relationship between critical thinking and emotional intelligence

Emotional Intelligence

The link between emotional intelligence and critical thinking, critical thinking requires self-regulation..

Posted December 1, 2022 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

• Leave emotion at the door when engaging in critical thinking.
• Emotional intelligence isn’t an emotion, it’s a way in which we process emotions.

In a recent entry on this blog, I discussed my interest in emotional intelligence (EI) and referred to it as an important psychological function. Some readers commented on links they saw between my discussion of EI and my generally sour view on emotion in scenarios that require critical thinking (CT). I'd like to clarify what EI is.

The generally sour view I have of emotion in the context of critical thinking is that it acts as a barrier to critical thought . I often advise that people should leave emotion at the door as much as they can when engaging in critical thinking. Of course, it is not possible to entirely eliminate emotion or its associated biases from thinking. However, by being aware of the impact of emotion and bias , we can work to account for such influences in the manner in which we draw conclusions and make decisions. Think of it as being particularly cautious. I know some great thinkers who have drawn rather poor conclusions regarding topic areas they feel passionate about and it’s likely a result of that passion (see a previous post about the concept of passion ).

How does emotional intelligence relate to this? To start, EI isn’t an emotion, rather, it’s a way in which we process emotions; for example, through appraising and regulating them. Think of a time when you have been insulted by something someone has said. Depending on the situation, it may be in your best interest to keep your true feelings about the insult to yourself. Your ability to appraise the situation and self-regulate consistent with the desired expression (or suppression of emotion in this case) is an example of emotional intelligence in action. This process is quite similar to other processes inherently involved in CT.

Through my work in developing a critical thinking framework (see, for example, Dwyer, 2017; Dwyer, Hogan & Stewart, 2014; 2015), a self-regulatory functions component was included, consisting of an array of (meta)cognitive mechanisms, like executive functioning , disposition, and motivation . The self-regulation comparison between EI and critical thinking is largely self-evident. That is, we need to self-regulate to think critically and EI is, simply, a form of self-regulation. Indeed, its self-regulatory function might even be more important than I initially gave it credit for when I started working on the framework. Only in recent years, as my focus turned towards factors that impede CT, have I realised how important EI might indeed be to CT.

I’ve been called out before for advising people to "leave emotion at the door" as if we can somehow flip the off switch on emotion. As I addressed above, we can’t eliminate all emotion. But, we can diminish its power if we make efforts to account for the influence of emotion on our thinking. Arguably, this could be half the battle. For example, before putting my foot down on an argument I feel passionate about (cue sensationalist headline, clickbait on social media ), simply pausing beforehand to ask myself whether or not my conclusion is a result of credible evidence alone or is potentially biased because of my feelings, is a great way of playing the necessary devil’s advocate to ensure the right conclusion is drawn and not just the conclusion I want to be right. In this way, EI works in a manner akin to reflective judgment , which is also a fundamental part of critical thinking.

In other words, engage your EI. If the impact of emotion on thinking is one of the biggest barriers to CT, as I believe it is, then the ability to self-regulate your thinking in a manner that accounts for such potential impact is of utmost importance. And so, we as individuals who place great value on critical thinking must in turn place great value on emotional intelligence.

Dwyer, C.P. (2017). Critical thinking: Conceptual perspectives and practical guidelines. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Dwyer, C. P., Hogan, M. J., & Stewart, I. (2014). An integrated critical thinking framework for the 21st century. Thinking Skills & Creativity, 12, 43–52.

Dwyer, C.P., Hogan, M.J., & Stewart, I. (2015). The evaluation of argument mapping-infused critical thinking instruction as a method of enhancing reflective judgment performance. Thinking Skills & Creativity, 16, 11-26.

Christopher Dwyer, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon in Athlone, Ireland.

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Linking Learning Environment and Critical Thinking through Emotional Intelligence: A Cross-Sectional Study of Health Sciences Students

Antonios christodoulakis.

1 Department of Social Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Crete, 71003 Heraklion, Greece

George Kritsotakis

2 Department of Business Administration & Tourism, Hellenic Mediterranean University, 71309 Heraklion, Greece

Panagiotis Gkorezis

3 Department of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54453 Thessaloniki, Greece

Panayota Sourtzi

4 Department of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece

Ioanna Tsiligianni

Associated data.

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy restrictions.

Background: Health sciences educators should increase the critical thinking of their students as this may improve the quality of care. However, this is rarely considered as a critical point in teaching, despite studies identifying factors such as the learning environment and emotional intelligence as increasing critical thinking at an undergraduate level. Thus, there is a need to better explore these factors and investigate interrelations and ways of improving critical thinking, especially in the critical field of healthcare students (nursing and medicine). Objectives: The present study aimed to examine the potential relationships between critical thinking with emotional intelligence and the learning environment. Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study with 208 first year health sciences university students of two nursing departments and one medicine department from three universities in Greece. The Critical Thinking Disposition Scale, Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure, and Trait Emotional Intelligence-Short Form questionnaires were used to assess critical thinking, the education environment, and emotional intelligence, respectively. Results: The results demonstrate that critical thinking was positively related to emotional intelligence (β = 0.82, p < 0.001), but not to the learning environment (β = 1.06, p = 0.30). However, a structural equation modeling analysis supported the indirect relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking through emotional intelligence (M = 1.10, CI = 0.13–2.17, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Emotional intelligence may be the underlying mechanism for achieving critical thinking if it is well applied and cultivated in a learning environment. Therefore, universities could modify their curricula and place emotional intelligence at the epicenter of teaching.

1. Introduction

Healthcare professionals attempt to deliver high-quality care in demanding and changing environments [ 1 ]. This attempt is demanding as there is an increase in ageing, with complicated and new healthcare needs [ 2 ]. To manage these complications, healthcare professionals need a set of skills, such as critical thinking, patience, teamwork, empathy, and communication [ 3 ]. These skills should be cultivated at the earliest possible time, usually during undergraduate studies, and enable healthcare professionals to deliver high quality care [ 4 ].

Critical thinking is considered as the foundation for the development of clinical skills [ 5 ]. It can be defined as: “a deliberate, self-regulating thinking that leads to interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and conclusions” [ 6 , 7 ]. By definition, critical thinking can accelerate the diagnostic process, improve decision making, augment medical nursing procedures, and expediate problem solving in everyday clinical practice [ 8 ]. Due to the numerous advantages of critical thinking, healthcare professionals are expected to cultivate it from their university years and utilize it later during clinical practice [ 9 ]. However, studies indicate a low [ 10 , 11 ] to moderate [ 12 ] increase in critical thinking in health sciences students at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.

Several factors can influence critical thinking. Ideally, educators should be able to identify and improve these factors to better cultivate the critical thinking of their students [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. These factors can be classified into two categories [ 2 , 20 , 21 , 22 ]: (a) modifiable and (b) unmodifiable. Some examples of modifiable factors are the learning environment, self–confidence, emotional intelligence, and area of expertise [ 16 , 17 , 19 ]. The most common unmodifiable factors are age, prior individual experiences, gender, and ethnicity [ 13 , 14 , 20 ]. Thus, medical educators should target and increase these modifiable factors during training [ 23 , 24 , 25 ]. Of these modifiable factors, improving the learning environment [ 17 , 19 , 20 , 26 ] and increasing emotional intelligence [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ] can also improve clinical skills, even at the undergraduate level.

The learning environment can be conceptualized as “the social interactions, organizational culture and structures, and physical and virtual spaces that surround and shape the learners’ experiences, perceptions, and learning” [ 31 ]. The learning environment promotes critical thinking by incorporating specific educational methods [ 26 , 32 ], such as problem-based learning [ 1 , 33 ], reflective writing [ 34 ], concept mapping [ 35 ], and case studies [ 36 ]. Furthermore, the learning environment can also increase students’ emotional intelligence by incorporating other methods, such as flipped classroom teaching and learning and e-learning platforms, with online forums and activities [ 37 ]. Emotional intelligence is another modifiable factor of critical thinking [ 21 ]. It is defined as the ability to recognize, understand, and manage your emotions [ 38 ]. Undoubtedly, high levels of emotional intelligence are related to better management outcomes [ 29 , 30 ] and a higher quality of care [ 27 , 28 ].

