A negative correlation between self-regulation learning strategies and emotional intelligence: a new finding

By the advent of the 20th century, psychologists presented different learning theories; to the extent that one should consider this century as the time of prosperity and evolution of learning theories. Before 1950s, it was generally believed that learning was due to the impact of external stimulus, but from the 1950s onwards, researchers were challenged and conducted a series of studies that showed our learning and skills were more affected by internal stimulus (1). Social learning theory is one of the theories proposed by Bandura; he is one of social learning theorists who proposed self-regulation learning. In this method, learners have clear control over the learning process (2-5). Following this, some psychologists focused on how the students arranged their learning. Zimmerman and Ponz presented fourteen classes of self-regulation learning strategies that students used through the classroom and study course (6). Emotional intelligence consists of two components: the intrapersonal intelligence, this intelligence represents one's awareness of her/his feelings and excitement, beliefs and feelings of personality, and respect for oneself, and the recognition of innate talents, the autonomy of action in performing the desired tasks, and in total, it is a personal control on the emotions and feelings of self-regulation. The interpersonal intelligence points to the ability to understand others and wants to know what their feelings are, how they work and how to work with them. According to Gadner, sellers, teachers, clinical experts and successful religious leaders may have a high interpersonal intelligence. Although interest in autonomous learning has different roots, self-regulation learning is referred to as a general concept of the meta-cognitive and motivational behaviors of students involved in their learning process (6). The term meta-cognitive flow refers to self-regulation plan of learners, self-constructing and self-assessment in different stages in the learning process. Tailor defined self-regulation as the way that individuals exercise their control directly (7). Zimmerman and Martinez Ponce presented a model that is composed of fourteen categories of self-regulation learning strategies (6). Recently, extensive research has been done on the impaired emotional intelligence and its effects on quality of life, career and academic success, resistance to stress, health, and quality of social and marital relationships. These studies show the implications of emotional intelligence on success and happiness in life (8).  The number of people who realize that emotional intelligence plays a more important role than intelligence quotient (IQ) in the personal and professional success of human beings. Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, prepared by R. Bar-on is one of the most widely used psychometric instruments to assess the set of capabilities, competencies and non-cognitive skills that affect the individual's ability to succeed in coping with requests and environmental pressures, and have emotional and social functions that lead to psychological well-being (9). Also, in this research we used Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (IQ) (10). According to Daniel Goleman's theory, if mankind has an emotional intelligence other than intelligence quotient (IQ), it is interesting to say that for success, IQ is far less capable of EQ; in other words, EQ determines the success of an individual  not IQ, and the good news is that increasing emotional intelligence is far more feasible compared to IQ. In this test, Daniel Goleman's 33-item questionnaire has been used. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the components of self-regulation learning strategies (SRLS) with emotional intelligence.   Materials Methods: Statistical population and sampling method: The population of this study, based on Morgan's table, includes 200 students studying in the academic year of 2016-2017 in Tehran and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences who were selected by random sampling method. This number includes 100 female students and 100 male students. 100 students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences and 100 students of Tehran University were randomly selected at different educational levels from the age of 20 to 40 years old. Research design: The method was to refer to the universities for two months and conduct all tests that considered for the students, which included the Self-regulation Learning Questionnaire (SRLS) and Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. Research tool: In this research, the following tools are used; and the characteristics of each scale, method of scoring, and their reliability and validity are presented. Self-regulation Learning Strategies Questionnaire (SRLS) Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire 1- SRLS/Self-regulation Learning Strategies Questionnaire In this research, this scale was used to measure students' self-regulation learning. This scale was developed by Zimmerman and Ponce (6). This scale has 27 items, of which the first 24 items are related to the fourteen self-regulation learning strategies, and the total score of respondent is the sum of these 24 items. 2. Goleman's Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire The ability to monitor the feelings and emotions of yourself and others and to distinguish between your feelings and others refers to the use of emotional knowledge to guide your thinking and the relationship between yourself and others (11). The questions in this test are related to emotional intelligence dimensions, each dimension is scored separately. These components include self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, empathy, and social skills. Reliability and Validity: The reliability coefficient of the SRLS and Goleman's EQ questionnaire is presented in Table 1.   Results: The present study was conducted among 200 students aged 20-40 years in the academic year of 2016-2017 in Tehran and Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. 100 male students with an average age of 25±2.4 and 100 female students with average age of 24±1.9 were selected. Findings on the SRLS components relationship with emotional intelligence are presented in Table 2. Regarding the results of correlation coefficient, correlation was observed between EQ with variables of self-regulation learning (r = -0.171, p = 0.015), organization and transfer (r = -0.144, p = 0.041) and self-efficacy (r =-0.18, p=0.011). Other relationships were not statistically significant (Table 2). Figure 1 shows the Spearman correlation coefficient between emotional intelligence and self-regulation learning strategies. The relationship between emotional intelligence and self-regulation learning variable is inverse, thus, with increasing emotional intelligence, self-regulation learning score have decreased (Fig. 1).   Discussion In this study, the relationship between self- regulation components and emotional intelligence was negative; and this relation was significant in the organization, transmission and self-efficacy components. Self-regulation learning was also significant with total emotional intelligence. It can be said that the formation of emotional intelligence components occurs in the early years of the child's life and these abilities are the emotional basis of all types of learning. The National Center for Neonatal Clinical Studies reports that the child's awareness of various events with early reading ability cannot predict the success of children at school as much as emotional and social criteria. The criteria such as self-reliance and being interested, knowing what kind of behavior they are expected, and how to control themselves at the peak of the misbehavior impulse, how to be patient and follow the rules and orders, and express their demands when accompanying other children (10). Emotional intelligence is the ability to use emotions to facilitate thinking (12). Recently, extensive research has been done on the disorders in emotional intelligence and its effects on quality of life, career and academic success, resistance to stress, health, and quality of social and marital relationships. These studies implied the effect of emotional intelligence on success and happiness in life (8,13). According to Bar-on, emotional intelligence is a set of non-cognitive abilities, knowledge and skills that affect the ability of a successful encounter with demands, constraints and environmental pressures (9).   Conclusion According to the correlation coefficients, the negative correlation between the emotional intelligence variable and the SRLS components, as well as the organization and transfer components and self-efficacy were significant. Regarding the results of the present study, it seems that the negative relationship found in this research suggests that emotions and feelings express themselves and facilitate their presentation by the emergence of the easiest, happiest and most successful way of thinking and coordinating and self-regulation learning is the more logical and laborious way. Indeed, students can do self-regulation processes through hard work, endurance, and choosing learning strategies. However, emotional intelligence is the ability to use emotions to facilitate thinking. Self-regulation learning is a way to repeat and practice and endure problems to achieve logical thinking.   Conflict of interests Authors declare no conflict of interest.