Institute of Art Design + Technology
Dún Laoghaire

Klaudia Sidwinska 

BSc [Hons] Applied Psychology

My name is Klaudia Sidwinska. I am a student of BSc Applied Psychology at the Institute of Art Design and Technology. I am keenly interested in abnormal psychology and neuropsychology. I am particularly interested in emotions and how they may affect ones life. I have conducted my thesis on emotional intelligence and how it may impact academic self-efficacy. I am also interested in other areas of psychology such as health psychology, educational psychology and positive psychology. In the future I wish to expand my knowledge with regard to my areas of interest.

Thesis Title

The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Academic Self-Efficacy: A Correlational Study


Project Overview

Academic self-efficacy and emotional intelligence have been regarded as critical skills for students to develop, as they promote positive beliefs about one's abilities to achieve an educational goal and the capability to manage one's emotions (Elias & MacDonald,2007; Mayer & Salovey, 1997). However, educational institutions have generally focused on teaching students conventional knowledge, deemphasising the importance of incorporating other psychological competencies that may result in higher academic achievement and decreased stress (Ononye et al., 2022). Therefore, students who lack mental skills may not perform optimally in challenging and stressful situations. Hence why, understanding the relationship between academic self-efficacy and emotional intelligence may provide insight into the actions that might be taken to promote the two concepts in educational organisations.


Project Description

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and its domains, self-emotions appraisal, regulation of emotion, use of emotion, others-emotion appraisal and academic self-efficacy. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional, correlational design, an online questionnaire was presented to participants via social media who are residing in Ireland using convenience sampling. One hundred and thirteen participants, 37 identifying as male, 73 as female and three as non-binary completed the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale and the Self-Efficacy for Learning and Performance Scale. Pearson’s correlation and multiple linear regression were conducted to test the hypotheses.


Project Findings

The findings of this study indicated that when emotional intelligence increases, academic self-efficacy increases. Furthermore, the study suggests that when individuals display high emotional intelligence, judgements about their educational capabilities increases. Additionally, use of emotion was a significant predictor of academic self-efficacy. This finding indicates that when individuals use their emotions to facilitate positive thoughts, it may benefit their educational beliefs thus improve their academic performance.