As we have seen, emotional intelligence (or EQ) is an increasingly popular concept that looks at how well you manage your emotions and relationships in relation to other people and situations. It can be described as knowing what buttons are related to yours and others’ emotions so you can regulate your own reactions and those of others.

This understanding comes from practicing self-awareness, respect for yourself and others, and control over your behaviors and responses. In fact, some experts believe it is more important than IQ!

While there is no “official” definition of emotional intelligence, researchers do agree that it functions along a continuum, with higher scores indicating greater levels. You may also refer to this as general empathy or interpersonal skills.

Emotional quotients (EQs) can be understood and influenced through three main factors: intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive. These components work together, making up one’s overall EQ.

Intrapersonal refers to oneself – internal processes such as thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. For example, someone who believes she does not have enough personal power might worry about whether her job will still have her working here tomorrow. This could make her feel anxious and powerless.

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Interpersonal refers to interactions with others — how they perceive you and if these perceptions affect their behavior towards you.

Be realistic

Many people who claim they have high emotional intelligence are actually just looking at it as something that makes them feel good about themselves. While this is indeed a part of EI, most experts agree that it should be used to help you achieve your goals and understand how others perceive you.

Some ways to determine if someone has true emotional intelligence is by their actions and behaviors. For example, if someone consistently does nice things for other people but not necessarily in front of them, then they might have limited empathy.

If a friend comes to you with bad news, you can usually tell whether they’re upset on the inside or if they seem calm on the surface. If they look like they’ve got it together outside, then chances are they probably don’t.

Emotions don’t know social boundaries, so if someone seems fine when everyone else around them is crying, there could be some limiting factors of empathy. It’s important to be able to recognize these things if you want to know what kind of person you are working with.

Take a moment to consider which of these bullets apply to you and your dog.

Look at their emotional state

The second question about EQ is how you can tell if someone has high EQ. This may seem like an easy question, but it’s not!

It depends on what kind of person you are so there are different ways to test for this.

The easiest way to determine if someone has high EQ is by looking at their facial expression.

If they look happy and smiling then chances are they have higher EQ than you do.

On the other hand, people with lower EQ will usually have something “lighter” on their face – perhaps a small smile or even a frown.

However, these are not very attractive faces to watch because you won’t be able to tell whether they are going to burst into laughter or cry at any moment.

Be honest

The way to answer these questions with ease is by being real and authentic. Don’t worry about what you don’t know or how much knowledge you lack, instead focus on who you are as a person and showcase that here and now.

This is also important because some of these questions may make you feel uncomfortable or self-conscious. You can be aware of this and still give your best answers.

Emotions play a big part in emotional intelligence so knowing how to manage yours is essential to answering these questions correctly.

Generalists tend to not do well on these tests as they look at all areas of EQ rather than individual ones. People with high social IQ scores will sometimes overestimate their score as they have good social skills.

It’s always better to underestimate yourself than over estimate though as this could create false confidence.

It’ll help you connect with them

Ask about their strengths – what subjects they are good at, what jobs they have held in the past, what projects they have completed – these are all strong indicators of emotional intelligence.

People who are passionate about something typically talk about it, and acknowledge its importance in their lives. If someone is talking about how much their job related success depends on teamwork, then asking if they are team-oriented will get you some information about their EQ.

You can also ask about weaknesses — this doesn’t mean “what mistakes did you make?” or "What areas do you need work in?" but rather questions that probe deeper such as “Are there things that you feel you're not capable of doing?” or “What are your fears?”

By understanding where people struggle, you can try to improve those skills for them.

It’s important to have

A good way to approach this question is to think about what made your own EI strong in the past. What behaviors or experiences helped you feel more confident, connected, and aware of yourself? These are all qualities that can be applied to improving your EI.

By recognizing the factors that contributed to your current level of EI, you can work to strengthen your emotional intelligence by incorporating those traits into your personality.

It can help you perform better

Over the past decade, emotional intelligence (or EQ for short) has become one of the most popular career paths. People who have high levels of EQ are said to be more likely to succeed in life than those with lower EQs.

Some experts even claim that EQ is more important than IQ when it comes to success. This theory says that while smart people are not necessarily good people, being intelligent does not automatically mean you will succeed in this world.

It’s easy to see why people would make such claims. After all, someone who is very clever might use their talent to manipulate or control others, instead of helping them achieve their goals.

While there is no proof that EQ is easier to develop than IQ, some studies do show that developing your EQ could boost your overall happiness. Furthermore, research indicates that higher EQ is related to higher income, job satisfaction, and productivity.

Develop your emotional intelligence

A key part of being an emotionally intelligent person is developing your ability to recognize, understand and manage your emotions.

This includes understanding what makes you feel different emotions and how these emotions influence you. It also means recognizing when someone else is feeling something for which they are not in control and why that may make them feel uncomfortable or even angry with you.

By using strategies like those mentioned above, you can learn how to manage your own feelings and relationships more effectively. You will also need to acknowledge and accept that some things will always create strong emotions within you.

It’s important to remember that no one is totally without emotion – we all feel happiness, sadness, excitement, anger, fear and so on. But having adequate emotional intelligence allows us to deal better with our emotions and helps us function as effective members of society.

Try talking to them

It is not enough to simply read your own answers or those of others before giving yours, you have to actually talk about them! If you can’t think of anything appropriate, then just say something like “I don’t know what to say” or “My answer depends on _________.”

This may sound crazy but it works!

People often times ask questions that require you to be honest, so use this as an opportunity to do that. By saying you don’t know how to respond to their question, you will get more truthful responses than if you gave a prepared response.

If you are able to identify a core element of the question, you can address that. For example, if they asked you why you believe people spend too much time online, you could say whether it is because we all have limited access to good quality jobs, or because technology has made us overly dependent on it, etc.

By addressing the part of the question that isn’t related to your answer, you take away the temptation to fake-answer the rest of it. You also lose little time in having a conversation with someone instead of thinking about your next reply.