In summary, a modified learning environment may increase critical thinking [ 32 ] and emotional intelligence [ 39 ] at the individual level. Studies suggest a positive relationship between critical thinking and either the learning environment [ 17 , 19 , 20 ] or emotional intelligence [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 ]. Moreover, previous studies have examined the role of the learning environment in facilitating critical thinking. However, to date, limited empirical research has focused on the mechanisms by which this effect occurs. Thus, the present study attempts to contribute to this gap by examining the indirect relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking through emotional intelligence. In doing so, we also provide new insights into the outcomes of emotional intelligence and the antecedents of critical thinking. Therefore, we examined three main hypotheses. First, the learning environment is positively related to critical thinking disposition in pre-graduate healthcare students. Second, critical thinking disposition is positively related to emotional intelligence among healthcare students. Finally, we hypothesized that emotional intelligence would mediate the relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking disposition in healthcare students ( Figure 1 ).

The hypothesized model of the study.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. design and sample.

This study had a descriptive cross-sectional design. All 346 first-year university students of two nursing departments and one medicine department in three Greek universities were asked to participate in this study. In this population, a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 5% would be achieved with a sample size of 183 healthcare students. After obtaining permission from each class’s professor, the students were asked to participate in the study. Participation was voluntary, and every student signed a consent form. The inclusion criteria were (a) being a first-year student and (b) being willing to participate in the study. There were no exclusion criteria. Among the 346 first year students, a convenience sample of 208 students who agreed to participate (60% response rate) was included in the present study.

2.2. Instruments

The students provided their key sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, and university) in a self-reported questionnaire and completed the following three scales for each of the study variables (critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and learning environment).

2.2.1. Critical thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS)

We measured critical thinking by estimating the disposition for it. Critical thinking disposition is considered to be a valid way for measuring critical thinking, since having an ability implies having the disposition to utilize it [ 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 ]. Furthermore, Sosu (2013) elaborates that having critical thinking disposition is a “way that an individual reasons, argues, and makes decisions” [ 40 ]. It should be noted that CTDS was selected because it is a brief scale that would be able to be used in everyday academia in Greece since, to the best of our knowledge, there are not any translated and validated scales that measure the critical thinking disposition in the Greek language.

The English version of CTDS comprises 11 questions of two dispositional domains/factors assessed on a 5-point Likert scale in which a higher score is indicative of higher critical thinking, with a range of 11–55 [ 40 ]. The first factor, ‘ Critical Openness ’, depicts the extent to which a person is open to new ideas, evaluates them, and modifies existing ideas when enough evidence is procured. The second factor, ‘ Reflective Skepticism ’, illustrates the ability of a person to learn from past experiences and examine the validity of evidence [ 41 ]. CTDS has been used in healthcare students in China, Spain, and the US, showing adequate psychometric properties [ 45 , 46 , 47 ].

The Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS) was translated and adapted in Greek for this study. The process of adjusting CTDS to Greek was completed in three steps [ 48 ]. Firstly, three bilingual (English andreek) experts translated the English version into Greek. After that, a fourth translator addressed any differences in the preliminary translations, resulting in a final translation. The final Greek version of the CTDS was then back-translated into English by two bilingual professors who had not seen the original form of the English scale. After that, any dissimilarities between the translated versions were assessed and appropriate adjustments were made. The final Greek version was evaluated for its validity and reliability in a sample of 30 students. The data collection for the test–retest process was performed in a separate group of final year nursing students that were not otherwise involved in this study, with an intermediate completion time of 13 days. Between phases 1 and 2, Pearson’s r was estimated for the total score (r = 0.726, p < 0.001) and for the first (r = 0.560, p = 0.004) and second factors (r = 0.820, p < 0.001) (‘ poor-to-good reliability ’). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with principal component analysis (PCA) and varimax rotation with Kaiser normalization were also performed to explore the original scale’s structure in Greek and its equivalence to the initial scale. The Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (ΚΜO) measure of sampling adequacy was estimated at 0.77 (middling fit) and the Bartlet’s test of sphericity determined that the dataset was appropriate for factor analysis (χ 2 = 506.7, d.f. = 55, p -value < 0.001). Initially, four components or factors with eigenvalues ≥ 1.00 and 63.0% interpretation of the total variance were detected. However, according to Sosu’s definition [ 41 ], two components or factors were selected that interpret a total of 44% of the total variance, with high eigenvalues but also higher loadings in determining the items for each factor (a minimum loading criterion of 0.40 was adopted in order for scale items to be maintained in each factor). Additionally, internal consistency was examined using Cronbach’s alpha.

2.2.2. Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM)

Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) [ 49 ] assesses the quality of the learning environment and has been translated and validated into Greek [ 50 ]. The DREEM consists of 41 positive statements (each rated from 0 to 4) and 9 negative statements (rated from 4 to 0). DREEM comprises 5 subscales, namely (1) students’ perceptions of teaching (12 items), (2) students’ perceptions of teachers (11 items), (3) students’ academic self-perceptions (8 items), (4) students’ perceptions of atmosphere (12 items), and (5) students’ social self-perception (7 items). It creates an overall score and five sub-scales on student’ perceptions of learning and their teachers, their academic perceptions, perceptions of the institution’s atmosphere, and their social perceptions. On all subscales, the higher scores indicate a good learning environment: the higher they are, the better [ 51 ]. It should be noted that DREEM was chosen since it measures the most easily modifiable aspects of learning environment and can be used to examine potential relationships with other questionnaires [ 52 ]. It should be noted that the 9 negative statements of the DREEM were reversely entered into the data set that was used for the analysis.

2.2.3. Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF)

Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF, [ 53 ] is the short form of TEIQue [ 54 ], which assesses 15 trait emotional intelligence facets. Furthermore, it has 4 subscales: (1) well-being, (2) self-control, (3) emotionality, and (4) sociability. Participants respond on a 7-point Likert scale (1 = “strongly disagree”—7 = “strongly agree”). TEIQue-SF has been translated and validated in Greek and has been found to be satisfactory for measuring emotional intelligence [ 55 , 56 ]. Because this is the short form, the subscales tend to have lower internal consistency than the full form. However, the short version has much lower completion time, thus making it ideal for use in studies with multiple questionnaires such as this one.

2.3. Data Collection

Most of the samples ( n = 160) were collected during classes. However, 48 students completed the questionnaires on a different day, in an online platform specifically designed for our study. The platform was provided and is maintained by one of the participating universities. Students who consented to participate received the questionnaires during classes or a link in their academic mails. Data were collected between December 2019 to February 2020. The survey took approximately 30 min to complete.

2.4. Ethical Considerations

In accordance with ethical principles, all data have been pseudoanonymized and securely stored. Students, before giving their written informed consent, were also reassured that their participation in the study—or lack thereof—would not influence their academic scores, that their data would be anonymous, and that they could withdraw from the study at any time. To utilize each questionnaire, written permission was received via separate emails from each author.

