SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2007, 35 (10), 1365-1372

© Society for Personality Research (Inc.)

THE EFFECTS OF AN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

EDUCATION PROGRAM ON THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
OF CHILDREN

İlkay Ulutaş and Esra Ömeroğlu

Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

Our aim was to research the effect of emotional intelligence education on the emotional
intelligence of young children. The sample group were 6-year-old children attending
preschool classes (N = 120). A subgroup of 40 students attended a 12-week emotional
intelligence program. After 12 weeks the children were measured using the Sullivan
Emotional Intelligence Scale (Sullivan, 1999); results showed that an emotional intelligence
education program contributed significantly to children’s emotional intelligence levels.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, preschool education, emotional development, children,

relationships, parents.

Emotions have an important effect on our decisions and behaviors. Mayer

and Salovey, developed the concept of emotional intelligence to explain the
importance of emotions. They defined emotional intelligence as “perceiving
emotions, using emotions in order to support ideas, understanding emotions
and emotional information, adjusting emotions for emotional and mental

İlkay Ulutaş, PhD, and Esra Ömeroğlu, PhD, Professor, Child Development Education Department,
Vocational Education Faculty, Gazi University, Turkey.
Appreciation is due to reviewers including: Neriman Aral, PhD, Child Development and Education,
Ankara Üniversitesi Ev Ekonomisi, Yüksekokulu Çocuk Geliþimi, ve Eðitimi Bölümü, Içaydinlike
Ankara, 06130, Turkey, Email: [email protected]; Figen Gürsoy, PhD, Ev Ekonomisi
Yüksek Okulu, Ankara Universitesi, Irfan Bastug Caddesi No. 9 06130, Aydinlikevler, Ankara,
Turkey, Email: [email protected]; K. V. Petrides, PhD, Institute of Education, University of
London, 25 Woburn Square (room 313), London WC1H 0AA, United Kingdom, Email: k.petrides@
ioe.ac.uk; Nathaniel R. Riggs, PhD, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine,
1000 S. Fremont Ave., Unit #8, Alhambra, CA 91803, USA, Email: [email protected]
Please address correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr. İlkay Ulutaş, Gazi Üniversitesi Mesleki
Eğitim Fakültesi Okul Öncesi Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı-Beşevler Ankara, Turkey. Phone: 90 312 212
64 60/345; Fax: 90 312 364 3970; Email: [email protected], or Dr. Esra Ömeroğlu, Email:
[email protected]

1365
1366 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION

development” (Mayer & Salovey, 1997, p. 4). Emotional intelligence starts to

develop at birth. The first emotional attachment of the child appears when the
mother provides for his/her needs. The quality of increasing interaction of the
child with others in his/her intimate environment, such as parents, siblings,
friends and teachers, may develop or weaken his/her emotional intelligence
(Houtmeyers, 2004; Shapiro, 2000; Sullivan, 1999). In a study about preschool
children, Smith and Walden (1999) determined that children subjected to negative
attitudes show more negative emotions and their understanding of emotions and
coping strategies are weak.
Children’s effective use of emotions enables them to control their instinctive
reactions in stressful conditions, to learn to better communicate their emotional
state, to develop healthy relationships with family and friends, and to become
successful in school, work and life (Elias & Weisberg, 2000; Elias et al., 1997;
Payton et al., 2000).
When school programs are examined, it is generally seen that mental abilities
are supported to a greater extent than emotional intelligence. However, emotional
intelligence education is just as beneficial for educators as it is for children. When
children gain emotional intelligence abilities, their academic success increases
and social interactions are strengthened. As this development also leads to fewer
discipline problems (Stone-McCown, Freedman, Jensen & Rideout, 1997),
educators can devote their energies to providing more efficient education.
Emotional intelligence may be developed by education that focuses on helping
children develop basic emotional intelligence abilities such as expressing,
understanding, and managing emotions and using these skills to cope with
everyday social problems (Elias et al., 1997). In this study, the effect of an
emotional intelligence education program on the emotional intelligence of children
was examined. Our hypothesis was that education would increase children’s
emotional intelligence. So we prepared an emotional intelligence program for
six-year-old children.
First, expected aims and target behaviors were determined for six-year-old
children on the basis of emotional intelligence abilities such as recognizing,
understanding, and managing emotions, empathy and social abilities. Separate
targets were determined for each of these abilities and, accordingly, 24 activities
were prepared for application over a period of 12 weeks. The children in the
sample were split into two groups and the program was administered over two
days each week.

METHOD

The study population consisted of 120 six-year-old children attending preschool

classes in Ankara, Turkey. They were chosen by the random sampling method.
 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION 1367
Forty children were assigned to the experimental group, 40 to the placebo control
group and 40 to the control group. Children chosen for the experimental group
were enrolled in an emotional intelligence program. The placebo control group
was established to determine the researcher effect. Children in the placebo group
took part in activities consistent with their daily education programs. Children in
the control group were not subjected to any special treatment.

