The Effects of a Cognitive Acceleration Training Program on Developing the Emotional Intelligence among a Jordanian Sample of Sixth Graders

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a training program based on Adey and Shayer Model of Cognitive Acceleration on developing the Emotional Intelligence (EI) among a Jordanian sample of sixth graders in UNRWA schools. To achieve this aim, the sample of the study consisted of (121) female and male students selected purposively from Al-Amir Hasan Preparatory School (males) and Al-Amir Hasan Preparatory School (females) in Zarqa Area. This sample of male and female students is divided into experimental and control groups. The training program was applied to the experimental group. In order to measure the impact of the training program, the Emotional Intelligence Test (EIT) was administered to both groups as a pre- and post-test at the beginning and at the end of the implementation of the program. Results of the study demonstrated that there were statistically significant differences at (µ£ 0.05) in favor of the experimental group in the performance of the students on the EIT attributed to the group. However, the study showed that there were no statistically significant differences at (µ£ 0.05) in their performance on the EIT attributed to gender. Finally, the results indicated that there were statistically significant differences at (µ£ 0.05) in the interaction between the training program and gender. The study concluded with recommendations related to applying the idea of the training program used in this study in developing the Emotional Intelligence and conducting further studies to develop other types of intelligences.

Keywords: cognitive acceleration, Adey and Shayer, emotional intelligence, UNRWA schools.