2.5. Data Analysis

Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 26.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). A normality test was performed on the scales according to Blom’s method (Q-Q plot). The frequencies of the descriptive characteristics of 208 students and their answers in the scales’ questions were estimated, as well as the scores’ descriptive measurements and reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s alpha). Acceptable Cronbach’s alpha scores were from 0.70 to 0.95 [ 57 ]. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationship between scales and subscales. In the case of CTDS, it was also used as an index of convergent validity. Based on the categories of low/moderate and high disposition of CTDS, Student t test was used to compare the levels of DREEM and TEIQue-SF scales. Finally, hierarchical modeling with multiple linear regressions was performed for CTDS and each DREEM and TEIQue-SF scale/subscale, controlling for basic personal characteristics of the 208 first year healthcare university students. We also used a three-step approach to test our third hypothesis [ 58 ]. This approach introduces three conditions, and, when they are met, mediation occurs. The conditions were (a) the independent variable relates to the dependent variable, (b) the independent variable relates to the mediating variable, and (c) the mediating variable relates to the dependent variable, and the relationship of the independent variable with the dependent variable is significantly lower in magnitude (or insignificant) in the third equation than in the second. Additionally, we conducted bootstrap analysis (5000 bootstrap samples, 95% confidence intervals) in SPSS using a macro named “PROCESS” [ 59 ]. The advantage of this analysis is that we do not assume normality in sampling distribution.

The study sample comprised 208 university students, of which, 25.5% were male and 74.5% female ( Table 1 ). The majority were between the age of 18–20 (86.1%) and studied nursing (68.7% vs. 31.3% medicine) ( Table 1 ).

Demographic characteristics of the 208 participants.

Most of the students had a moderate to high critical thinking disposition (mean score 44.5 ± 4.9 SD) ( Table 2 ). Furthermore, the Reflective Skepticism sub-scale had a lower mean score (mean score 15.2 ± 2.2 SD) than the Critical Openness subscale (mean score 29.3 ± 3.5 SD) ( Table 2 ).

Score levels of Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS), Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF).

Most of the students had a more positive than negative overall perception of the learning environment (mean score 124.4 ± 20.4 SD) ( Table 2 ). Moreover, students scored higher on the “Learning” (mean score 29.0) and “Atmosphere” (mean score 29.8) subscales, and lower on the “Academic” (mean score 21.3) and “Social” (mean score 17.8) subscales of the questionnaire ( Table 2 ).

Students had a moderate to high emotional intelligence. More specifically, the TEIQue-SF mean score was 4.92 (± 0.66 SD) and students scored higher on the “Well-being” (mean score 5.25) and “Emotionality” (mean score 5.03) subscale and lower on the “Self-control” (mean score 4.4) and “Sociability” (mean score 4.66) subscales ( Table 2 ).

Reliability was assessed based on Cronbach’s alpha (0.570–0.933), which was acceptable (overall Cronbach’s α: CTDS = 0.783, DREEM = 0.933, and TEIQue-SF = 0.823), in all scales/subscales ( Table 2 ).

The learning environment had a positive effect on the emotional intelligence of health sciences students (β = 0.82, p < 0.001). However, the regression analysis showed that the learning environment did not relate to critical thinking (β = 1.06, n.s.) ( Table 3 ).

Regression analyses between Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (CTDS), Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM), and Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short Form (TEIQue-SF).

Note. Unstandardized regression coefficients reported. Bootstrap sample size 5000. β = Beta coefficients; SE = standard error; L = lower limit; U = upper limit; CI = confidence interval.

Finally, the learning environment had a positive indirect effect (β = 1.34, p = 0.024) on critical thinking disposition ( Table 3 ) through emotional intelligence ( Figure 2 ). More specifically, bootstrapping results (5000 bootstrap samples with 95% confidence intervals) demonstrated that the indirect effect does not contain zero (0.132–2.17) ( Table 3 ).

The effect of learning environment and emotional intelligence on critical thinking. Numbers next to the arrows are beta coefficients (β).

4. Discussion

In the present study, we examined the indirect relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking through students’ emotional intelligence. The results demonstrate that the learning environment was positively related to emotional intelligence and the latter was associated with critical thinking disposition ( Table 3 ). Furthermore, we found that the learning environment only has an indirect relationship with critical thinking via emotional intelligence ( Figure 2 ).

To our knowledge, this is the first study that examines the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking. This finding has two major implications: one for healthcare educators and another for researchers. First, educators could utilize learning methods that increase emotional intelligence and consequently improve critical thinking disposition. Second, researchers could explore other potential modifiable factors of critical thinking and their possible relationships with the learning environment.

Our study established a positive relation between emotional intelligence and critical thinking ( Table 3 ). This coincided with the findings of another cross-sectional study on 500 first year students that used two different questionnaires to measure emotional competence and critical thinking [ 23 ]. Another cross-sectional study of 296 participants showed that people with a higher emotional intelligence used emotional information more efficiently, therefore improving critical thinking [ 22 ]. Additionally, a systematic review concluded that critical thinking was correlated to emotional intelligence, a finding similar to ours [ 60 ]. Furthermore, a cross sectional study of 269 medical students suggested a positive correlation between emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and the management skills of medical students [ 61 ]. A possible explanation for these findings could be that emotions influence human behavior, and, since critical thinking disposition is a behavior, It could be affected by emotional intelligence [ 23 ]. However, a longitudinal study of 197 nursing students, which measured critical thinking and emotional intelligence with different questionnaires to our study, found that critical thinking and emotional intelligence were not associated, and that they did not improve over an academic year [ 62 ]. Additionally, a quantitative, descriptive–correlative study of 169 nursing students, which also used different questionnaires to our study, concluded that critical thinking could be affected only by one component of emotional intelligence, which was empathy [ 21 ]. These differences with our findings could be attributed to the differences in the sample and methodology. In addition, regarding the validity and reliability of the questionnaires, Cronbach’s a values for the overall scales that were used in this study were well above the recommended 0.70 threshold, with the exception of the reflective skepticism of the CTDS subscale (a = 0.60). Although it does not affect our results, four additional subscales (social of DREEM, and self-control, emotionality, and sociability of TEIQue-SF) were in the range of 0.57–0.70. According to Tavakol and Dennick [ 58 ], Cronbach’s a values are affected by the correlation and the number of items in a test, as well as the sample of those tested. This could explain the lower Cronbach’s a values in these subscales. In general, all three questionnaires used in this study have shown comparable internal reliability in other studies [ 46 , 63 , 64 ].

Contrary to our first hypothesis, we found that the learning environment was not directly associated with critical thinking ( Table 3 ). However, other studies have shown a positive relationship between the learning environment and critical thinking. For example, a qualitative analysis of interviews of 44 expert teachers implied that the learning environment proved to be beneficial in developing the critical thinking of each student [ 65 ]. Additionally, a qualitative study on 13 faculty teachers and 44 dental students observed that, when the learning environment included clinical exercises, which were carefully planned, critical thinking could be promoted [ 66 ]. Finally, a quasi-experimental study on 170 nursing students, which evaluated critical thinking before and after a two-year course intervention, suggested that the learning environment could increase critical thinking [ 67 ]. This variation in our results could be attributed to the sample (first year students) of the study, who might need more time to cultivate their critical thinking in a new learning environment. However, the choice of first years was deliberate because the sooner educators identify any shortcomings, the better, since they can overcome them more quickly. Furthermore, we chose the first years so as to longitudinally depict and intervene on any shortcomings throughout their educational years.

To our knowledge, this is the first collaborative study in Greece between three universities (two nursing departments and one medicine department) to explore and then improve the critical thinking of their students. A strong point of our study was that emotional intelligence was identified as a strong mediator between the learning environment and critical thinking. Consequently, educators could potentially utilize this knowledge and apply methods to improve students’ emotional intelligence, thus also improving their critical thinking, and later optimizing the quality of care that they provide.

