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Asian Journal of Healthy and Science

p-ISSN: 2980-4302

e-ISSN: 2980-4310

Vol. 4 No. 1 January, 2025

The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Empathy of Mountain

Climbing Students

Muhammad Fahmi Firmanda

Universitas Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo, Indonesia

Emails: fahmifirmanda2001@gmail.com

Abstract

Mountaineering is a physically and emotionally challenging activity that requires skill,

strength and endurance. One of the positive values that can be obtained from this activity is

the emergence of empathy. This research aims to analyze the relationship between

emotional intelligence and empathy in mountaineering students. The research method used

is a quantitative approach with data analysis using product moment correlation techniques.

The research subjects were students who are members of a nature lover organization,

selected through incidental sampling technique. The results showed a significant positive

relationship between emotional intelligence and empathy, with a correlation value of 0.763.

Emotional intelligence contributes 58.1% to empathy, while 41.9% is influenced by other

factors such as parenting, social environment, and personality. This research implies that

emotional intelligence plays an important role in enhancing empathy, which is necessary to

support teamwork and safety in climbing activities. The findings provide insights for the

development of emotional intelligence training programs to improve climbers' social and

emotional abilities.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Climbing.

INTRODUCTION

Mountain climbing is an interesting activity that can refresh the mind and may even

become a hobby for many people and can be an achievement that can be proud of (Prasetya

& Murti, 2015). Mountaineering activities today are no longer a rare activity, meaning that it

is not only carried out by individuals who say they are nature lovers, nature explorers and so

on, but many people or people in the general public have done it (Putra et al., 2020).

Mountaineering is a challenging activity, but sometimes it is also an activity that is very

extreme for individuals (Sandi, 2022). Someone will get a sense of satisfaction if they are able

to reach the top of the mountain and can see the beautiful crater of the mountain from a very

close distance. In mountaineering activities, there are many things that must be known in the

form of rules during climbing, preparation, climbing equipment, and good ways to carry out

climbing activities and others (Faiz, 2020).

Preparations that must be prepared before climbing must be really mature, especially

information about the destination mountain, both weather information, mountain altitude,

vegetation types, climbing routes, springs and so on. In addition to these preparations,

climbers must also know the condition of their respective bodies, whether they have diseases

that can recur at any time when they are on the mountain. Mountain climbing requires a lot

of preparation involving physical preparation, logistics, itinerary organization and emotional

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management. This is important because when climbing a mountain you are required to bring

equipment that is able to ensure safety so that when traveling it can be carried out as planned

(Nugraha et al., 2020).

A mountaineer is required to have a sense of empathy in order to be able to understand

what other people feel and think in certain situations (Nurlitasari & Rohmatun, 2020).

Empathy is the ability to understand and feel the feelings and experiences of others

(Indriasari, 2016). As a mountaineer, empathy can be an important quality in interacting with

fellow climbers, team members, or even people you may meet during your hike. When a

mountaineer who has a sense of empathy must understand the mental and emotional state

of others while doing activities in nature.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and use

emotions effectively in interacting with oneself and others (Hm, 2016). When a mountaineer,

emotional intelligence becomes an important quality to deal with various situations and

challenges that may arise during the climb. These emotions are then managed and used to

motivate oneself and provide benefits in relationships with others so that individuals will be

able to build productive relationships and achieve optimal success even when the individual

is facing problems (Ren et al., 2025).

One of the positive values that can be obtained from mountain climbing is the

emergence of a sense of empathy among climbers. The brotherly relationship that is

established, without distinguishing, religion, race and between groups is the most important

part of doing activities in the wild. This can lead to a high sense of empathy among mountain

climbers (Wati, 2021). Therefore, it is very necessary for climbers to be emotionally mature

and have a sense of empathy because it will greatly affect the mind and physique of

individuals, if climbers are not emotionally mature and do not have a sense of empathy, it will

have fatal consequences. Emotions owned by climbers include awareness to emotional repair

carried out when climbing mountains. Where climbers will be faced with various obstacles in

climbing (Sifa & Astuti, 2023).

Empathy is the urge to help others without considering one's own interests (Juan &

O'Connell, 2024).. Empathy emphasizes the welfare of others. Individuals who have a high

sense of empathy for others, will make them have the desire to always help others. Empathy

is formed from self-awareness. The more open an individual is to his or her own emotions,

the more skillful that individual will be in reading feelings. Empathy is basically

understanding other people's hearts, mindsets, and feelings including other people's

backgrounds, feelings, and motives (Gustini, 2017). The greater the empathy for others, the

greater the individual can appreciate and respect others.

