Emotional Intelligence Test

TYPES OF QUOTIENT INTELLIGENCE

For a balanced life, one requires the following;

• Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
• Social Quotient (SQ)
• Emotional Quotient (EQ) 
• Adversity Quotient (AQ)

Intelligence Quotient (IQ): 

Knowledge is acquiring skills and information through education, experiences and training. These skills acquired make an individual rational and logical, thus able to identify how an incident came to be.

Intelligence quotient is therefore, the measure of one’s ability to apply the knowledge acquired through a test administered that measures their cognitive ability skills.

Intelligence helps individuals do the right thing with the guidance of their knowledge and experiences. The higher the IQ levels, the higher the chances of success of an individual.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ): 

Being able to perceive as well as understand our emotions and those of other people, emotional intelligence helps one build stronger relationships, achieve one’s career goals and even help reduce stress levels and enhance job productivity.

One is also able to connect with their inner feelings, allowing them to make informed decisions that are able to not only meet their needs but also those of the people around them. 

Emotional intelligence increases self-awareness. An individual is able to easily connect what they are feeling and determine how they act. Self-aware individuals also have a high sense of confidence in themselves and their capabilities.

Social Intelligence (SQ): 

Social intelligence refers to the ability of individuals to be aware of themselves and their interactions with other people. Social interactions include mentorship programs. These individuals are highly in tune with their communication and listening skills. They strive to make good impressions with other people and avoid situations that can lead to arguments and misunderstandings. This intelligence helps people become more mindful of those around them, which leads to building networks of friends over long periods of time. They are therefore socially aware of their words and actions and body language when they are communicating with other people. They are aware of their roles in such interactions and accept that they may not align with everyone and that’s fine with them. They are therefore able to self-manage (regulate their behaviors and emotions) accordingly to accommodate the feelings of those around them.

Adversity Intelligence (AQ):

This intelligence refers to the ability to emotionally handle challenging and unpleasant life situations. It helps people go through tough times in life and recover their sense of stability amidst their struggles. To develop this type of intelligence, one is advised to identify their strengths and focus on what they can control. This way one is aware of themselves and what works best for them. In the cases where there are setbacks and challenges, then one is advised to look for alternatives that still conform to their beliefs, without having to lose their true selves.

This intelligence helps build positive resilience to withstand life challenges without considering other harmful alternatives such as self-harm or suicide.

More Details

When these four intelligences are not balanced, an individual is likely to encounter challenges such as; dealing with basic knowledge, difficulty in interacting with people or being overly emotional due to increased sensitivity, therefore, easily breaking down during hard times. 

When one develops their IQ but neglects the other types of intelligences, they are likely to experience an imbalance in their lives, since they are only equipped with knowledge but not sufficient enough for them to handle the complexities of life. Therefore, when faced with challenges such as heart breaks, work related stress/ pressures, loss of a loved one, pregnancy or sick parents, they find it difficult to handle such in a healthy manner.

Let’s talk about our childhood upbringing. 

Our parents were brought up during a time where few people were educated. This meant that they treasured education because of the very good jobs that the educated people had. These included being a doctor, teacher, engineer etc. They ensured their children got education regardless of their financial situations, telling them to go to school, work hard, and get a good job with a guarantee of being happy in the future. So we, as children, hoped for happiness from good jobs with more money.

Throughout the education system, knowledge intelligence was greatly nurtured and improved whereas; other intelligences were not given as much emphasis. This created great scholars, people who were more enlightened and new courses were developed. It also brought about great exposure as people traveled to more developed countries to further their studies.

People with low emotional intelligence, have poor management of their thoughts and feelings. They are easily triggered by minor issues which take up most of their energy and focus, easily pick fights with others, and are unable to control their impulses and reactions. They are thus easily avoided by those close to them due their emotional instability. These people rarely acknowledge when they are at fault and may even blame others for their reactions. Such persons also avoid being vulnerable in front of people as they learnt from childhood to keep to themselves and avoid speaking up when facing challenges , so they end up suffering in silence. They grow up believing that crying is a sign of weakness and may also become aggressive upon rejection.

When emotional Intelligence is well nurtured, the person connects with their emotional side as a whole. They are able to identify areas of their lives that need to be improved on and therefore, seek the necessary assistance from the appropriate people and resources. 

The nurturing of social intelligence however, starts by social interactions that people build when they are growing up with adjustments as one progresses in life.

Today such forums are minimal or don’t exist at all. This has resulted in people developing a new culture of socializing such as, the use of social media, where people communicate through the use of text messages and phone calls. With the advancement of the internet, others get to see each other through virtual means such as using skype and other forms of video call, in place of the actual physical meetups. It therefore, becomes a challenge to observe and learn from each other as people purely rely on what their ‘internet’ friends portray themselves to be. 

Therefore, looking at you as an individual, what intelligence are you lacking?

Knowledge Intelligence (IQ)   Social Intelligence (SQ)

Emotional Intelligence (EQ) or Adversity Intelligence (AQ)

A man of high knowledge intelligence can end up being employed by a man of high emotional and social intelligence, even though he has an average knowledge intelligence score. Why? You’d ask. This is because emotional intelligence represents an individual’s character, while social intelligence represents their self-image and impression. Therefore, these qualities and more, presented in front of an interviewer, distinguish these two people. Hence make one a better manager than the other. Example is where a C student employs an A student. It is safe to conclude therefore, that there is a higher success rate among people with a higher emotional intelligence compared to people who are only equipped with just knowledge.

Academic intelligence has little to do with success in life. For instance, people with a high IQ can be stunningly poor pilots of their private lives. Relying on information alone without incorporating other qualities, e.g. critical thinking, effective communication, team work to name but a few, can make a good manager an incompetent one. 

Starting habits that will improve these four Qs with emphasis on your emotional and social Intelligence, will lead to growth. This can be through being in touch with yourself and your emotions. Being aware of oneself means that you are able to listen to your body when in different moods and learn how to control your impulses. Learning how to control our anger, for example, saves us so much distress and those around us won’t have to experience projection of our own emotions toward them. So, being self-aware and mindful of others brings coexistence and peace within us.

At best, IQ contributes about 20 percent to the factors that determine life success, which leaves 80 percent to other forces such as; being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations, controlling impulses and delay gratification, regulating of one’s moods which keeps distress from swamping one’s ability to think and finally the ability to empathize and give hope.