5. Limitations

The present study has a few limitations. First, ascertaining causal relationships is difficult due to the one-time measurement, although this is common in cross-sectional studies [ 68 ] and the directions of the associations that we propose are the most plausible. Longitudinal studies are needed to establish possible causal relationships. Additionally, common method variance due to the data collection process cannot be excluded [ 69 ]. Another limitation was that the questionnaire that we used to assess EI measured it as a trait and not as a performance-based skill. Additionally, the sample of the study consisted of only first-year health sciences students (mostly nursing) from three Greek universities, the majority of which were female (74.5%), thus limiting the generalizability of our findings. It should be noted, however, that, especially for the nursing students, our study population corresponds to the general nursing student population in Greece. Future studies could also examine and compare the present hypotheses between the two groups of nursing and medicine students and highlight potential differences. Finally, emotional intelligence was measured as a personality trait that some authors claim is genetically predetermined, and therefore may not be affected by the learning environment [ 70 ]. However, a meta-analysis showed that the “affective perspective taking” component of emotional intelligence can be cultivated through the learning environment [ 70 ].

6. Conclusions

In conclusion, we provided compelling evidence that the learning environment has an indirect positive effect on critical thinking disposition through emotional intelligence. Therefore, healthcare educators could utilize methods that cultivate the emotional intelligence of their students to improve their critical thinking disposition. This evidence also suggests that universities should adapt their curricula and further improve the quality of their learning environments, thus increasing the emotional intelligence of their students. This would further increase critical thinking and lead to a higher quality of care by future healthcare professionals.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Edward Sosu for freely giving us permission to translate and validate CTDS in Greek. In addition, we would like to thank all the healthcare students for their voluntary participation.

Funding Statement

This study received no funding. However, the publication fees were paid by the Project number (11222) of the laboratory of Health Services, Department of Social Medicine, University of Crete through the Special Account for Research Funds of University of Crete (SARF UoC), Heraklion, Greece.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, A.C., G.K., P.S. and I.T.; methodology, A.C., G.K., P.G. and I.T.; validation, A.C., G.K. and P.G.; formal analysis, A.C., G.K. and P.G.; investigation, A.C., G.K., P.S. and I.T.; resources, A.C., G.K., P.S. and I.T.; data curation, A.C., G.K., P.G. and I.T.; writing—original draft preparation, A.C. and I.T.; writing—review and editing, A.C., G.K., P.S., P.G. and I.T.; supervision, I.T.; project administration, I.T.; funding acquisition, I.T. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki, and approved by Research Ethics Committee of University of Crete (protocol code: 212/26.11.2019).

Informed Consent Statement

Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

Data Availability Statement

Conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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The correlation between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills with different learning styles in science learning

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Marleny Leasa; The correlation between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills with different learning styles in science learning. AIP Conf. Proc. 21 September 2018; 2014 (1): 020135. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5054539

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The previous research reports suggest that the learning model of NHT combined with metacognitive strategies has a significant effect on emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. This study aims to reveal the correlation between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills of students with different learning styles in science learning using the NHT model combined with metacognitive strategies. Emotional intelligence questionnaires are used to measure students’ emotional intelligence. Data of critical thinking skills are obtained through critical thinking skills tests in both pretest and posttest forms. Data analysis was done by linear regression. The results revealed that there was no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in students with auditory, read, and kinesthetic learning styles. The resulted regression equations for auditory, read, and kinesthetic learning styles are Y = 45.203 + 0.027, Y = 49.021 - 0.127, and Y = 39.314 + 0.059. The information reveals that the level of emotional intelligence is not a determinant factor in increasing the critical thinking skills of students in terms of learning styles. Allegedly, learning model is more influential on improving emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. Further research is needed to examine the influence of learning style factors on emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in other subjects at various levels of education.

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The relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in Iranian nursing students

Affiliations.

• 1 School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
• 2 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
• PMID: 30159291
• PMCID: PMC6108289
• DOI: 10.14196/mjiri.32.40

Background: Critical thinking skills are one of the most important competencies in successful clinical performance of nursing students. Emotional intelligence is also one of the concepts related to critical thinking and can play an important role in the ability to think. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking in nursing students. Methods: This was a quantitative, descriptive-correlative Study. Participants were nursing students in different levels. To collect data, California Critical Thinking Test (form B) and Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire were used. Then, data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 16 software. Results: Pearson correlation test showed no significant correlation between the total score of critical thinking skills and each of its components with the total score of emotional intelligence and its component, except for empathy (p=0.001), in nursing students. Conclusion: The findings revealed a significant relationship between empathy and critical thinking skills in nursing students. Using these elements as teaching techniques for nursing education courses can be very helpful in developing good nurse-patient relationships and improving patient care.

Keywords: Critical Thinking; Emotional Intelligence; Iran; Nursing Students.

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• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

• JOLE 2023 Special Issue
• Editorial Staff
• 20th Anniversary Issue
• Identification of Relationships between Emotional Intelligence Skill & Critical Thinking Disposition in Undergraduate Leadership Students

Nicole L.P. Stedman, Ph.D., Anthony C. Andenoro, Ph.D. 10.12806/V6/I1/RF10

Identification of Relationships between Emotional Intelligence Skill & Critical Thinking Disposition in Undergraduate Leadership Students

Nicole L.P. Stedman, Ph.D. Assistant Professor

Department of Agricultural Education and Communications University of Florida

217B Rolfs Hall, PO Box 110540 Gainesville, FL 32611 nstedm [email protected]

Anthony C. Andenoro, Ph.D. Assistant Professor

Department of Leadership Studies Fort Hays State University

600 Park Street

Hays, Kansas 67601-4099 [email protected]

Engaging students emotionally is the key to strengthening their dispositions toward critical thinking. Elder (1997) contends that it is critical thinking which leads us to a rational and reasonable emotional life. The link between thinking and emotions is essential in leadership education. With this in mind, the researchers sought to examine the relationship between the skill sets of emotional intelligence (Developing Your Emotional Intelligence) and the dispositions of critical thinking (EMI). The researchers identified positive relationships ranging in magnitude from low to substantial. The overall skills associated with emotional intelligence showed positive moderate relationships with cognitive maturity, engagement, and innovativeness. In considering EMI critical thinking disposition scores and emotional intelligence, the relationship was substantially positive. The conclusions and recommendations encourage educators to take advantage of this relationship by providing students with experiences which elicit their emotional intelligence. In so doing there is opportunity to strengthen their disposition toward critical thinking.

Introduction

What if there was no such thing as the difference between the Head and the Heart? If both concepts were linked so intricately that decisions never had to be one or the other? Blake and Mouton (1964) challenged leaders to see that the bottom line and concern for people did not have to be at odds with one another. Since that time, it has become more evident that leaders should exhibit a mix of professional skills. Mumford, Zaccaro, Harding, Owens Jacobs, and Fleishman (2000) supported Katz (1955) by noting leaders must exemplify three skills, problem-solving skills, social judgment skills, and knowledge. Wolff, Pescosolido, and Druskat (2002) provide in their work that there is a connection between empathy and cognitive skills.

With that, perspective taking (critical thinking) impacts empathy (emotional intelligence). In both of these models, it becomes evident that a leader must be able to do two things, understand people, and make good decisions.

Conceptual and Theoretical Framework

Critical thinking.

Facione (1990) defines critical thinking as “purposeful, self regulatory judgment which results in the interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference as well as the explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which judgment is based” (p. 2). Rudd, Baker, and Hoover (2000) furthered this concept citing that critical thinking is a “reasoned, purposive, and introspective approach to solving problems or addressing questions with incomplete evidence and information for which an incontrovertible solution is unlikely” (p. 5).

In the past, academia focused the majority of research and practice within education on the skills of critical thinking. This narrow focus contributed to a skewed view of critical thinking by characterizing it as an assortment of skills rather than a complex and intentional process allowing for individuals to make reasoned and judicious decisions (Paul, 1990).

Facione (1990) conducted a Delphi to determine a consensus of critical thinking. The Delphi suggested that an individual has two facets of critical thinking: disposition and skill. Together, the two factors provide educators with a much more holistic understanding of critical thinking. Over the past decade academics have increased attention to the dispositions of critical thinking as a means for

developing students’ capacity for critical thinking (Ennis, 1996; Esterle & Clurman, 1993; Facione & Facione, 1992; Paul, 1990; Siegel, 1988; Tishman &

Andrade, 1996).

