Influence of Forms of Thinking Styles on Emotional Intelligence of Teacher Educators

Abstract

Thinking differently is a unique characteristic of a man, this fact was realized by R.J. STERNBERG (1988). He emphasized that thinking styles are preferred way of thinking. He classified 13 different thinking styles based on functions, forms, level, scope and leaning. On the other hand Emotional intelligence is a ability to sense, understand and effectively apply emotions for better inter personal relations (COOPER AND SAWAF, 1997). GOLEMAN (1995) characterized Emotional Intelligence as the ability of self awareness, mood management, self motivation, empathy and managing relationships. No doubt Thinking Style and Emotional Intelligence both are cognitive abilities of an individual. In this study an attempt has been to find the relationship of these two cognitive abilities. The objective of the study was to find out influence of various forms (monarchic, hierarchic, oligarchic and anarchic) of Thinking Styles on Emotional intelligence of teacher educators of teacher training colleges of Chhattisgarh state. The sample comprises of 25 male and 25 female teacher educators. They were administered part of 'Thinking Style Scale' (only FORMS of thinking style) developed by JOHN, SINGH AND VERMA (2006) and 'Emotional Intelligence Scale' developed by HYDE AND PATHE (2002). The obtained data was analyzed by calculating M, SD and't' value to test the significance of the hypotheses of the study. The results indicates that all the four FORMS of thinking styles have shown significant difference on emotional intelligence. Apart from this gender difference of teacher educators has also shown significant difference on emotional intelligence. I. Introducation :- The idea of styles of cognition was initially introduced by Allport (1937). The concept of thinking style is a relatively recent field for the researchers. Thinking style is major component of cognitive style. Thinking styles is based on the work done by R.J. Sternberg (1994) on 'mental self government'. Central to this theory is the notion that people manage their everyday activity, and their work field responsibilities by using thirteen (13) different thinking styles in a way that feel comfortable in it. Tables 13 thinking styles under 5 sections (Sternberg)