Empathy is considered a very effective way to recognize, understand and evaluate

others. Through empathy, individuals will be able to feel and know what other people's

needs, aspirations of other people, complaints felt, happiness, heartache and disappointment

felt by others. Individuals with empathy can establish and have good social relationships with

society and their environment (Gustini, 2017).

The skill of empathy will be the key to success in getting along and socializing in society.

Individuals can be accepted by others in relationships if the individual is able to understand

the conditions and feelings of others and is able to provide treatment that is appropriate and

in accordance with what the person expects (Wati, 2021). Individuals need to hone their

empathy skills so that they are able to adjust to their environment. Empathy serves to

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accelerate relationships with others so as to avoid misunderstandings, arguments and

disagreements between individuals. Empathy also functions in self-adjustment because there

is an awareness that everyone's point of view is different so that they are more flexible,

optimistic and have emotional intelligence. Empathy is an important part of individual

development that is useful for keeping individuals from behavior that can harm others as well

as finding ways to adjust to the social environment (Indriasari, 2016).

Many people do not understand the benefits or positives of mountain climbing. The

challenges faced during mountain climbing are a test for a climber. How can one overcome

these problems by using existing abilities and being able to blend in with nature. If one

manages to face it all, then one will easily overcome fear, anxiety and achieve victory to fight

the ego that exists within because mountain climbing also requires team work.

The problem of the ability to empathize is shown by female mountain climbers.

Mountaineering activities can instill positive character for the perpetrators. This activity can

foster intertwined brotherhood relationships, among climbers without distinguishing race,

religion and intergroup. This is because when climbing, there are no servants to serve and

one cannot rely on others other than ourselves who do it. Conditions that are far from the

crowd, there are no helpers other than yourself and fellow climbers. The intimacy that exists

between fellow hikers can create a sense of empathy among the hikers themselves.

(Sutanti, 2015) suggests that empathy consists of three aspects, namely:

a. The cognitive component, which is a component that gives rise to an understanding of the

feelings of others. Empathetic individuals will have skills related to social communication

issues, social perspectives and also sensitivity in understanding the socio-emotional state

of others. A person without adequate cognitive abilities will be wrong in understanding

the situation of others (incongruence), because the social phenomena captured do not

match the existing social reality.

b. The affective component refers to the skill of balancing emotional experiences with others.

The affective component in this aspect of empathy consists of sympathy, sensitivity and

willingness to share the suffering that is being experienced by others, for example feeling

close to the difficulties experienced by others who are imagined as if experienced by

themselves. To be able to experience empathy, an affective component is needed, namely

a skill to be able to experience emotions with an adequate level of emotional reactivity.

c. Communicative component, an expression of empathic thoughts (intellectual empathy)

and empathic emotions to others that can be manifested in the form of words and actions.

The communicative component is a bridge or as a means of implementing the expression

of the cognitive and affective components.

An explanation of the aspects of empathy, namely:

a. The cognitive aspect is more focused on the cognitive process of being able to understand

other people's perspectives appropriately, so that the hope is that someone is able to

distinguish emotions from other people appropriately, and can accept other people's

perspectives. Cognitive aspects consist of:

1) Perspective tacking is a tendency for individuals to spontaneously take over another

person's point of view. Perspective tacking ability is very important to be applied to

non-egocentric behavior, which is behavior that is oriented not to self-interest, but is a

behavior that is more oriented to the interests of others.

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2) Fantasy (imagination), which is an individual's tendency to transform himself into the

feelings and behavior of imaginary characters obtained from fairy tale books, television,

cinema, or games.

b. The affective aspect is the tendency of a person to experience the emotional feelings of

others. The affective aspect consists of:

1) Empathic concern, which is an orientation from a person to others in the form of

sympathy, compassion, and concern for others who are experiencing difficulties.

Empathic concern is positively related to emotional reactions and actions to provide

help to others.

2) Personal distress, which is a person's orientation towards themselves in the form of

anxiety and restlessness in interpersonal situations.

The sense of empathy is influenced by several factors, the factors that influence

empathy are: socialization, mood and feeling, situation and place, learning process and

identification, communication, language, and parenting. in his research revealed that some of

the process of developing one's empathy according to several experts is influenced by several

factors, namely parenting, gender, personality, situation variations, age, degree of maturity,

experience and response objects, and socialization.

Emotional intelligence is strongly influenced by the environment, it is not sedentary, it

can change at any time. For this reason, the role of the environment, especially parents in

childhood, is very influential in the formation of emotional intelligence. Choosing

interpersonal intelligence and intrapersonal intelligence to serve as the basis for revealing

emotional intelligence in individuals. According to him, emotional intelligence is a person's

ability to recognize one's own emotions, manage emotions, motivate oneself, recognize other

people's emotions (empathy) and the ability to build relationships (cooperation) with others

(Hm, 2016). Emotional intelligence is the ability to feel, understand and effectively apply

emotional power and sensitivity as a source of energy, information, correction and

humanizing influence (Hm, 2016). Emotional intelligence requires discernment of feelings to

learn to recognize, appreciate feelings in oneself and others and respond appropriately, apply

effectively emotional energy in everyday life.