Employers value both skill and disposition (Halpern, 1996), making them compulsory to higher education and vocational preparation. In fact when addressing education developmentally, researchers suggested that skills and disposition are inherently linked and should be developed jointly (Kitchener & King, 1994). If a person demonstrates a critical thinking skill, it can be substantiated the person is therefore disposed to using the skill (Facione, Facione, & Giancarlo, 2000).

To effectively understand critical thinking and the relationship existing between the disposition of and skill of it is important to operationalize a definition of critical thinking disposition. Critical thinking disposition has been characterized as the consistent internal motivation to engage problems and make decisions by using critical thinking (Facione, Facione, Giancarlo, 1996).

Disposition refers to a habit or tendency an individual has toward critical thinking. Facione (1990) refers to the dispositions as “characterizations of good critical thinkers” (p. 11). One recommendation of the Delphi (Facione, 1990) is to develop instructional tools which cultivate the dispositions, which can in turn lead to the use of critical thinking skills beyond an instructional setting. Ricketts and Rudd (2004) describe three dimensions of critical thinking disposition:

• Cognitive Maturity: students’ predisposition to looking for opportunities to use reasoning; anticipating situations that require reasoning; and confidence in reasoning ability.
• Engagement: students’ predisposition to be intellectually curious and desire to know the truth.
• Innovativeness: students’ predisposition to being aware of the complexity of the problems; being open to other points of view; and being aware of their own and others biases and predispositions.

It is vital for students aspiring to serve in leadership positions to develop the ability to think critically as they attempt to solve problems and make decisions with organizational implications. Leadership educators are encouraged to cultivate students’ disposition toward critical thinking.

Yet, the complementary piece of the puzzle is emotional intelligence; the Heart that guides relationships, understanding and empathy. By linking the two

educators are providing an educational experience not only creating better decision-makers, but better relationship builders.

Emotional Intelligence

Another tenet of leadership education is the development of emotional skills to enhance personal and organizational development. Emotional intelligence is rooted in the work of Thorndike (1920) who explained that social intelligence is “the ability to understand and manage women and men, boys and girls – to act wisely in human relations” (p. 228). Jensen (1998) notes social and emotional education could be education’s missing piece, specifically for K-12 and potentially for higher education.

Emotional intelligence can be broken down into two areas as outlined by Salovey and Sluyter (1997). The areas are the understanding of emotion and the understanding of intelligence, which are concretely united in an effort to delineate the idea of emotional intelligence (Akers, Miller, Fraze, & Haygood, 2002). Thus, educators are forced to explore creative means of delivering curricula which expose students to emotional intelligence and develop specific areas of emotional intelligence, much like critical thinking. Success in the business world depends on both academic ability and social and emotional skills (Goleman, 1995).

The four core competencies are as follows (Salovey & Mayer, 1990):

• The ability to accurately perceive, appraise, and express emotion.
• The ability to access or generate feelings on demand when they can facilitate understanding of oneself and another person.
• The ability to understand emotions and the knowledge that derives from them.

Self-awareness emerged from these four core emotional competencies as a governing tenet for the development of emotional intelligence. Self-awareness refers to the ability to recognize a feeling as it happens (Goleman, 1995). This ability is paramount for students exploring service in leadership positions.

Goleman noted that “the ability to monitor feelings from moment to moment is crucial to psychological insight and self-understanding” (p.43). He further asserts that if individuals fail to recognize their true feelings, it can be detrimental. “People with greater certainty about their feelings are better pilots of their lives, having a surer sense of how they feel about personal decisions, from who to marry, to what job to take” (p. 43).

The use of emotional intelligence can lead to productive outcomes at the individual and organizational level (Weisinger, 1998). This is further confirmed by the overwhelming majority of employers who feel emotional intelligence, specifically self-awareness, is critical to success in business (Goleman, 1998). High self-awareness is the foundation from which all other emotional intelligence stems from (Weisinger, 1998). Self-awareness if is highly correlated with positive social interaction (Lopes, Brackett, Nezlek, Schultz, Sellin, & Salovey, 2003).

Through an examination of critical thinking and emotional intelligence literature, the researchers postulated a link between the two philosophies. With that, Boler (1999) argues that emotions indicate what deserves attention and moral scrutiny to the individual. Thus, emotional intelligence plays a critical role in ethical decision making. Conversely, Elder (1997) contends critical thinking is the key to emotional intelligence. This connection and development of these skills are critical to the foundation of leadership education.

Elder (1997) argues that educators should make an appeal to the emotional lives of students, engaging them cognitively and emotionally. It is the students’ emotions which guides their relationship to instruction. She maintains that these two affective dimensions are linked. “In fact, critical thinking is the only plausible vehicle by which we could bring intelligence to bear upon our emotional life” (p. 5).

An alternative perspective lends the credibility of critical thinking disposition as a tenant of intellectual character (Facione, 2000). If it can be shown that disposition toward critical thinking influences other “intelligences” than it strengthens the argument that cultivating critical thinking disposition should be encouraged in leadership education.

• Emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of Cognitive maturity in students’ in a leadership development course.
• Emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of Engagement in students’ in a leadership development course.
• Emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of Innovativeness in students’ in a leadership development course.
• Emotional intelligence skills and critical thinking disposition in students’ in a leadership development course.

Using a survey research methodology, researchers utilized two instruments in order to garner valid and reliable findings. Researchers designed this correlational study to explore the relationship between critical thinking disposition and emotional intelligence. The two instruments chosen were to measure the specific constructs of emotional intelligence and critical thinking disposition. This design allowed the researchers to discover the strength and direction of the relationships existing between critical thinking disposition and emotional intelligence using correlational statistics. Researchers initially identified the normalcy of the data through a scattergram (see Figure 1).

Undergraduates enrolled in a required course for leadership development majors were used as the population for this study. Data were collected during the spring and summer of 2005 (N = 200). There were 164 students who submitted their questionnaires for useable data for a total response rate of 82% (n = 164).

Of the students in the course, 86% (n = 142) self-identified as agricultural leadership development majors. The remaining represented a four other college of agriculture majors. Although, gender, age, and race were not included as variables in this study and will be analyzed in the future; approximately 59% (n = 95) were male, 79% (n = 131) were between the ages of 21 and 23 and 79% (n = 131) were Caucasian. While the implications of these variables may yield important contributions to each of the constructs studied, they were not included in this research.

Scatter gram of emotional intelligence and critical thinking disposition scores (n = 164)

60 70 80 90 100 110 120

As stated previously, the researchers used two questionnaires to collect data. These were the EMI and emotional intelligence instrument excerpted from Weisinger’s (1998) Developing Your Emotional Intelligence instrument. These instruments were selected because of their previous use and determined reliability and validity.

In order to measure critical thinking disposition, the EMI instrument was used (Ricketts & Rudd, 2004). Ricketts and Rudd developed the EMI to measure three identified scales of critical thinking disposition: engagement, cognitive maturity and innovativeness. The EMI consisted of 26 questions measured on a Likert-type scale. The 26 questions were broken down into the three factors or scales: engagement consisted of 11 questions, cognitive maturity 8 questions, and innovativeness 7 questions. Ricketts and Rudd (2005) used Facione’s (1990) Delphi to identify the constructs of Cognitive Maturity, Engagement and Innovativeness. Although the questionnaire had already underwent reliability testing by the developers, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated for each

subscale. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the constructs were: Cognitive Maturity (α = .68), Engagement (α = .78), and Innovativeness (α = .75). These coefficients were acceptable for the purposes of this research due to the nature of measuring critical thinking disposition (Ricketts & Rudd, 2004).

