What’s Your Emotional Intelligence?

Have you run across someone recently who is not familiar with the term “Emotional Intelligence,” sometimes referred to as EQ? It’s a term heard more frequently in business environments. Yet, do you know your EQ score?

If you are the curious type, there are many ways – online and off – to take personality tests and IQ tests. Businesses frequently engage in employee engagement surveys, and who hasn’t enjoyed the weekly flavor of “what literary character are you?” quiz now and then? Yet, despite its growing relevance in management training and evaluation, emotional intelligence tests do not seem to have a strong following.

This may be because “emotional intelligence” is a relatively new concept that is still being defined and understood. In addition, there are differing opinions on what factors should be measured to indicate an objective score.

If you do decide to take an emotional intelligence test, it will likely include questions that evaluate the following four areas – or branches – of emotional intelligence:

• Your ability to perceive emotions in yourself and in others.
• Your ability to communicate emotion and express them effectively.
• Your understanding of emotions, how they combine, and how they typically transition from one into another.
• Your ability to manage your emotions as well as manage emotions of others you are working closely with.

Within those areas, you might be asked to evaluate yourself in response to questions such as:

• “I have a good sense of why I feel certain emotions most of the time.”
• “I am sensitive to others’ emotions and feelings.”
• “I am self-motivated.”
• “I can control my temper and rationally handle difficulties.”[1]

As with all personal testing, what you do with the information is perhaps more important than the test itself. While an emotional intelligence test score won’t indicate solutions to all your workplace issues or give you ammunition with your boss for a promotion, a qualified EQ evaluation can help you work on areas where you are weak, and help you identify tasks that you would more naturally enjoy.

Here is a short list of resources for learning more about emotional intelligence testing options available.

• Consortium For Research On Emotional Intelligence In Organizations, Emotional Intelligence Measures – A list of links to information about the many different Tests and Scales available for assessing Emotional Intelligence.
• About the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test – Official page with information about how to order the test that the foremost researchers on EQ developed to study it.

Do It Yourself Online tests

The following are more “fun” than psychologically accurate, but they can offer you some direction in how to improve your intrapersonal skills and overall EQ.

• Emotional Intelligence Test – Offered by GoodTherapy.org, this comprehensive online test offers you a free “score” of your EQ results and the option to purchase a complete report.
• Personality-Based emotional Intelligence Test – This interactive test assess EQ with an experimental format that uses scenarios to challenge emotional perception.
• Body Language Quiz – This fun quiz uses photos to test and explain facial expressions and how they indicate common emotions.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201302/unlock-your-emotional-genius