Social Intelligence and Academic Achievement of College Students -A Study of District Kulgam

Turkish Online Journal of Qualitative Inquiry (TOJQI)

Volume 12, Issue 2, April 2021: 622-626

Social Intelligence and Academic Achievement of College Students - A Study of

District Kulgam

[Link] Ahmad Mir (author)

The present study is modest effort to compare social intelligence and academic achievement of
college [Link] sample of present study consisted of 300 college students divided into male-
female dichotomy. The college students were in the age-group of 19-21 years.
The sample is selected on the basis of random sampling technique .The study is designed to find out
if there can be any differences in the social intelligence and academic achievement of college
students on the basis gender dichotomy. The sample for the present investigation consists of 300
college students from four colleges of district [Link] data has been collected with the help of
[Link] and UshaGanesan social intelligence scale (1986) and academic achievement of the
college students have been taken as aggregate marks which they have obtained in their first and
second year examination. The test was administered in the respective colleges of the sample subjects.
The investigator personally visited the colleges of the sample subjects and contacted them in their
respective colleges. After the collection of data the scoring was done strictly as per the instructions
given in the manual of the test. The statistical analysis of the data was done by applying mean, S.D-
test and percentage for testing the significance of mean differences among the mentioned groups.
Key Words :Social Intelligence,Academic Achievement,College Students

Introduction
The history of the rise, progress and development of advanced countries shows that they have given
due consideration and importance to higher education and all their progress owes a lot to the
advancement and priority given to higher [Link] countries have given due
consideration and importance to higher education. Higher education plays leadership role in all
aspects of life. Quality products can be produced by providing quality education. Each person has an
individual profile of characteristics and abilities that result from `predispositions, learning and
development. These manifest as individual differences in intelligence, creativity and many more.
The ability to read other people and understand their intentions and motivations is called social
intelligence. People with this intelligence are usually clued into the differences between what others
say and what they really mean. As a result, socially intelligent types may sometimes be accused of
being mind readers. People who successfully use this type of intelligence can be masterful
conversationalists. This can be due to a combination of excellent listening skills and the ability to
meaningfully engage others. Socially intelligent people can usually make others feel comfortable.
They also tend to enjoy interacting with a variety of people.
According to social scientist Ross Honey Will, “Social intelligence is an aggregated
measure of self and social awareness, evolved social beliefs and attitudes and a capacity and appetite
to manage complex social change.” It can be described as a combination of abilities: Basic
understanding of people (i.e. a kind of strategic awareness) and the skills needed for interacting

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 Dr. Nawaz Ahmad Mir

successfully with them, in other words, the ability to get along with others and to encourage them to
co-operate with others. Social intelligence is defined as the ability to understand others and act
wisely in human relations by Thorndike. It is the human capacity to understand what is happening in
the world and responding to that understanding in a personally and socially effective manner. Social
intelligence is a mental ability distinct from abstract and mechanical intelligence (Thorndike, 1927).
Ford and Tisak (1983) defined social intelligence in terms of behavioural outcomes and were
successful in supporting a distinct domain of social intelligence. They defined it as, “one`s ability to
accomplish relevant objectives in specific social settings. Success in academic performance of the
students depends on their intelligence and is positively related to social intelligence (Panigrahi,
2005). Singh (2007) found no significant difference in social intelligence between low creative and
high creative adolescents and between high creative boys and high creative girls. Chesnokova (2005)
observed that the development of social intelligence with ages goes through stages. Sub and Weis
(2007) showed that social understanding and social knowledge were separate constructs of social
intelligence. Gakhar and Bains (2009) found that arts students are more socially intelligent than
science students. Sembiyan, R, et al (2011) found that there is no significant relationship between
attitude towards regionalism and social intelligence of the college students. The problem of
understanding the behaviour of people in face to face contacts of empathy of person perception and
of social sensitivity and problems of influencing or managing the behaviour of others have been
recognized for a long time, but little systematic work has been done on understanding of those
phenomena. E.L Thorndike (1920) had pointed out that there is an aspect of personality that can be
called social intelligence, distinct from concrete and abstract intelligence. Guilford (1958) suggested
that social intelligence could be accounted for as a fourth category of information. It carries the
implication that there are 30 abilities involved in social intelligence as specified by structure of
intellect (SI) theory, six abilities for dealing with different products of information within each of the
five categories. Social intelligence has become a major topic of interest since the publications began
appearing in the twentieth century with the work of Edward Thorndike (1920). “Social intelligence
shows itself abundantly in the nursery, on the playground, in barracks, factories and salesroom but it
eludes the formal standardized conditions of the testing laboratory.” Social intelligence has become
ripe for rethinking as neuroscience begins to map the brain areas that regulate interpersonal
dynamics. Conventional ideas of social intelligence have two often focussed on high road talents like
social knowledge or the capacity for extracting the rules, protocols and norms that guide appropriate
behaviour in a given social setting. Many of these early studies focussed on describing, defining and
assessing socially competent behaviour (Chapin, 1942; Doll, 1935; Moss et al, 1927). Scholars began
to shift their attention from describing and assessing social intelligence to understanding the purpose
of interpersonal behaviour and the role it plays in effective adaptability (Zirkel, 2000). Intelligence is
a term describing one or more capacities of the mind. In a different context this can be defined in
different ways including the capacities for abstract thought, understanding, communication,
reasoning, learning, planning, emotional intelligence and problem solving. Anju Sharma (1989)
found that intelligence; academic achievement and adult dependence had a negative association.
Research on concept of social intelligence began when Thorndike (1920) put forth the idea that
intelligence could be separated into three facets. These facets included social, mechanical and
abstract intelligences. The defining factor separating these facets is the type of subjects or stimuli,
individuals must interact with. Mechanical intelligence refers to an individual`s ability to interact
competently with machines and other physical things. Abstract intelligence concerns an individual`s
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 Social Intelligence and Academic Achievement of College Students -A Study of District Kulgam