Emotional intelligence was measured using a version of Developing Your Emotional Intelligence instrument developed by Weisinger (1998). The adapted version was more appropriate for students and was published in a leadership text (Daft, 2002). Daft’s instrument consisted of 25 questions and contained five subscales of Emotional intelligence Self-Awareness, Managing Emotions, Motivating Oneself, Empathy, and Social Awareness. Five questions measured each subscale. The instrument was abbreviated to provide an illustrated example in Daft’s (2002) text. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated for each subscale. The coefficients for the scales were: (a) self-awareness (α = .71), (b) managing emotions (α = .72), (c) motivating oneself (α = .74), (d) empathy (α =

.76), and (e) social awareness (α = .76). Included on the emotional intelligence instrument was a short demographic questionnaire, which included four questions. These were gender, race/ethnicity, major and approximated GPR.

In order to determine the strength and direction of the relationships between the constructs of Critical thinking and Emotional intelligence Pearson Product- Moment Correlation Coefficients were computed using SPSS® Statistical Software for Windows ®. Researchers chose the product-moment correlation coefficient r because of its ability to determine the magnitude and direction of relationship between scores of two measures (Gall, Gall, & Borg, 2003).

Additionally, the correlation coefficient ( r 2) was determined in order to identify the proportion of variance explained by the relationship.

The magnitude of the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients for the subscales of emotional intelligence and subscales of critical thinking disposition were determined using the following parameters: r = 1.0, perfect; r = 0.99 – 0.7, very high; r = 0.69 – 0.50, substantial; r = 0.49 – 0.30, moderate; r = 0.29 – 0.10, low; and r = 0.09 – 0.01, negligible (Miller, 1998).

Researchers identified the following limitations of the study: (a) the generalizability to other populations outside of the study, (b) the adapted nature of the emotional intelligence instrument, and (c) the self-reporting and self- perception nature of the instruments.

The researchers were guided by four research objective because the intent of the study was to establish baseline data exploring the relationship between the constructs of critical thinking disposition and emotional intelligence. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients were computed for subscales of critical thinking disposition as reported on the EMI and emotional intelligence as reported on the abbreviated Developing Your Emotional Intelligence instrument, as well as the total scores for critical thinking and emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence scores ranged from 66-117 (with a maximum of 125). The mean emotional intelligence score was M = 93.76, SD = 10.05. The five emotional intelligence skills studied were self-awareness ( M = 18.17, SD = 2.75), managing emotions ( M = 17.83, SD = 3.10), motivating oneself ( M = 17.74, SD = 2.81), empathy ( M = 20.04, SD = 2.96), and social awareness ( M = 20.05, SD = 2.68). All were measured on a 5 (low) to 25 (maximum) score range.

Objective 1: Determine the relationship between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of cognitive maturity in students’ in a leadership development course.

The disposition of cognitive maturity ranged scores from18 to 38 with a mean of M = 29.58, SD = 3.69. There was a moderate positive relationship (Miller, 1998) between cognitive maturity and the total emotional intelligence skill score r (163)

= .43, p <.05, r 2 = .19 explaining 19% of the variance. Three of emotional intelligence skills showed low positive relationships with the disposition of cognitive maturity and were: managing emotions r (163) = .25, p <.05, r 2 = .06, explaining 6% of the variance; self-awareness r (163) = .27, p <.05, r 2 = .07, explaining 7% of the variance; and motivating oneself r (163) = .29, p <05, r 2 =

.08, explaining 8% of the variance.

The remaining two skills showed moderate positive relationships with cognitive maturity and were social awareness r (163) = .33, p <.05, r 2 = .11, explaining 11% of the variance; and empathy r (163) = .39, p <.05, r 2 = .15, explaining 15% of the variance. These findings are summarized in Table 1.

Correlation between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of cognitive maturity ( n = 1 64)

Objective 2: Determine the relationship between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of engagement in students’ in a leadership development course.

The engagement disposition scores ranged from 28 to 55 with a mean M = 43.71, SD = 4.62. Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficients showed a moderate positive relationship between engagement and emotional intelligence (Miller, 1998), r = .42, p <05, r 2 = .18, explaining 18% of the variance. Additionally, three of the skills showed low positive relationships: managing emotions r (163) = .17, p <.05, r 2 = .03 explaining 3% of the variance; self-awareness r (163) = .22, p <.05, r 2 = .05; explaining 5% of the variance; and, empathy r (163) = .29, p <.05, r 2 =

Two emotional intelligence skills showed moderate positive relationships with engagement: social awareness r (163) = .34, p <.05, r 2 = .12, explaining 12% of the variance; and, motivating oneself r (163) = .44, p <.05, r 2 = .19, explaining 19% of the variance. These findings are summarized in Table 2.

Correlation between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of engagement ( n = 164)

Objective 3: Determine the relationship between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of innovativeness in students’ in a leadership development course.

Scores ranged from15 to 35 for the disposition of innovativeness with an average of M = 26.67, SD = 3.74. The total score of emotional intelligence showed a moderate positive correlation with the disposition of innovativeness, r (163) = .43, p <.05, r 2 = .18, explaining 18% of the variance. Three of the skills analyzed showed low positive relationships with innovativeness. These were: empathy r (163) = .20, p <.05, r 2 = .04, explaining 4% of the variance, social awareness r (163) = .22, p <.05, r 2 = .05, explaining 5% of the variation; and, self-awareness r (163) = .26, p <.05, r 2 = .07, explaining 7% of the variation.

The remaining two emotional intelligence skills demonstrated a moderate positive relationship with innovativeness. Managing emotions had a correlation coefficient of r (163)=.33, p <.05, r 2=.11, explaining 11% of the variance, and motivating oneself had a correlation coefficient of r (163)=.46, p <.05, r 2=.21, explaining 21% of the variance. These correlation coefficients are summarized in Table 3.

Correlation between emotional intelligence skills and the disposition of innovativeness ( n =164)

Objective 4: Determine the relationship between emotional intelligence skills and critical thinking disposition in students’ in a leadership development course.

This last objective was to analyze the total scores of emotional intelligence skill to the total score of critical thinking disposition. Critical thinking scores ranged from 74 to 124 with an average of M = 100.01, SD = 10.07. Using Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficients, analysis showed a substantial positive relationship between emotional intelligence skill and critical thinking disposition. The correlational coefficient r (163) = .53, p <.05, r 2 = .28, explaining 28% of the variance. Summarized in Table 4 are the coefficients for each of the critical thinking dispositions, total critical thinking disposition, and emotional intelligence.

Correlation between emotional intelligence and critical thinking dispositions ( n = 164)

These findings clearly show a positive relationship between the two concepts of emotional intelligence skill and critical thinking disposition. The researchers make conclusions and recommendations for this research area in the following section.

Conclusions and Recommendations

Readers should approach the following conclusions and recommendations with caution. A limitation of the study is the fact that researchers collected data from undergraduates in a leadership development course for majors. Conclusions and recommendations regarding the objectives of the study will be drawn for this population.

Cognitive Maturity

The findings showed a range of positive relationships between the disposition of cognitive maturity and emotional intelligence skills. The low relationships were with managing emotions, self-awareness, and motivating oneself. However, moderate relationships were found with social awareness and empathy.

Cognitive maturity refers to ones’ ability to be aware of that problems are complex, a willingness to be open to other points of view and biases and predispositions. The moderate correlation to social awareness (handling of interpersonal interaction, managing emotions in others) indicates that individuals exhibiting cognitive maturity are aware of others’ emotions and the impact those emotions have on their beliefs or values. Likewise, the relationship with empathy indicates their level of cognitive maturity creates an ability to be sensitive to others feelings, this includes taking their perspective and appreciating differences.

In this case of the disposition of cognitive maturity and emotional intelligence, educators should engage students in a variety of experiences which challenge them to see concepts from a variety of perspectives. This includes exposure to media and cultural experiences which are different from their customs and comfort. This familiarity with unlike cultures may further develop a deeper disposition toward critical thinking, specifically cognitive maturity.

