Emotional intelligence is difficult to measure and some
psychologists doubt that it can be assessed at all. However, many
more believe that it can be measured but that there are obstacles
to be overcome in doing so.
The easiest way to measure EQ is through what are called
self-report questionnaires, although these are probably the
weakest way to do it. These questionnaires ask you to report on
your abilities skills and behaviors. For example, how effective
you are in recognizing emotions, understanding emotions etc. The
flaw with this approach is that you may not accurately report your
own skills and abilities. Most of us have a tendency to exaggerate
our accomplishments and minimize our shortcomings. The result is
that self report questionnaires often provide an inflated picture
of our skills and abilities. Even if you were to be completely
honest in your answers, you may lack the necessary insight to give
accurate answers.
One solution to the problem of self report questionnaires is the
use of 360 degree tests. This involves questions about your
behavior being answered by people who know you, for example,
friends, co-workers, boss and subordinates. The advantages of this
approach are that; other people are more likely to give an
appraisal that is not inflated and they are also more likely to
report accurately evaluate how skilful you are in social
interaction.
A third approach is to use performance tests to measure your EQ.
These tests present you with practical problems and asked you to
work out the correct answers. In other words, they ask you to
actually demonstrate your EQ skills. These tests are not as
vulnerable to the problems facing self-report and 360 degree tests
but they are much more difficult and expensive to construct.
If any individual or organization can convince the business world
that they have developed and validated an emotional intelligence
test, that can accurately and consistently measure EQ it will
bring them considerable status and financial reward. There are
various proprietary tests on the market at the moment but
unfortunately they all share the same lack of rigorous scientific
validation that is accepted for IQ tests.
Before we can begin to make assessments of emotional intelligence,
we need to know which personality traits specifically are
involved. If we ignore the possible existence of business-related
intelligence's separate from both intellect and emotion it seems
reasonable to assume that psychologists ought to be able to
identify and measure accurately the qualities that determine job
success. These are generally agreed to be:
- Self-awareness - Your ability to control and to understand
your own feelings
- Resilience - Your ability to work under pressure and to cope
with changing demands
- Motivation - How much energy and effort you're prepared to
put in to achieve your goals
- Interpersonal Sensitivity - Your awareness of the needs and
feelings of others and the ability to use it effectively in
interactions and decision-making
- Influence - How well you are able to persuade others to
agree with your point of view
- Decisiveness - The ability to arrive a decision when faced
with ambiguous information
- Integrity - Your willingness to do what is right and to
stick to a course of action
The question is, should organisations try to
measure and improve emotional intelligence ?
Everything you need to pass
psychometric tests
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