Data Collection Tools

A personal information form was used to collect information about demographic
characteristics, including the age and gender of the child, number of siblings, and
the education level, age and occupation of parents.
The various scales, used in the research to provide data about the children in
the three groups, were all developed by Sullivan (1999).
The Sullivan Emotional Intelligence Scale for Children is based on emotional
intelligence abilities such as recognizing, understanding, and managing emotions.
It consists of Faces, Stories, and Understanding and Managing sections. There
are 19 face pictures in the Faces section, five items about a specific situation
such as thunder or death of an animal in the Stories section, 10 items in the
Understanding section and seven items in the Managing section. The researcher
reads each of the items to the child and then asks the questions about it. Each
child is required to respond to the researcher’s question with “yes” or “no” or
“I don’t know”.
The Sullivan Brief Empathy Scale for Children was designed to provide
information about children’s empathic reactions. It contains ten items. The
researcher reads each of the items to the child and asks questions about it. Each
child is required to respond to the researcher’s question with “yes” or “no” or
“I don’t know”.
The Sullivan Teacher Rating Scale of Emotional Intelligence for Children is
a scale of 11 items. The teacher completes the scale for each child separately
according to his/her observations. Scales have two dimensions, one from the
researcher and the other from the teacher, to ensure a fairer assessment of each
child’s emotional intelligence.
Sullivan developed these scales for American children. We adapted the
scales for Turkish children. Adaptation study results proved that all scales and
subsections have adequate validity (a = 0.68 - 0.90) and reliability (.97-.99).

Data Analysis
The data relating to the demographic characteristics of children and their
parents were calculated as percentages. In order to compare the experimental
group that received emotional intelligence education with the control groups,
Covariance Analysis (ANCOVA) was used. T-test for related samplings was
1368 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION

used for assessing the final test and permanence test relations of the experimental
study.
In all three groups, 50% of the children were female and 50% were male. It
was determined that 50% of the children in the experimental group, and 62.5%
of the children in the placebo group had one or two siblings. Fifty-five percent of
the children in the control group were only children. In the experimental group,
50% of mothers of the children had university degrees, and in the experimental
45% of mothers of the placebo control group. Forty-seven and a half percent of
the mothers of children in the control group were high school graduates and most
fathers had university degrees.

Table 1
Average and Standard Deviation Values of Final Points Corrected According to
Pretest Points
Groups N Pretest Posttest SD Corrected
average
Total Score of Experimental 40 26.25 38.10 2.06 37.91
Emotional Intelligence Placebo control 40 25.88 29.60 3.24 29.52
Scale Control 40 24.68 27.13 2.98 27.39
Faces Section Experimental 40 12.83 17.93 0.94 17.88
Placebo control 40 12.35 14.33 1.47 14.34
Control 40 12.15 13.60 1.63 13.66
Stories Section Experimental 40 2.85 4.58 0.50 4.56
Placebo control 40 2.70 3.10 1.08 3.11
Control 40 2.73 2.83 0.93 2.83
Understanding Section Experimental 40 7.38 9.45 0.81 9.38
Placebo control 40 7.03 8.00 1.28 7.99
Control 40 6.58 7.45 1.08 7.53
Managing Section Experimental 40 3.20 6.15 0.70 6.19
Placebo control 40 3.58 4.18 1.11 4.10
Control 40 3.23 3.25 1.61 3.28
Brief Empathy Scale Experimental 40 8.50 9.85 0.43 9.81
For Children Placebo control 40 8.05 9.48 0.82 9.51
Control 40 8.15 9.25 1.13 9.26
Teacher Rating Scale of Experimental 40 30.98 35.95 7.07 36.16
Emotional Intelligence Placebo control 40 33.53 30.98 7.84 30.94
for Children Control 40 34.88 31.08 7.74 30.90

In Table 1, it can be seen that there was a great difference between pretest and
posttest points of the experimental group. When the pretest points of the groups
were checked, it was noticeable that the experimental group had the highest
average of corrected posttest points followed by the placebo control and control
groups.
 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION 1369
In Table 2, the ANCOVA results show that the difference between children’s
posttest points corrected according to pretest points was significant (p < .05, p
< .01). After ancova we used the Bonferroni test which was undertaken in
order to determine the reason for this difference. It was found that there was a
significant difference between the experimental and control groups.

Table 2
ANCOVA Results of Final Test Points Corrected According to Pretest Points of
Children in Emotional Intelligence Scale According to Groups
Source of Sum of SD Average of F p
Variance Squares Squares
Total Score of Pretest 230.78 1 230.78 38.75 .000
Emotional Group 2443.89 2 1221.95 205.19 .000
Intelligence Scale Error 690.80 116 5.96
Total 3572.59 120
Faces Section Pretest 33.41 1 33.41 20.43 .000
Group 399.68 2 199.84 122.18 .000
Error 189.74 116 1.636
Total 652.37
Stories Section Pretest 4.75 1 4.75 6.52 .012
Group 68.51 2 34.25 47.08 .000
Error 84.41 116 0.73
Total 160.00 120
Understanding Section Pretest 7.40 1 7.40 6.68 .011
Group 70.93 2 35.46 32.04 .000
Error 128.40 116 1.107
Total 221.20 120
Managing Section Pretest 39.36 1 39.36 35.39 .000
Group 179.77 2 89.89 80.82 .000
Error 129.01 116 1.11
Total 343.93 119
Brief Empathy Scale Pretest 6.22 1 6.22 9.45 .003
for Children Group 5.88 2 2.93 4.46 .014
Error 76.36 116 0.66
Total 89.93 119
Teacher Rating Scale Pretest 195.11 1 195.11 3.49 .064
of Emotional Group 723.53 2 361.76 6.47 .002
Intelligence for Error 6490.54 116 55.95
Children Total 7332.67 119

