The purpose of this research is to investigate what effects a program for culture of sentiments has on children's emotional intelligence and pro-social behavior. For this purpose, research subjects are established as follows:
A. What effects does the...
The purpose of this research is to investigate what effects a program for culture of sentiments has on children's emotional intelligence and pro-social behavior. For this purpose, research subjects are established as follows:
A. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on children's emotional intelligence, in such capabilities as self-consciousness, self-expression, self-control, recognition of others, and interpersonal relations?
A-1. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on the improvement in the abilities of children to recognize and express themselves among other factors of emotional intelligence?
A-2. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on the improvement in the abilities of children to control themselves among other factors of emotional intelligence?
A-3. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on the improvement in the abilities of children to recognize others among other factors of emotional intelligence?
A-4. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on the improvement in the abilities of children to build interpersonal relations among other factors of emotional intelligence?
B. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on children's pro-social behaviors, such as control of personal emotion, building of interpersonal relations, and adaptability to the kindergarten environment?
B-1. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on children's ability to control their personal emotion among other factors of pro-social behaviors?
B-2. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on children's ability to build interpersonal relationships among other factors of pro-social behaviors?
B-3. What effects does the application of a sentiments culture program can have on children's ability to adapt to the kindergarten environment?
To conduct this research project, experimental subjects are selected from the two classes of a kindergarten, which is an annex to K Elementary School located in Kimpo City. They are composed of preschool children less than 5 years old. A group of 20 children from one class is designated as an experimental group, and another group of 20 children from other class as a control group.
For a total of ten weeks from the first week of September to the second week of November 2002, the experimental group has taken classes through the use of sentiments cultivation program while the control group by instructional or admonitory lectures, with each group taking a total of 30 classes, three times per week. Class hours for the former group were arranged during the periods of self-organizing free activities or group activities, with one class taking about 50 minutes; instead, the children of the control group received instruction, admonition, direction or correction as problem solving activities in problem settings.
The pretest and post-hoc analyses of emotional intelligence were performed by test tool developed by Lee Byeong Rae (1997). The statistical data processing for emotional intelligence was made by the total score of its low-level variables such as self-consciousness, self-expression, self-control, recognition of others, and interpersonal relationships.
Also, to measure children's pro-social behaviors in the pretest and post test, this research used the test tool developed by Lee Wong Young, Park Chan Ok, and Ro Young Hee (1992~1993). The statistical data processing for pro-social behavior was made by the total score of its low-level variables such as control of personal emotion, building of interpersonal relationships, and adaptability to the kindergarten environment.
For the purpose of identifying the differences between the experimental and control groups, t-test was conducted, with the level of significance at a= .05. The results of this research can be concluded as follows: when compared with the control group, the sentiments cultivation program applied to the experimental group had effects on children's emotional intelligence and pro-social behavior.
These results can be interpreted in two ways. First of all, the effects of the sentiments cultivation program on emotional intelligence can be summarized as follows:
First, the concept of emotional perception has grown in the experimental group more than in the control group. This indicates that children of the former group knew and expressed that there can be various kinds of emotional expression and what one feels may be different from what others do.
Second, the concept of personal emotion control has grown in the experimental group more than in the control group. This indicates that children in the experimental group usually attempt to restrain their own negative sentiments and change them into positive ones.
Third, the concept of self-motivation has grown in the experimental group more than in the control group, which means that the children in the former group have developed the abilities to be patient with difficulties and exert efforts to achieve themselves.
Fourth, the concept of empathy has grown in the experimental group more than in the control group, which means that the children in the former group have developed the abilities to share common emotions with others.
Thus, it can be concluded that the sentiments cultivation program has had a considerable effect on children's emotional intelligence.
On the other hand, the effects of the sentiments cultivation program on children's pro-social behavior can be summarized as follows:
First, the development of personal emotion control is higher in the control group than in the control group, which means that when the children in the former group have a feeling of anger in a situation they think of the causes and have learned how to deal with such a situation.
Second, children in the experimental group show more increases in the building of interpersonal relationships than do those in the control group, which indicates that those in the former group have come to form social responses to the benefit of other people.
Third, children in the experimental group show more increases in the adaptability to the kindergarten environment than do those in the control group, which implies that the former children have developed pro-social, altruistic, and moral behaviors.
Thus, it can be concluded that the sentiments cultivation program has had a considerable effect on children's pro-social behaviors.