Emotional intelligence and basic psychological needs : highlights from a teachers’ survey in Iran

Copyright © 2017 Asian Journal of Humanities and Social StudiesPurpose: Psychological needs, as the foundation for a wide range of human behaviors, provide requirements for psychological growth, psychological integrity and well-being. Emotional intelligence is also a general structure that can be the related to success in various aspects of life. The present study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence with the dimensions of basic psychological needs (autonomy, competence and relatedness). Participants: The population of this research consisted of all teachers of Urmia city (n= 6441). To achieve our aim, 365 teachers of Urmia city were selected using stratified random sampling methods. Results: In general, a significant relationship was obtained between the components of emotional intelligence and the components of basic psychological needs. Canonical analysis presented a significant set of relationships between emotional intelligence and basic psychological needs: problem-solving, happiness, independence, stress tolerance, self-actualization, emotional self-awareness, realism, interpersonal relationship, optimism, self-esteem, assertiveness, flexibility and social responsibility showed positive relationships with sense of autonomy, competence and relatedness (p <0.05); however, the relationship between empathy and these needs was negative. Conclusion: The results showed that components of emotional intelligence are able to predict basic psychological needs.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio