Gender reading of perceptual-cognitive wayfinding ability with emphasis on emotional intelligence in the case study of Sajjad neighborhood of Mashhad

Thinking is the basic pillar in the process of perception in the urban environment, considering that the wayfinding behavior in the urban space is influenced by the information received from the environment, so a correct understanding of the information received from the environment makes wayfinding easier. Different people use different strategies for wayfinding in the urban space according to their physiological conditions. Emotion is one of the influential factors in the field of psychology and can be related to factors such as self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship management and wayfinding. Considering that thinking is essential in the perception process, then one of the components of emotional intelligence is also the facilitation of thinking, so the purpose of this research is to present a gender reading of the perceptual-cognitive ability of wayfinding with an emphasis on emotional intelligence. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the wayfinding behavior of women and men with an emphasis on emotional intelligence in Sajjad neighborhood. The research method in the present study is descriptive-analytical, and in this regard, field observations, questionnaires, and site visits were used to collect data. Based on the size of the community in Sajjad neighborhood, using Cochran's formula, the sample size was calculated to be 296 people, and the questionnaire was completed in the form of targeted sampling among overweight men. Data analysis for the effect of emotional intelligence on wayfinding has been done with inferential statistics tests in spss software, and Lone's test and Anova one-way variance test, t test have been analyzed. The results indicate that the wayfinding behavior of women and men is different and there is a direct relationship between emotional intelligence and routing of women and men. Women have higher self-awareness than men when it comes to wayfinding, and they also have more emotional ability and interpersonal sensitivity than men while performing this behavior in the environment. Men have stronger feelings than women in the process of wayfinding and determining the management path in the urban environment, and they have more self-confidence during this process. Men are more optimistic than women in the urban environment. Women use route and sign knowledge in wayfinding. Men use route knowledge.