Efficacy of Executive Functions Training on the Emotional knowledge and Empathy of the Children with Low Self-Control

The present study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of executive functions training on the emotional knowledge and empathy of the children with low self-control. It was an experimental study with pretest, posttest, control group and two-month follow-up period design. The statistical population of the study included primary school children with low self-control in Tehran in academic year 2021-22. 26 children with low self-control were selected through multi-stage clustered sampling and randomly accommodated into experimental and control groups. The experimental group received eight seventy-five-minute sessions of executive functions training. The applied questionnaires in this study included Children’s Self-control Questionnaire (CSQ) (Kendal and Wilcox, 1979), emotional knowledge Questionnaire (EKQ) (Rieffe et al, 2007) and empathy Questionnaire (ES) (Jolliffe, Farrington, 2006). The data were analyzed through mixed ANOVA and Bonferroni Follow-up test. The results showed that executive functions training has significant effect on the emotional knowledge and empathy of the children with low self-control (p<0.001). According to the findings of the present study it can be concluded that executive functions training can be used as an efficient method to increase emotional knowledge and empathy of the children with low self-control through employing techniques such as increasing attention, concentration and accurace, organizing activities, avoiding response and controlling impulsivity.