What does an emotional intelligence test measure?

Many are aware of traditional aptitude, or the use of intellectual abilities to learn from experience, adapt to one’s environment, and use critical thinking skills. Your intellect allows you to solve problems and navigate daily life using reasoned thinking and logic. In a similar vein, a concept known as emotional intelligence enables you to navigate life using emotional reasoning. It is the guiding sense for feeling, thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making. In this article, we’ll be exploring what an emotional intelligence test measures and the value of having a high EQ. 

Why emotional reasoning matters

The strength of someone's emotional intellect is often referred to as their emotional quotient or EQ. It is parallel to a person's intelligence quotient or IQ. They are similarly named to reflect how they represent certain traits; the higher they are, the more proficiency a person has in that area. Neither area is a statement of a person's overall ability, but there are common strengths and weaknesses associated with each.

High intellectual abilities are associated with strong critical thinking, knowledge retention, and processing speed. High emotional reasoning abilities are correlated with a strong ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions. Those with high intellectual abilities often do well with academic and career tasks that are rational in nature, and those with high emotional reasoning typically excel at empathy, communication, and relationship-building.

While intellect is commonly associated with success, it takes more than being the smartest person in the room to be successful. You may know people who are brilliant and talented academically but who struggle to network and develop social relationships within their career field. These individuals often have high intellectual reasoning but low emotional reasoning, making it more challenging for them to interact with others. 

Emotional reasoning is commonly defined as four separate domains: self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self-management

Your self-management is your ability to maintain emotional health during times of stress, distraction, or delayed gratification. It is closely tied to your ability to motivate yourself to complete a task. Self-management is not innate; it requires willpower and can be improved with time and practice

Here are some examples of emotional self-management

• Controlling impulsive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
• Ensuring that only healthy emotional management strategies are used
• Taking initiatives for self-improvement
• Following through on commitments
• Adapting to changing circumstances

Self-awareness

Self-awareness is recognizing, naming, and understanding your emotional state. You will likely find it challenging to shift your emotional direction if you are unsure why you are feeling the way you do, and improving self-awareness often begins with studying your emotional state in context. A significant part of self-awareness is recognizing how your current circumstances are impacting your emotional well-being.

Here are some other signs of people with high self-awareness:

• Being able to name what is being felt goes beyond classifying an emotional state as "good" or "bad”
• Knowing how their current emotional state is likely to affect their behavior
• Knowing their strengths and weaknesses
• Possessing strong self-confidence and belief in themselves

Social awareness

Social awareness refers to your ability to recognize the emotional states of others. It is strongly connected to empathy, and low social awareness can make it challenging to communicate empathetically with others. High social awareness also allows you to pick up on subtleties in people’s tone of voice, facial expressions, and other indicators of emotion that may otherwise be difficult to perceive.

Here are some other signs that might indicate a socially aware individual:

• Understanding the needs and concerns of others
• Interpreting emotional cues and other signs of a person's emotional state correctly
• Feeling comfortable in social situations
• Recognizing group power dynamics

Relationship management

Maintaining relationships in your life is an essential skill of emotional reasoning. Self-management is a skill that is often necessary in order to manage the other side of the relationship management coin; you must master your emotional state before you can master relationships. Both self-management and relationship management can be improved through time, dedication, and effort.  

Those who are effective at managing relationships often possess the following traits:

• Communicating clearly, empathetically, and effectively
• Inspiring and influencing those around them
• Working well in a group or team
• Managing conflict in a healthy, productive manner

How emotional reasoning ability is measured

There have been several clinical tools developed to measure a person's self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management abilities. There are two main types of emotional intelligence tests: ability-based and trait-based.

