, such pro-social behaviour which is adaptive to today’s world of works has been correlated to emotional intelligence.

Studies in assertiveness among gender have been reported by many researchers such as Rathee, 2015, & Applebaum, 1976) did not find sex differences in assertiveness among adults. While (Prakash & Devi, 2015; Hersenet al., 1973) reported that males were more assertive. Other findings like (Chandler et al., 1978) found that women were significantly more assertive than men in some specific situations. To this end, the conducted study was designed by the researcher to find out if a student’s level of emotional intelligence and assertiveness can positively influence his/her ability to help others.

1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to determine Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Assertiveness on Pro-social Behaviours using the students in University of Uyo as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:

1. To find out how the level of emotional intelligence among students can influence their pro-social behaviour.
2. To find out how the level of assertiveness among students can affect their helping behaviour.
3. To determine the influence of emotional intelligence and assertiveness on helping pro-social behaviour of students in University of Uyo.

1.5 Research Questions

The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:

• What is the level of emotional intelligence among students can influence their pro-social behaviour?
• What is the level of assertiveness among students can affect their helping behaviour?
• What is the influence of emotional intelligence and assertiveness on helping pro-social behaviour of students in University of Uyo?

1.6 Research Hypothesis

In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.

Hypothesis One

• H0: Students with low level of emotional intelligence will exhibit high level of pro-social behaviour
• H1: Students with high level of emotional intelligence will exhibit high level of pro-social behaviour

Hypothesis Two

• H0: Students with low level of assertiveness will have high pro-social behaviour
• H1: Students with high level of assertiveness will have high pro-social behaviour

1.7 Significance of Study

The study plays a significant role in the job performance, motivation, decision making, successful management and leadership. Thus applying Emotional Intelligence (EI) methodology in higher education can have lots of benefits for students. It not only fulfills their desire but also makes them more efficient in their field (Stys and Brown, 2004).

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.8 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Assertiveness on Pro-social Behaviours of students in University of Uyo.

1.9 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).