Your EQ is More Important Than Your IQ

The average person is aware that he or she has an intelligence quotient, or IQ, but most people are not aware that they also have an emotional quotient, or EQ. Just as the IQ is a measure of one's intellectual intelligence, the EQ measures the level of emotional intelligence that an individual has-that intelligence that enables one to understand not only one's own but others' feelings, as well as the emotional components and implications of people's behavior. Emotional intelligence expert Daniel Goleman (2006, pp. 36, 37, 41) refers to it as "a different kind of intelligence," pointing out that these "people skills" are what set people apart from the Star Trek character Data, who lacks humanity and thus is unable to arrive at the best human solution in situations.

It may at first be difficult to figure out what differentiates EQ from IQ. Steven J. Stein and Howard Book (2006, p. 13), authors of The EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success, suggest writing down the name of a mentor that has had the greatest positive influence on your life and making a list of six of that individual's attributes that made him or her such a positive influence. They then suggest examining the list to determine how many of the attributes fit into each of two categories-the IQ categories of "high intelligence, expert strategist, financial wizard, and creative legalist" and the EQ categories of "treats me with respect, is interested in me and my career, shows integrity, i

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rformance was not based on expertise, which he recognized was just a baseline skill needed to get the job done; instead, the high performers were those who could use emotional intelligence to translate their expertise into something marketable (Goleman, 1998, p. 21). Although emotional intelligence may sound like a lofty concept, it's really a key to being successful and happy in everyday life in a variety of ways. Emotional intelligence affects the quality of an individual's health, relationships, work life, and problem-solving ability, just to name a few. In terms of health, for example, emotions are closely tied to the health of the body. People that have difficulty managing their emotions have related health problems. The man with the type A personality who cannot control his rage is prone to high blood pressure and other ailments, while the one who experiences anger but suppresses it is prone to a completely different set of health problems (Salovey, 2001, pp. 169-170). Both expressing and suppressing anger can thus impact health negatively, then, but what about a third alternative? The person with emotional intelligence can regulate his emotions so that he does not experience the rage in the first place, eithe

Category: Psychology - Y