The disposition of engagement was found to have a range of magnitude in relation to the emotional intelligence skills. Low positive relationships were found among managing emotions, self-awareness and empathy. Yet, two were found to have moderate relationships, social awareness and motivating oneself.

Again, with the moderate relationship to social awareness it would appear that students confident in their reasoning ability and anticipation of situations requiring reasoning would be able to anticipate emotional situations with others (social awareness). This awareness of the emotional state of others provides them with an opportunity to serve as a mediator or someone who can assist others in working through emotional hardships. In terms of the second moderate relationship, motivating oneself (channeling emotions in the service of a goal or emotional control), one may infer that individuals confident in their reasoning ability have no problem in being motivated and that engagement encourages their motivation.

Having students work through a variety of case studies exemplifying emotional situations would assist them in developing this disposition further. If students are challenged with stressful emotional situations, they may have the opportunity to increase their capacity for developing the disposition of engagement. Educators may also see students who are confident and motivated, but must also work with students who do not appear to be self-motivating to determine if their disposition toward engagement is the issue.

Innovativeness

The last critical thinking disposition explored was innovativeness. This disposition had low to moderate relationships with skills of emotional intelligence. There were low relationships with empathy, social awareness and self-awareness. The moderate relationships were found with managing emotions and motivating oneself.

The relationship between managing emotions (handling emotions, so they are appropriate and acknowledging emotional cues) and innovativeness (being intellectually curious and wanting to know the truth) may be indicative of students’ who are curious may spend more time not only considering external sources of information, but internal as well. Leading to an individual who is reflective and introspective – they seek the truth about their own feelings and

emotional cues. The link between motivating oneself equates to, if students are curious they will be motivated.

In education there are ample opportunities for experiences which include reflection, personal leadership development in most cases is very introspective. Reflection activities may encourage those with lower innovativeness scores to work on developing that disposition. Additionally, if students’ curiosity is peaked, their motivation to discover will be also. The key here is determining what interest students and making learning relevant.

Critical Thinking Disposition

The last findings specifically addressed overall critical thinking disposition and its relationship to emotional intelligence skill. In this analysis the relationship was substantial. This relationship indicates that our disposition to critical thinking may not only influence our critical thinking skill, but influences other affective dimensions. It may be interpreted that students’ disposition toward critical thinking makes them better (more equipped) at being emotionally intelligent.

With that the implications for education are evident, if an educator can engage students emotionally we can influence critical thinking disposition, likewise cultivating critical thinking disposition can impact emotional intelligence. It is a win-win for the leadership classroom.

The area which may elicit concern is the one emotional intelligence skill which had a low positive relationship with all of the three critical thinking dispositions. Consistently, this was self-awareness. Self-awareness relates to ones’ ability to observe oneself and recognize feelings as they happen. Johari’s window addresses areas (unknown spots) which hinder ones’ ability to see self honestly. Self- awareness is a difficult area to develop; however, educators may use a variety of self-awareness tools to encourage students to further understand who they are and how others see them. This may prove to be a very beneficial tool in leadership development.

Jensen (1998) went on to further explain that too often social and emotional education goes missing, leaving an opportunity to develop students in these areas. Leadership programs provide a natural fit to reinforce these skills (Akers, 2002). If we are challenged as a profession to prepare individuals for the working world and addressing the needs of employers, then it seems imperative that a strong emphasis be placed on emotional intelligence and critical thinking. If we are able to combine these two ideas in curricula than we have a much higher probability for reaching students, for changing them, and for developing them into leaders.

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Nicole Stedman is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida in the Agricultural Education and Communication Department. She received her B.S. in Family, Youth, and Community Sciences, with a Masters and Ph.D. in Agricultural Education, specializing in Leadership Development, all from the University of Florida. She spent three years at Texas A&M University before she returned to UF to teach undergraduate and graduate leadership courses. Her research interests include the impact of factors and attributes on leadership development with a focus on critical thinking and emotional intelligence.

Tony Andenoro is currently serving as an Assistant Professor for the Department of Leadership Studies and a Fellow for the Center for Civic Leadership at Fort Hays State University. He earned a B.A. in Communication from the University of Toledo, a M.S. in Educational Administration from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Education from Texas A&M University. His research interests include the connection between creativity and intelligence in leadership, the development of critical thinking skills through leadership education, and the globalization leadership curricula.

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The relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in Iranian nursing students.

Author information, affiliations.

• Hasanpour M 1
• Bagheri M 2
• Ghaedi Heidari F 2

ORCIDs linked to this article

• Hasanpour M | 0000-0003-3365-3633

Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran , 18 May 2018 , 32: 40 https://doi.org/10.14196/mjiri.32.40   PMID: 30159291  PMCID: PMC6108289

Abstract 

Free full text , the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in iranian nursing students, marzieh hasanpour.

1 School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Maryam Bagheri

2 Student Research Committee, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.

Fatemeh Ghaedi Heidari

Background: Critical thinking skills are one of the most important competencies in successful clinical performance of nursing students. Emotional intelligence is also one of the concepts related to critical thinking and can play an important role in the ability to think. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking in nursing students.

Methods: This was a quantitative, descriptive–correlative Study. Participants were nursing students in different levels. To collect data, California Critical Thinking Test (form B) and Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire were used. Then, data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS 16 software.

Results: Pearson correlation test showed no significant correlation between the total score of critical thinking skills and each of its components with the total score of emotional intelligence and its component, except for empathy (p=0.001), in nursing students.

Conclusion: The findings revealed a significant relationship between empathy and critical thinking skills in nursing students. Using these elements as teaching techniques for nursing education courses can be very helpful in developing good nurse-patient relationships and improving patient care.

↑ What is “already known” in this topic:

Critical thinking and emotional intelligence are acquirable and measurable.

→ What this article adds:

According to the results, empathy and critical thinking skills should be incorporated into the nursing curriculum to enhance nurse-patient relationship and patient care.

• Introduction

Thinking and the skill of how to think are important concepts that have attracted the attention of many scholars for several years, and nowadays improving thinking skills is one of the fundamental goals of education systems. Critical thinking is one method of thinking ( 1 ). Also, it is one of the most important principles of education in every country, and each country needs people with high critical thinking ability for its development ( 2 ). Critical thinking has complex mental process and activity. Thus, there is no single definition for it, and the numbers of definitions of critical thinking are as equal as those of experts in this area ( 3 , 4 ). Many efforts have been made to reach a consensus for concepts present in the definitions of critical thinking, such as the effort of American Psychological Association (APA) that conducted a Delphi study under the supervision of Facione in 1990, whose results led to the following definition of critical thinking ( 5 ):

“Purposeful, self-regulatory judgment which results in interpretation, analysis, evaluation, and inference, as well as explanation of the evidential, conceptual, methodological, criteriological, or contextual considerations upon which judgments are based.”( 6 ).

Studies have indicated that in response to rapid changes of health settings, nurses should have critical thinking skills to provide effective care to the patients and prepare themselves for accepting roles and tasks of health care systems ( 7 ). However, several studies revealed low critical thinking skills among nursing students ( 8 - 11 ).

