Eq and Iq

EQ AND IQ THE REALITY

For decades, a lot of emphasis has been put on certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills etc. Researchers were puzzled by the fact that while IQ could predict to a significant degree the academic performance and, to some degree, professional and personal success, there was something missing in the equation. Some of those with fabulous IQ scores were doing poorly in life; one could say that they were wasting their potential by thinking, behaving and communicating in a way that hindered their chances to succeed. One of the major missing parts in the success equation is emotional intelligence, a concept made popular by the groundbreaking book by Daniel Goleman, which is based on years of research by numerous scientists such as Peter Salovey, John Meyer, Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg and Jack Block, just to name a few. For various reasons and thanks to a wide range of abilities, people with high emotional intelligence tend to be more successful in life than those with lower EIQ even if their classical IQ is average.

   
Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to sense, understand, value and effectively apply the power and acumen of emotions as a source of human energy, information, trust, creativity and influence (Goleman, 1995 ).

The term Emotional Intelligence was first coined by Peter Salovey of Yale University and John Mayer of the University of New Hampshire in 1990. They described Emotional Intelligence as a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide ones thinking and action ( Salovey and Mayer, 1990 ).

Though the concept was given in 1990, yet it become popular with a New York Times best seller ‘ Emotional Intelligence : Why it can matter more than IQ ’ in 1995 by Daniel Goleman, a PhD from...