Table 3 shows that there was no significant difference between the posttest and
permanence points of total score of the Emotional Intelligence Scale for Children,
Faces Section, Understanding Section, Managing Section and the Brief Empathy
Scale (p > .05). For the Stories section the difference between posttest points
1370 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION

(4.58) and permanence test points (4.68) of children was found to be significant
(t(39) = -2.08, p < .05). Additionally, a significant difference was found between
posttest (35.95) and permanence test (36.68) points of the Teacher Rating Scale
of Emotional Intelligence for Children (t(39) = -3.97, p < .01).

Table 3
t Test Results of Average Points of Posttest and Permanence Tests from scales
(N = 40, SD = 39)

Scales/sections X S t p

Total Score of Emotional Posttest 38.10 2.06 -1.85 .071

Intelligence Scale Permanence 38.33 2.02

Faces Section Posttest 17.93 .94 -1.53 .133
Permanence 18.05 .85

Stories Section Posttest 4.58 .50 -2.08 .044

Permanence 4.68 .47

Understanding Section Posttest 9.45 .82 -1.14 .262

Permanence 9.53 .82

Managing Section Posttest 6.15 .70 1.14 .262

Permanence 6.08 .76

Brief Empathy Scale Posttest 9.85 .42 -1.43 .160

Permanence 9.90 .38

Teacher Rating Scale of Posttest 35.95 7.07 -3.97 .000

Emotional Intelligence for Permanence 36.68 6.63
Children

DISCUSSION

The researchers found that the control group had high scores on general
emotional intelligence, faces, stories, understanding, managing, Brief Empathy
Scale, and Teachers’ Rating Scale of Children’s Emotional Intelligence, and that
these differences were significant. This was regarded as a positive result for
the experimental group which scored higher than either the placebo control or
control group. This was thought to be related to the influence of the education
program used with the experimental group.
Various researchers (Finley, Pettinger, Rutherford, & Timmes, 2000; Gore,
2000; Kolb & Weede, 2001; Van Kuyk, 1999) have conducted studies about
supporting emotional intelligence by education and concluded that children
who experience these special programs have higher emotional intelligence.
 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION 1371
The emotional intelligence education program given to the children in the
experimental group was designed to enable children to recognize, understand,
and manage their emotions in accordance with the sections measured by the
Emotional Intelligence Scale. Therefore, a significant difference was expected
for these sections after the experiment.
In support of these findings, Bennet and Knight (1996), Bruno, England, and
Chambliss (2002), and Grinspan, Hemphill, and Nowicki (2003) also argued that
children’s abilities in recognizing, understanding and managing emotions may be
supported by a specific education program. The present study concluded that the
empathy levels of children can be developed in this way. Likewise, Gore (2000);
Schulte-Vincent (2003); and Thorlakson (2004) concluded that education can
increase empathy levels of children. According to the observations of preschool
teachers, emotional intelligence of children increases after special education.
Schulte-Vincent also claimed that teachers observed a visible difference in
the social abilities of children after completion of an emotional intelligence
education program.
When the permanence test is assessed according to the experimental group, it
can seen that there is a significant difference between the points for the Stories
section and the Teacher Rating Scale of Emotional Intelligence in Children;
however, there is no significant difference between the total score of the
Emotional Intelligence Scale and its subsections (except Stories). According to
these findings, the total score of emotional intelligence and its subsections (except
Stories) obtained in the posttest is preserved. In the permanence test performed
one month later the effects of the experimental study remain perceptible. The
reason for the differentiation of the children’s points in the Stories section in
the posttest may be due to daily story-telling activities which focus on emotions
of characters, according to teachers. The increase in the Teacher Rating Scale
indicates continuity with the increase in children’s emotional intelligence.
In conclusion, this study showed that an emotional intelligence education
program can influence a child’s emotional intelligence. Supporting the
development of the emotional intelligence of children will also assist the
development of their academic abilities. Furthermore, enhancing emotional
abilities in early years may provide children with a useful tool in achieving
success during adulthood.
Therefore, when designing a curriculum for preschool, the inclusion of an
emotional intelligence development program should be seriously considered.
Teachers may also add to an existing curriculum a series of activities aimed at
enhancing the students’ emotional abilities. Finally, parents should be aware that
success in life for their children is dependent not only on cognitive ability but
also on the affective skills such as self-awareness, motive control, collaborative
1372 EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE EDUCATION

working and sensitivity to one’s own emotions and to those of others (Elias et
al., 1997).

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