EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG FEMALE BASEBALL PLAYERS : A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBE

Purpose: The present study was conducted to determine the emotional intelligence among Indian female baseball players. Material: For the purpose of present study, two hundred (N=200) senior national female baseball players were selected through purposive sampling technique from different regions of India. They were selected from four different regions: A (North region baseball players=50), B (East region baseball players=50), C (West region baseball players=50) and D (South region baseball players=50). To collect the required data for the present study, the questionnaire developed by Hyde et al. (2001) on emotional intelligence was administered. One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to compare the entire regions. Where ‘F’ values were found significant, LSD (Least Significant Difference) Post-hoc test was applied to find out the direction and degree of difference. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: Significant differences were observed among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players on the sub-parameters; empathy, self-development, value orientation and on the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total). No significant differences were noticed on the sub-parameters; self-awareness, self-motivation, emotional stability, managing relations, integrity, commitment and altruistic behaviour. Conclusion: The outcome of results might be due to the fact that East region female baseball players are able to pay attention to the worries and concerns of others, can listen to someone without the urge to say something, can stay focused under pressure, are able to handle multiple demands and able to identify and separate their emotions.


Introduction 1
Emotional intelligence was established as a popular area of research during the 1990s and since then has emerged as an important construct (Meyer & Zizzi, 2007;Petrides et al., 2004).Emotional intelligence is defined as "the ability to perceive, monitor, employ and manage emotions within oneself and in others" (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).Although, the popularity of emotional intelligence begun when Goleman (1995) emphasized the construct being more useful than intelligence quotient (IQ) in the workplace (Mayer et al., 2008).Zizzi et al. (2003) explored relationships between emotional intelligence and baseball performance and found that the emotional intelligence was an important predictor of success for pitchers, though comparatively it was not as strong for batters.They suggested that emotional intelligence for pitchers was higher because they have more time to think of their own emotions and engage in regulatory processes.
Emotional intelligence is a concept that helps out to know how to separate healthy from unhealthy feelings and how to transform negative feelings into positive ones.Goleman (1999) explored the means for managing feelings so that they are expressed appropriately and effectively, enabling people to work together smoothly towards their common goals.According to him, emotional intelligence has proved to be an effective measure of human capabilities and programmes of emotional intelligence have shown to enhance an individual's productivity in different fields of human activities.Spinoza (1677) revealed that both the emotion and intellect together contribute to the ultimate cognitive tool.He talked about three levels of cognition i.e. emotional cognition, intellectual cognition and a kind of intuition.Emotional intelligence has been accepted by the psychologists as the one which affects human performance.It is one such thing which drives man as a motivational force leading to all his achievements.Therefore, the present days' training is needed to consider this aspect of human psychology for complete preparation of the sportsperson for the competition.For this, the nature in which emotional intelligence affects the sports performance has to be tested with appropriate psychological tools and methods.Baseball was the first sport to successfully employ the league structure (Masteralexis et al., 2009).Baseball, perhaps more than any other sport, combines both individual and team effort.The battle between the pitcher and the batter is an individual one; play in the field is performed by individual players with individual responsibilities yet each man's own effort must be subordinated to that of the team.It is a wonderful game that teaches youngsters how to win their individual battles within a frame work of cooperative enterprise.In baseball the good of the group is always of paramount importance, yet completely dependent upon the individual efforts of each man (Watts, 1964).
Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the emotional intelligence among female baseball players of India.

Method and procedure
Sample: Two hundred (N=200) senior national female baseball players were selected through purposive sampling technique from different regions of India.They were selected from different regions: A (North region baseball players=50), B (East region baseball players=50), C (West region baseball players=50) and D (South region baseball players=50).
Instrument: The Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire developed by Hyde et al. (2001) was administered.
Statistical Analysis: One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was employed to compare the entire regions.Where 'F' values were found significant, LSD (Least Significant Difference) Post-hoc test was applied to find out the direction and degree of difference.The level of significance was set at 0.05.
Ethical Committee: This study was approved by the Joint Research Board (JRB) of Panjab University, Chandigarh (India).(3,196) The results depicted in table 1 revealed insignificant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Self-Awareness among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).704was found higher than 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, there is no need to apply Post-hoc test.The results projected in table 2 described significant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Empathy among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).000was found smaller than 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05).

Results
Since the obtained F-value was found significant, therefore, Least Significant Difference (LSD) Post-hoc test was employed to study the direction and significance of differences between paired means among various regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Empathy.The results of LSD Post-hoc test have been presented in Table 3.The results in table 3 showed insignificant differences between North and East, North and West regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).543,.082respectively were found greater than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Empathy.
The above table showed significant differences between North and South, East and West, East and South, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).000,.019,.000,.019respectively were found lesser than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Empathy.The graphical representation of mean scores of Empathy among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players has been exhibited in Figure 1.It is evident from table 4 that insignificant differences were found with regard to the sub-parameter Self-Motivation among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).263was found higher than 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, there is no need to apply Post-hoc test.The results presented in table 5 showed insignificant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Emotional Stability among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).073was found higher than 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, Post-hoc test has not been applied.

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Table 6 showed insignificant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Managing Relations among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).462was found higher than the 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, there is no need to apply Post-hoc test.It appears from table 7 above that insignificant differences were found with regard to the sub-parameter Integrity among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).484was found higher than the 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, there is no need to apply Post-hoc test.The results in table 8 explored significant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Self-Development among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).003was found smaller than 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05).
the obtained F-value was found significant, therefore, Least Significant Difference (LSD) Post-hoc test was employed to study the direction and significance of differences between paired means among various regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Self-Development.The results of LSD Post-hoc test have been presented in Table 9. ) .008, .001,.004respectively were found lesser than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Self-development.
Insignificant differences were found between North and West, North and South, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).430,.808,.585respectively were found higher than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Self-development.The graphical representation of mean scores of Self-Development among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players has been exhibited in Figure 2.  It is evident from table 10 that significant differences were found with regard to the sub-parameter Value Orientation among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).009was found smaller than 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05).
Since the obtained F-value was found significant, therefore, Least Significant Difference (LSD) Post-hoc test was employed to study the direction and significance of differences between paired means among various regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Value Orientation.The results of LSD Post-hoc test have been presented in Table 11.

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Table 11 demonstrated significant differences between North and South, East and South, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).004,.003,.045respectively were found lesser than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Value Orientation.
Insignificant differences were found between North and East, North and West, East and West regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).890,.367,.299respectively were found higher than 0.05 of significance level on the sub-parameter Value Orientation.The graphical representation of mean scores of Value Orientation among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players has been exhibited in Figure 3.   .05 (3,196) It can be observed from table 12 that insignificant differences were found with regard to the sub-parameter Commitment among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).217was found higher than 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value found insignificant, therefore, there is no need to apply Post-hoc test.The results projected in table 13 revealed insignificant differences with regard to the sub-parameter Altruistic Behaviour among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).166was found higher than 0.05 level of significance (p>0.05).Since F-value was found insignificant, therefore, Post-hoc test has not been applied..05 (3,196) Table 14 showed significant differences with regard to the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total) among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-value (Sig.).030was found smaller than 0.05 level of significance (p<0.05).
Since the obtained F-value was found significant, therefore, Least Significant Difference (LSD) Post-hoc test was employed to study the direction and significance of differences between paired means among various regions female baseball players on the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total).The results of LSD Post-hoc test have been presented in Table 15.The results in table 15 showed insignificant differences between North and East, North and West, East and West, West and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).845,.289,.210,.155respectively were found greater than 0.05 of significance level on the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total).
The above table showed significant differences between North and South, East and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.).014,008, respectively were found lesser than 0.05 of significance level on the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total).The graphical representation of mean scores of parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total) among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players has been exhibited in Figure 4.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Graphical representation of mean scores with regard to North, East, West and South regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Empathy

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Graphical representation of mean scores with regard to North, East, West and South regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Self-Development

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Graphical representation of mean scores with regard to North, East, West and South regions female baseball players on the sub-parameter Value Orientation

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Graphical representation of mean scores with regard to North, East, West and South regions female baseball players on the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total)

Table 3
Significant differences among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-

Table 4
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Self-Motivation

Table 5
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Emotional Stability

Table 6
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Managing Relations

Table 7
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Integrity

Table 8
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Self-Development

Table 9
Significant difference among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-

Table 9
demonstrated significant differences between North and East, East and West, East and South regions female baseball players as the P-values (Sig.

Table 10 Analysis
of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Value Orientation

Table 11
Significant difference among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-

Table 12
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Commitment

Table 13
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the sub-parameter Altruistic Behaviour

Table 14
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the parameter EmotionalIntelligence (Total)

Table 15
Significant difference among North, East, West and South regions female baseball players with regard to the parameter Emotional Intelligence (Total)