مقايسه ناگويي هيجاني و هوش هيجاني در دانش آموزان تيزهوش و عادي

Comparison of Alexithymia and Emotional Intelligence in Gifted and Non-gifted High School Students

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare alexithymia and emotional intelligence in two groups from gifted studentsʹ school and normal studentsʹ school. Method: 175 high school students (86 gifted, 89 normal) participated in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (FTAS-20) and Farsi version of Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS). Statistical methods and indices including prevalence, percentage, means, standard deviation, multivariate analysis of variance and Pearsonʹs correlation coefficient were used to analyze data. Results: The results revealed that gifted students had lower levels of alexithymia than normal students; but the difference in emotional intelligence was not significant. Alexithymia was negatively associated with emotional intelligence in both groups. Due to their better and faster understanding of emotional situations, and a more efficient processing and organization of these situations, gifted students suffer less from alexithymia. A high cognitive intelligence does not necessarily entail high emotional intelligence, since cognitive intelligence is fundamentally different from emotional intelligence. Conclusion: Alexithymia is a kind of deficiency in processing and regulation of emotions, and therefore, is negatively related to emotional intelligence.