Goleman defines that emotional intelligence is a person's ability which consists of

various abilities to be able to motivate oneself, endure frustration, control impulsive needs

or impulses, not exaggerate pleasure or distress, be able to regulate reactive needs, keep

stress free, not paralyzing the ability to think and the ability to empathize with others, and

the principle of trying while praying. Goleman also added that emotional intelligence is the

other side of cognitive intelligence that plays a role in human activities which includes self-

awareness and impulse control, perseverance, enthusiasm and self-motivation as well as

empathy and social skills (Hm, 2016). Emotional intelligence is more aimed at efforts to

recognize, understand and realize emotions in the right portion and efforts to manage

emotions so that they are under control and can be used to solve life problems, especially

those related to human relations.

In mountain climbing activities, mountaineers are required to be ready in every way.

Psychological aspects are very influential in rafting activities and also other outdoor

activities, both in the formation of emotional maturity, self-concept, group dynamics or the

decision-making process. Therefore it is very necessary for climbers to be emotionally

mature and have a sense of empathy because it will greatly affect the mind and physique of

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the individual, if climbers are not emotionally mature and do not have a sense of empathy, it

will have fatal consequences.

(Fatchurrahmi & Urbayatun, 2022) describes emotional intelligence in 5 main ability

aspects, namely:

a. Recognizing Self-Emotions

Recognizing one's own emotions is the ability to recognize feelings as they occur. This

ability is the basis of emotional intelligence, psychologists refer to self-awareness as

metamood, which is a person's awareness of their own emotions.

b. Managing Emotions

Managing emotions is an individual's ability to handle feelings so that they can be

expressed appropriately or in harmony, so that balance is achieved within the individual.

c. Motivate Yourself

Achievement must be accomplished by having motivation within the individual, which

means having the perseverance to resist gratification and control impulses, and having

positive motivational feelings, namely enthusiasm, passion, optimism and self-confidence.

d. Recognizing the Emotions of Others

The ability to recognize the emotions of others is also called empathy. According to

(Widiatmoko, 2017) a person's ability to recognize others or care, shows a person's

empathy ability.

e. Fostering Relationships

The ability to build relationships is a skill that supports popularity, leadership and

interpersonal success (Sarnoto, 2014).

Mountaineering is not just a physical activity; it is a unique combination of physical,

emotional, and social challenges that test one's resilience and adaptability. The increasing

popularity of mountaineering among various groups highlights the need for deeper insights

into the psychological and emotional aspects that contribute to a successful climbing

experience. Despite the benefits, a lack of emotional intelligence and empathy in climbers can

lead to conflicts, misunderstandings, and even safety risks during expeditions. Understanding

how emotional intelligence and empathy intersect in mountaineering is essential to

encourage teamwork, increase safety, and improve the overall experience. This research is

particularly important as it aims to address a significant gap in the literature, emphasizing

the role of emotional maturity and empathy in fostering cooperation and achieving common

goals in extreme environments. By exploring this topic, this research has the benefit of

contributing to the development of strategies that can prepare climbers for the psychological

and social demands of the activity.

RESEARCH METHOD

This research is a quantitative research. The data collection method in this research

uses 2 scales, namely the empathy scale which is compiled based on the empathy aspects of

the empathy scale. (Sutanti, 2015) namely cognitive, affective and communicative aspects,

and an emotional intelligence scale that is arranged based on aspects of emotional

intelligence from (Fatchurrahmi & Urbayatun, 2022), which provides awareness of one's

own feelings and also the feelings of others. The subjects of this research were students who

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participated in the nature lovers organization. The sampling technique used incidental

sampling.

Accidental sampling is a data collection technique by determining the sample based on

chance, which means that when doing anyone can be used as a sample, if it is deemed that the

person who happens to be met is suitable as the source of the data needed (Suriani & Jailani,

2023).

The data analysis method uses the product moment correlation technique. This

technique is used to find the relationship between two variables, namely the independent

variable and the dependent variable. The relationship is that the higher the independent

variable, the lower the dependent variable, and vice versa, the lower the independent

variable, the higher the dependent variable. Data analysis was carried out with the SPSS

program.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Data analysis methods with product moment correlation techniques using the SPSS

program can be seen in Table 1. with a value of α = 0.05 and r table = 0.4329.