• Ability-Based Measures: Ability-based measures directly examine your ability to understand emotional cues and how they work in social situations. Participants are required to solve problems that are related to the emotional state of others. For example, the participant may be shown pictures of faces, one after the other, and asked to indicate what emotion the face is showing. These tests are designed to determine a person's maximum emotional reasoning capacity and are not designed to predict behavior in real-world situations. Ability-based measures are usually used where a strong theoretical understanding of emotion is required.
• Trait-Based Measures: Trait-based measures are generally self-report inventories that you fill out individually. Unlike ability-based measures, which typically have questions with right and wrong answers, trait-based measures are often developed as scales with no correct answer. Participants indicate how much a certain question relates to their behavior. Trait-based instruments tend to measure typical behavior and are often used to predict how individuals will behave in specific situations. They can also measure emotional reasoning when facing everyday stressors, making trait-based measures common in employment.

Common emotional reasoning tests

Here are a few examples of common emotional reasoning tests used in clinical, educational, and employment settings:

• The Geneva Emotional Competence Test (GECo) is an ability-based measure commonly used by employers. It comprises 110 items, taking about 50 minutes to finish. The GECo is designed specifically for the workplace. It measures four domains of emotional reasoning: recognition, understanding, management, and regulation. 
• The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-I) is a common measure of emotional reasoning based on the early work of emotion researchers. It provides five categories of assessment: self-perception, interpersonal, decision-making, self-expression, and stress management. 
• The Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC) was specifically designed to assess emotional competence for oneself and others separately. It provides five dimensions of emotional competence: identification, understanding, expression, regulation, and use. 

You can also find free or low-cost online assessments that evaluate emotional reasoning. This assessment is published by the Institute for Health and Human Potential and measures your ability to decipher your emotional state and the emotional states of others, as well as how well you can influence the emotional states of those around you.

A second assessment, published by the Global Leadership Foundation, provides scores in each of the four domains of emotional competency. It is 40 questions long and usually takes around 10 minutes to finish.

Can emotional competency be improved?

If you're concerned about your emotional reasoning abilities, research suggests they can be improved. Emotional competency training has been shown to improve emotion identification and management significantly. Training can also have a positive effect on psychological well-being, physical health, and employability.

Here are some basic steps to begin improving your emotional skillset:

• Practice recognizing and naming your emotions. Analyze your emotional state regularly and see if you can label it correctly. Check yourself and see how well you can predict your behavior in response to that feeling. Can you do it accurately? Recognizing your emotional state is one of the most important abilities to develop when increasing your emotional competency.
• Ask for feedback from others. Ensure sure your self-awareness is accurate by asking friends, family, coworkers, and supervisors how they would rate your emotional competency. Set the stage for open communication and be ready for critical responses.
• Read fictional literature. Evidence indicates that reading literature with complex characters can significantly increase empathy. Consider reading more stories for fun to help improve your ability to relate to other perspectives and celebrate differences.

How online therapy can help you build emotional resilience

Online therapists are well-qualified to help you increase your emotional abilities. They have the same training and credentials as traditional therapists and use the same evidence-based techniques. Attending therapy online removes some common barriers, such as traveling to a physical office location or being restricted to therapists in your nearby area. You can access online therapy through a platform such as BetterHelp and use phone calls, videoconferencing, or in-app messaging to chat with your provider. A therapist can provide encouragement and advice as you improve upon your weaknesses and utilize your strengths to grow in your emotional resiliency. 

The efficacy of online therapy for increasing EQ

Research indicates that online therapy is just as effective as in-person options. In one study, researchers assessed the effects of an online intervention on stress, coping strategies, emotional intelligence, resilience, and psychological state. They found significant beneficial effects “with respect to stress, coping strategies, anger, emotional intelligence, negative affect, and resilience.” Participants also experienced significant improvements in their psychological capabilities. These results were on par with participants in the offline control group, showing the equivalent effectiveness of online vs face-to-face interventions.

Takeaway

Emotional competencies like self-management, self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship management are commonly considered just as important as intellect when judging whether a person will be successful. Understanding how to negotiate social situations, control your emotional state, and identify the emotional state of others can give you a significant advantage in work, school, or other social pursuits. Assessments of emotional competency are commonly used by employers and other organizations in hiring or promotional decisions, making your emotional skillset an ideal focus for improvement. Online therapy can be a convenient resource for those wanting to increase their emotional competency, self-awareness, empathy, resilience, and social skills without sacrificing extra time and effort to make it to in-person sessions.