Critical thinking in nursing has at least 2 emotional and cognitive dimensions ( 12 ). According to Elder (1996), critical thinking is the key to emotional intelligence. She believed that, “critical thinking is the only plausible vehicle by which we could bring intelligence to bear upon our emotional life." ( 13 ). Emotional intelligence is an important concept in nursing and is defined as “the ability to perceive emotions, access and generate emotions to assist thought, understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and reflectively regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth.”( 14 ). Evidence has shown that emotional intelligence associates with individual success or failure in different areas of life ( 15 ). Based on the view of Bar-On, emotional intelligence is a set of capacities, beliefs, and non-cognitive skills and increases individual capabilities to successfully face challenges and environmental pressures ( 16 ). Several studies on emotional intelligence have indicated that individuals with higher emotional intelligence have more spiritual well-being( 17 ), lower mental disorders ( 18 ), lower possibility of suicide ( 19 ), higher self-efficacy ( 20 ), higher motivation ( 21 ), better problem-solving ( 22 ), and higher socio emotional adjustment ( 23 ). Also, several studies have been conducted on the relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking in baccalaureate nursing students and nurses, and some indicated a positive correlation between these 2 variables ( 24 - 27 ). Other studies found no relationship between critical thinking and emotional intelligence ( 28 , 29 ). Thus, considering the importance of these 2 fundamental concepts and their positive effects on the care provided by nursing students and nurses and taking into account the contradictory findings, we aimed at studying the relationship between these 2 variables. We conducted this study to emphasize the importance of simultaneous growth of emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in nursing and improve social health and performance of nurses.

This was a descriptive-correlative study. Permission to conduct the study was obtained from Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. Then, participants were selected among B.S. students using systematic random sampling and among M.S and Ph.D students using convenience sampling due to lack of availability. Students who had physical and mental capabilities to answer the questions were allowed to enter the study, and exclusion criterion was having an educational failure in the past educational semester. Sample size was determined to be 150 using the formula with 95% confidence level. In total, 169 nursing students participated in the study. After explaining the aim of the study to the participants and obtaining their informed consent, they were asked to complete the questionnaires.

Data gathering instruments included a questionnaire with 3 parts: The first part was related to demographic characteristics, the second to questions of California Critical Thinking Skills Test (form B), and the third included items on Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. The second part was related to items of California Critical Thinking Skills Test (form B), which included 34 itemsin5cognitive skills, such as evaluation, inference, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. In this test, 9 items were related to analysis subscale, 14 to evaluation, and11toinference. Each item has4 or5options, among which 1 is the correct answer. Score 1 is given to each correct option. In this study, the mean scores of subscales have been stated as percentage to facilitate reporting results. Therefore, the lowest score for this test is 0 and the highest 34. Maximum time to complete the test was 45 minutes. The 34-item test was extracted from 200 items and arranged considering the complexity and discipline of critical thinking( 3 ). The test was normalized in different countries and had good validity and reliability. The test has been validated and arranged based on our culture. In the study by Khodamoradi (2006), content and face validity of the test was confirmed. To determine the reliability of the test, internal and external consistencies were used. The internal correlation coefficient for the subtests was between 0.71 and 0.77, showing that the subscales had a significant positive correlation with the total score of the test (r = 0.86). Also, results of test-retest showed the correlation coefficient of 90% and Kappa coefficient of 0.81( 30 ).

The third part was associated with items of Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, which includes 90 items that measures emotional intelligence by 15 subscales, including problem-solving, pleasure, independence, resistance against mental pressure, self-actualization, emotional self-awareness, realism, interpersonal relationship, optimism, self-esteem, impulse control, resiliency, responsibility, empathy, and self-expression. Total score of each subscale is equal to sum of scores of all items of the subscale. Moreover, the total score of the questionnaire is equal to sum of the scores of 15 subscales. Items were scored by 5-point Likert scale as follow: completely agree ( 5 ), agree ( 4 ), often ( 3 ), disagree ( 2 ), and completely disagree ( 1 ). Scoring was done inversely for some questions with negative contents, ranging from completely agree (score of 1) to completely disagree (score of 5). The maximum total score of the questionnaire was 450 and the minimum was 90; and in each subscale, the maximum score was 30 and the minimum was 6. Primary Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, which has been standardized in Iran, includes 117 items. It has an acceptable content validity, and its reliability has been reported to be 0.93 using Cornbrash’s alpha coefficient ( 31 ).

Data were analyzed using SPSS Version16 and descriptive statistical methods (mean, standard deviation, frequency, percentage) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient).

In the present study, 124 B.S students, 24 M.S students, and 21 Ph.D. students participated, of whom 64.5% were female and 35.5% were male, with the mean± SD age of 24.58±55.6 years (age range: 18-50 years). Also, 127 (75%) participants were single and 42 (25%) were married.

The results revealed that the mean score of critical thinking skills of nursing students was 11.15(SD=3.46). Also, the mean total score of emotional intelligence was reported to be 336.53(SD=33.08).The results showed no significant correlation between critical thinking skills and emotional intelligence using Pearson correlation test (p=0.62, r=0.038).

Also, Table 1 demonstrates the relationship between scores of emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills of nursing students. Using Pearson test, a significant relationship was found between critical thinking skills and empathy as a component of emotional intelligence (p=0.001).

*P-value< 0.05 is significant. ES: Emotional Self-awareness, A: Assertiveness, S-R: Self-regard, SA: Self-actualization, I: Independence, E: Empathy, SR: Social responsibility, IR: Interpersonal relationship, RT: Reality testing, F: Flexibility, PS: Problem- solving, ST: Stress tolerance, IC: Impulse control, O: Optimism, H: Happiness

This study revealed that the mean total score of critical thinking skills was less than half of the maximums core, indicating weakness of these skills in nursing students. However, the average total score of emotional intelligence was higher than half of the maximum questionnaire score. Thus, it can be inferred that emotional intelligence is relatively favorable or that the overestimation of the score of emotional intelligence is due to the self-report nature of the questionnaire. The results of critical thinking in the present study agreed with those obtained from studies on nursing students with B.S degree ( 10 , 11 , 25 , 32 ). Furthermore, the score of critical thinking skills in this study was low. Thus, it is highly important to enhance critical thinking skills in nursing students through active teaching methods, such as concept mapping, simulation, and clinical research ( 33 ). Therefore, it is proposed to revise teaching methods for nursing students.

With respect to the mean total score of emotional intelligence, the results of studies conducted by Salehi et al.(2012) ( 34 ) and Namdar et al.(2008) ( 35 )on nursing students were similar to this study.

This study found no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills of nursing students(r=0.038, p=0.62). This finding is congruent with that of the study of Haghani et al. (2011)( 36 ), but it is incongruent with findings of several other studies ( 13 , 25 , 27 , 28 ). Also, the findings indicated that among the components of emotional intelligence, there was only a significant relationship between critical thinking skills and empathy. Such differences can be attributed to the methodological differences between the studies, including the type of sample, sampling method, and the tools used for measuring the variables.

The present study had some limitations. First, in this study, data collection merely relied on nursing students (self-report). This may have produced socially desirable responses because the researchers used the Bar-On Questionnaire as a self-report tool. Second, the design of this study was correlational, and thus causal relationship could not be established. We hope that the results of this study could provide a basis for those studies that aim at determining a causal relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in Iranian nursing students.

In this study, the total score of critical thinking was lower than the average score, and the total score of emotional intelligence was relatively good. Also, there was a weak relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills. There was only a significant correlation between critical thinking skills and empathy component of emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence skills and critical thinking skills can be learned, so other components of emotional intelligence and subscales of critical thinking should be improved by active learning-teaching methods and new student-centered methods, such as brain-storming, concept mapping, mind map, and team teaching, self-learning, Socratic questioning and answering, problem-solving, and role modeling of teachers in nursing education. Finally, by training thoughtful and critical thinker nurses with high emotional intelligence, it is hoped to develop core concepts in nursing, i.e., proper communication with patients and provide optimal care resulting in improved community health.

• Acknowledgement

This study was the product of a research project (No: 290195) that was financially approved and supported by Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) and Nursing and Midwifery Care Research Center. Authors also appreciate B.S, M.S, and Ph.D. nursing students in Nursing and Midwifery Faculty of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences for their participation.

• Conflict of Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Cite this article as: Hasanpour M, Bagheri M, Ghaedi Heidari F. The relationship between emotional intelligence and critical thinking skills in Iranian nursing students. Med J Islam Repub Iran . 2018(18 May); 32:40. https://doi.org/10.14196/mjiri.32.40

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