performance using ideas and other non-tangible objects. Social intelligence pertains to individual`s
interaction with people in an intelligent manner. Thorndike`s theory states that a socially intelligent
person will be able to understand others and that he or she will be able to use this information to act
wisely in human relations. Each person has an individual profile of characteristics and abilities that
result from predispositions, learning and development. Social intelligence refers to the ability to read
other people and understand their intentions and motivations. People with this intelligence are
usually clued into differences between what others say and what they really mean. As a result,
socially intelligent types may sometimes be accused of being mind readers .People who successfully
use this type of intelligence can be masterful conversationalists. This can be due to excellent
listening and the ability to meaningfully engage others. People who are socially intelligent can
usually make others around them feel comfortable and included. They also tend to enjoy interacting
with a variety of people.
Without harnessing the talents of its citizens, a modern society cannot achieve its aim of
economic growth and technical development. Education helps children to develop skills appropriate
to the age in which they live and those skills which promote a life time learning. An important place
in education is occupied by academic achievement in learning process. In this highly competitive
world, academic achievement has become an index of child`s future. It is also a major goal, which
every individual is expected to perform in all cultures. One of the most important outcomes of any
educational set up is achievement of the students.

Objectives
The following objectives have been formulated for the present study:
1. To study social intelligence and academic achievement of college students.
2. To compare male and female college students on various dimensions of social intelligence.
3. To compare male and female college students on academic achievement.

Hypotheses
The following hypotheses have been formulated for the present study:
1. Male and Female college students differ significantly on various dimensions of social intelligence.
2. Male and Female college students differ significantly on academic achievement.

Methodology and Procedure

Sample
The sample for the present study consisted of 300 college students. The study was conducted on 300
college students which were further divided into male-female dichotomy. Thecollege students were
in the age-group of 19-21 years and the sample has been taken on the basis of simple random
sampling technique. The breakup of the sample is given as follows:

Tools used
The following tools were employed for the purpose of collecting data from the selected sub
1. Chadda and Ganesan Social intelligence scale (SIS):
2. Chadda and Ganesan social intelligence (2009) was used to assess the social intelligence of
physically challenged and normal secondary school students which includes eight dimensions-

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Patience, cooperativeness, confidence level, sensitivity, recognition of social environment,

tactfulness, sense of humour and memory.
Academic Achievement:The academic achievement has been measured in terms of aggregate
percentage secured by the college students in their previous examinations.

Statistical Treatment:The data was analyzed by applying various statistical methods including mean,
S.D,T –test, Percentage.

Major findings of Results: The data on social intelligence has been analyzed by applying t-test to
test the hypothesis. The results of the study revealed that male –female college students have same
social intelligence. It has been found that female college students were patient under stressful
situations and were more cooperative and therefore interact with one another more effectively. They
have been found to be sensitive as well as responsive to human behavior and are recognized to social
environment. Good sense of humor has been found has been found in female college students as
compared to their counterparts. They have been found tactful in putting their views forward in the
right and apt way. It has also been found that male college students have strong memory especially in
memorizing the relevant issues, names and faces of people as compared to female college students.

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