Table 1. Product Moment Correlation Output

Correlations

Sense of Empathy

Emotional Intelligence

Sense of Empathy

Pearson Correlation

.763*

Sig. (2-tailed)

<,001

Emotional Intelligence

Pearson Correlation

,763

Sig. (2-tailed)

<,001

**. Correlatin is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Based on the results of data processing, it shows that the rcount value is 0.763 and the

significance value between empathy and emotional intelligence is equal to 0.001. The results

of data processing also show that between empathy and emotional intelligence of mountain

climbing students show a positive relationship because the r value shows a positive number

with a high correlation coefficient interpretation.

The results of the linear regression technique analysis can be seen in Table 2. With the

dependent variable being empathy and the independent variable being emotional

intelligence.

Table 2. Results of linear regression technique analysis

Model

R Square

Adjusted R Square

Std. Error of the Estimate

763

581

,559

295

a. Predictors: (Constant), Emotional Intelligence

b. Dependent Variable: Sense of Empathy

Based on regression processing using SPSS, it can be seen that emotional intelligence

has an influence of 58.1% while 41.9% is influenced by other variables.

The positive relationship between empathy and emotional intelligence of mountain

climbers at Muhammadiyah Sidoarjo University is seen from the correlation value of rxy = +

0.763. Based on the analysis, it is known that rcount> rtable and sig. <0.05, it can be

concluded that there is a significant correlation. The rxy or rcount value is equal to 0.763>

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0.4329 and sig. 0.001 <0.05, it can be concluded that the sense of empathy and emotional

intelligence of mountain climbers at Muhammadiyah University of Sidoarjo have a significant

correlation. Emotional intelligence also contributes 58.1% to the sense of empathy while

41.9% is influenced by parenting, gender, age, education, personality, and also the social

environment.

The results of the data processing above show that the hypothesis of this research is

accepted, namely emotional intelligence gives an influence on a person's sense of empathy.

(Masela, 2019) also explains that the emergence of behavior in this case a sense of empathy

is the impact of the basis of adolescent development in the form of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage emotions effectively and it can be interpreted

that individuals who have high emotional intelligence have more stable emotions in this case

knowing where to place empathy when climbing a mountain.

The results of a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and empathy of

mountain climbers indicate that the higher the emotional intelligence, the higher the level of

empathy of the individual. This is because high emotional intelligence can make the

individual better understand his own emotional feelings so that it is easier to express

empathy to others.

According to Myers in (Tartila & Aulia, 2021) empathy is the urge to help others

without considering personal interests. Empathy focuses on the welfare of others. Someone

who has a high level of empathy tends to have a desire to provide assistance to others.

Empathy focuses on the well-being of others. The higher the empathy, the higher the desire

to help others.

One way to increase empathy is by doing mountain climbing activities. Handayani said

that activities carried out in the wild are able to increase a sense of love for the homeland,

establish a bond of brotherhood so that it will encourage a high sense of sympathy and

empathy among fellow climbers (Handayani, 2010). Based on the results of SPSS analysis,

empathy is influenced by 58.1% of a person's emotional intelligence and the rest is another

factor. Other factors according to (Dewi, 2024) which affect empathy are parenting,

personality, type of kelain, the situation at hand, age, and the degree of socialization maturity.

Emotional maturity as a state of an individual who does not easily feel himself disturbed

when getting emotional stimuli, both from within himself, and those from outside, individuals

who have good emotional maturity, are able to act appropriately and reasonably in

accordance with existing conditions, and still prioritize their duties and responsibilities. Thus

adolescents who have good emotional maturity, are able to provide empathy to others in

accordance with what is the hope of people who need it.

Based on the results of the above research, it can be concluded that the emotional

intelligence possessed by mountain climbers will affect the sense of empathy. Emotionally

mature mountaineering students can distinguish what behaviors should be done and what

behaviors should be avoided. One of them is fostering a sense of empathy for others.

CONCLUSION

The research concludes that there is a strong positive and significant relationship

between emotional intelligence and empathy among mountain climbers at Muhammadiyah

University of Sidoarjo, with a correlation value of 0.763. Emotional intelligence contributes

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58.1% to empathy, indicating its pivotal role in enhancing empathic abilities. Climbers with

high emotional intelligence are better at understanding, regulating, and expressing empathy,

essential for fostering teamwork and ensuring safety in mountaineering. Additionally, factors

such as parenting and environmental influences also play a role, highlighting the

multidimensional nature of empathy development.

Future research could explore demographic factors like age, gender, and cultural

background in shaping the emotional intelligence-empathy relationship among climbers.

Further studies might also examine the impact of emotional intelligence training programs

on improving team dynamics, investigate the role of mentorship and peer interactions, and

conduct longitudinal research to observe how emotional intelligence and empathy evolve

with mountaineering experience. These efforts can deepen understanding and contribute to

safer and more cohesive climbing experiences.

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