Emotional Intelligence

What is Emotional Intelligence?

Developed by John D. Mayer and Peter Salovey in the 1980s, Emotional Intelligence, or EQ, is analogous to general intelligence, or IQ. It is in theory a measurement of a person’s ability to understand and regulate emotions. Unlike IQ, however, it is generally thought that EQ can be improved through learning, whether passively from the modeling of those around us, or actively by practising certain awareness techniques.

Daniel Goleman, who later refined the concept of Emotional Intelligence created a framework, with five key elements:

• Self-awareness

  - The ability to understand oneself, strengths and weaknesses, and how your emotions affect those around you.

• Self-regulation

  - Determines your ability to stay in control of your emotions. Those adept at self-regulation take time to process emotions before acting, or reacting, allowing for a calmer take.

• Motivation

  - Most people are familiar with. It involves working consistently and optimistically towards your goals and having high standards for your own work. Desire to truly succeed.

• Empathy

  - The ability to put yourself in another person’s situation and understand their feelings or emotions. This can happen without verbal communication. Empathetic people often read body language and facial expressions to understand emotions in others without words.

• Social skills

  - Involve anything related to communicating and relating to others. Those with fine tuned social skills are good at building rapport with those around them and this facilitates open communication.

In terms of how EQ and personality types overlap, it is generally accepted that certain personalities have natural tendencies to be varying levels of emotionally intelligent. In broad terms, those who find themselves to be extroverted generally possess strong social skills and have high motivation. On the other hand, introverts may struggle a little more with those aspects, but be naturally empathetic and self-aware. For more information see: Emotional Intelligence and the Myers Briggs Type Indicator

I think in terms of my personality, I perform extremely well when it comes to empathy and have a good grasp of self-regulation and self-awareness. I often fall flat when it comes to social skills or motivation, though. However, knowing this allows me to put a focus on developing social skills and motivation further, and that is comforting.

How is it different from IQ?

EQ and IQ are both tools used to measure human intelligence, but they measure different things. While emotional intelligence involves the traits mentioned above, general intelligence involves things like using logic to solve problems, plan, learn, understand abstract concepts and use language.

Another difference is in the way EQ and IQ are measured:

IQ tests measure Crystallized Intelligence - the ability to use language and Fluid Intelligence - recognising patterns and solving problems.

EQ tests on the other hand often measure Ability Intelligence - using social ability to solve problems and Trait Intelligence - recognising your own behaviours.

There is debate whether EQ tests can be truly objective measures of emotional intelligence, because often the traits involved don’t always map nicely to the format of a controlled test.

Why is it important?

While IQ tests are often linked to things such as academic performance and higher salaries, it is worth bearing in mind that simply being generally intelligent does not guarantee success in those areas, or in general - life.

Understanding further aspects of human intelligence that might determine our performance in not just careers, but relationships and mental health are ever more necessary in today’s world. As a result, emotional intelligence should not be overlooked.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that EQ wins over IQ. The best bet for a well-rounded approach to life probably involves a willingness to develop all aspects of intelligence that one has control over. If we all worked on these to the best of our abilities perhaps society itself would evolve in equal measure.