Academic Pressure and Brain Power: The Correlation among Emotional Intelligence, Stress and Cognitive Load

Understanding cognitive load and emotional intelligence in the teaching-learning process is important because they are interrelated in shaping effective and meaningful learning experiences for students. This research aims to determine the correlation between emotional intelligence and academic stress levels on students' cognitive load in biology subjects at SMA Negeri 4 Tasikmalaya, Indonesia. The research was carried out under correlational method. The collected data were analyzed through bivariate and multivariate correlations. The results show a significant correlation between emotional intelligence and academic stress levels on students' cognitive load with a correlation coefficient (r = 0.957), indicating a strong relationship. In addition, the coefficient of determination (R2=0.916) indicates that 91.6% of the variance in cognitive load can be explained by the combined influence of emotional intelligence and academic stress levels. The remaining 8.4% of the variance is attributable to other factors not examined in this study. In conclusion, this research finds a correlation between emotional intelligence and academic stress levels on students' cognitive load in biology.