Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Attitude Towards Examination of Undergraduates at University of Ilorin

Emotional intelligence is the basic construct out of which all motivation arises. People with high emotional intelligence have the characteristic of motivating themselves. Students differ in cognitive abilities, with some students being better prepared for the university environment than others. As such, scholars have attempted to find out if emotional intelligence determines students’ attitude toward their studies. The present study therefore, investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and attitude towards examination of undergraduates’ at the University of Ilorin. Correlational survey method was employed for the study. The study showed that there is low level of emotional intelligence among University of Ilorin undergraduates. Majority of the respondents have negative attitude towards examination. The result revealed that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and attitude towards examination. Also, it revealed that emotional intelligence has significant correlation with gender (r = 0.203, p<0.05), which implies that gender plays a significant role in the emotional intelligence of undergraduates. Emotional intelligence also has a correlation with age (r = 0.073, p<0.05). This implies that age of undergraduates also plays a significant role in their emotional intelligence. Attitude towards examination had a correlation with age (r = 0.086, p<0.05). This implies that age of the undergraduates plays a significant role in influencing an individual’s attitude toward examinations. Based on these findings, it was recommended; among others, that counsellors and lecturers assist students in determining the appropriate emotional intelligence as this would help them to develop positive attitude towards examination.

Keywords: Attitude towards Examination, Emotional Intelligence, Undergraduates, University of Ilorin, Ilorin.