Essay on EQ vs IQ - What You Really Need to Succeed – EQ or IQ ? IQ measures academic competencies or one's ability to use knowledge in making decisions and adapting to new situations. On the other hand, EQ is a measure of emotional and social competencies or one's ability to identify emotional expressions in one and others; although both can be improved through training and changed over time. EQ is distinct from IQ in a sense that it is one's ability to regulate emotions in response to environmental stimuli. EQ has been popularized as a learned skill that is a better predictor of life success than intellectual attainment or technical ability.
Essay on EQ vs IQ - What You Really Need to Succeed – EQ or IQ ?
Research has suggested that some people are more successful
in their careers than others even when they have had equal educational and
experiential opportunities. One explanation for these disparities may relate to
differences between intellectual intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence
(EQ). IQ measures academic competencies or one's ability to use knowledge in
making decisions and adapting to new situations. On the other hand, EQ is a
measure of emotional and social competencies or one's ability to identify
emotional expressions in one and others; although both can be improved through
training and changed over time. EQ is distinct from IQ in a sense that it is
one's ability to regulate emotions in response to environmental stimuli. EQ has
been popularized as a learned skill that is a better predictor of life success
than intellectual attainment or technical ability.
This anomaly threw a massive wrench into what many people
had always assumed was the sole source of success - IQ. Decades of research now
point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star
performers apart from the rest of the pack. Emotional intelligence is that
"Unique Something" in each of us that is a bit intangible. It affects
how we manage behavior, navigate social complexities, and make personal
decisions that achieve positive results.
Emotional Quotient (EQ), also called Emotional Intelligence
Quotient, is a measurement of a person's ability to monitor his or her
emotions, to cope with pressures and demands, and to control his or her
thoughts and actions. The ability to assess and affect situations and
relationships with other people also plays a role in emotional intelligence.
This measurement is intended to be a tool that is similar to intelligence
quotient (IQ), which is a measurement of a person's intellect.
Emotional intelligence taps into a fundamental element of
human behavior that is distinct from the intellect. There is no known
connection between IQ and emotional intelligence; one simply can't predict emotional
intelligence based on how smart someone is. Intelligence is the ability to
learn, and it's the same at age 15 as it is at age 50. Emotional intelligence,
on the other hand, is a flexible set of skills that can be acquired and
improved with practice. Although some people are naturally more emotionally
intelligent than others, one can develop high emotional intelligence even if
it's not innate.
When psychologists began to write and think about
intelligence, they focused on cognitive aspects, such as memory and
problem-solving. However, there were researchers who recognized early that the
non-cognitive aspects were also important. For instance, David Wechsler defined
intelligence as "the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act
purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his
environment" He referred to non-intellective as well as intellective
elements, by which he meant affective, personal, and social factors.
Furthermore, Wechsler was proposing that the non-intellective abilities are
essential for predicting one's ability to succeed in life.
Wechsler was not the only researcher who saw non-cognitive
aspects of intelligence to be important for adaptation and success. Robert
Thorndike was writing about "social intelligence" in the late
thirties. Unfortunately, the work of these early pioneers was largely forgotten
or overlooked until 1983 when Howard Gardner began to write about
"multiple intelligence.”
Published a book called Frames of Mind in which he argued
that the dominant forms of intelligence associated with linguistic, logical and
mathematical ability should be supplemented by five (later seven) others. The
new intelligence included (as well as musical, spatial and kinaesthetic
intelligences), intrapersonal intelligence. Interpersonal intelligence was
defined as the ability to understand people, what motivates them, how they
work, how to work cooperatively with them'; while intrapersonal intelligence
involved access to one's own feeling life, and the capacity to form an
accurate, veridical model of oneself, and to be able to use that model to
operate effectively in life.’
For decades, researchers studied the reasons why a high IQ
does not necessarily guarantee success in the classroom or the boardroom. By
the 1980s, psychologists and biologists, among others, were focusing on the
important role other skill sets - needed to process emotional information -
played in promoting worldly success, leadership, personal fulfillment and happy
relationships.
In 1990, psychologists John Mayer and Peter Salvoes
theorized that a unitary intelligence underlay those other skill sets. They
coined the term, emotional intelligence, which they broke down into four
"branches":
1. Perceiving Emotions: The first step in understanding
emotions, to accurately perceive them, it involves understanding nonverbal
signals such as body language and facial expressions.
2. Reasoning with Emotions: The next step involves the use
of emotions to promote thinking and cognitive activity which help prioritize what
we pay attention and react to.
3. Understanding Emotions: The emotions that we perceive can
carry a wide variety of meanings. If someone is expressing angry emotions, the
observer must interpret the cause of their anger and what it might mean.
4. Managing Emotions: The ability to manage emotions
effectively is a key part of emotional intelligence. Regulating emotions,
responding appropriately and responding to the emotions of others are all
important aspect of emotional management.
As a science reporter for the New York Times, Daniel Goldman
was exposed to Mayer's and Salve’s work and took the concept of emotional
intelligence a step further; in his eponymous "ok from 1995, he argued
that existing definitions of intelligence needed to be reworked. IQ was still
important, but intellect alone was no guarantee of adeptness in identifying
one's own emotions or the emotional expressions of others. It took a special
kind of intelligence, Goldman said to process emotional information and utilize
it effectively - whether to facilitate personal decisions, to resolve conflicts
or to motivate oneself and others.
Goldman broadened Mayer's and Salve’s four-branch system to
incorporate five essential elements of emotional intelligence or EQ:
1. Self Awareness: Self-awareness means having a deep
understanding of one's emotion, strengths, weaknesses, needs, and drives.
People with strong self-awareness are neither overly critical nor
unrealistically hopeful. Rather, they are honest - with themselves and with
others. People who have a high degree of self-awareness recognize how their
feelings affect them, other people, and their job performance.
2. Self-Regulation: Controlling one's impulses- instead of
being quick to react rashly, one can reign in the emotions and think before
responding. It can also be defined as extrinsic and intrinsic processes
responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions.
3. Motivation: A passion to work for internal reasons that
go beyond money and status-which are external rewards such as an inner vision
of what is important in life; a joy in doing something, curiosity in learning,
a flow that comes with being immersed in an activity; a propensity to pursue
goals with energy and persistence.
4. Empathy: The ability to understand the emotional makeup
of other people; a skill in treating people according to their emotional
reactions. This is only possible when one has achieved self-awareness - as one
cannot understand others until they understand themselves.
5. Social Skills: Identifying social cues to establish
common ground manage relationships and build networks. Social skill, rather, is
friendliness with a purpose: moving people in the direction one desires,
whether that's agreement on a new marketing strategy or enthusiasm about a new
product.
These qualities may sound "soft" and unbusiness
like, but Goldman found direct ties between emotional intelligence and
measurable business results.
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