Recent research indicates that there are five key components of emotional intelligence (EI). These include understanding your own emotions, identifying other people’s emotions, controlling or regulating your own emotion, using these skills in relation to others, and developing self-awareness as an important part of overall EI.

By scoring lower on any one of these areas, you could be missing out on crucial tools for success.

People with higher levels of emotional intelligence demonstrate more empathy, use less aggression, are better problem solvers, show greater motivation, feel happier, and enjoy their lives more than those who do not.

You can learn about all five of these concepts via a test called The Mayer Emotional Quotient Inventory - Self Report (MEQ). This article will discuss how to interpret MEQ test scores!

Disclaimer: The content in this article was contributed by the author. All opinions are those of the contributor and not necessarily those of GeneralAssist.org.

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Interpretation

The first thing to note is that the MEQ does not assess whether you have low or high emotional quotients (EQ) – it only measures individual differences in each area. Therefore, even if you scored very highly in one area, this would not tell you whether you had low EQ overall. You would need to compare this score against another measure of EQ to get a clearer picture of your overall level.

Examples of emotional intelligence

People who are emotionally intelligent recognize that emotions come from us, not others. They understand how their actions and reactions affect other people’s emotions.

They know what buttons are typically pressed in certain situations and whether pressing more of those buttons is going to help or hurt relationships.

People with high emotional intelligence also tend to regulate their own emotions. They may have feelings but they don’t let them control them for too long before taking action.

It's important to note that while it’s easy to think that you’re always being controlled by your emotions, this isn’t true.

At times, your emotions can be very helpful. For example, when you feel loved and appreciated, you might do things like keep someone company after work, wash their clothes or even cook dinner for them.

But if you never feel these strong emotions, then you won't know how to motivate yourself to do things. You'll probably stop doing some things that you should because you wouldn't feel motivated to get out of bed.

Relationship between emotional intelligence and happiness

Recent studies suggest that there is a link between people who have high levels of emotional intelligence and overall happiness in their lives. People with higher EQs are more likely to be happier than those without it.

Research has also shown that being happy can increase your level of EI.

By understanding yourself and other people better, you will find it easier to understand what makes someone else feel good or bad, and thus learn how to influence them to become more emotionally intelligent.

You could do this by helping them recognize and manage their emotions, for example, by asking them about their feelings.

Alternatively, you could ask them if they have noticed anything changing in their relationships or work since they showed certain signs of emotion.

Furthermore, researchers have found that people who are happier spend less time thinking about death, which means they avoid one major source of stress.

Relationship between emotional intelligence and success

Over the past few decades, there have been many studies that show a link between someone’s EQ and their success in life. Consistently high levels of emotional intelligence are linked with higher income, career advancement, lower stress, and overall happiness.

Many successful people credit their own success to having strong self-awareness and empathy. These qualities help them understand and relate to other people, which is key for thriving in interpersonal relationships.

It also helps them identify what emotions others are feeling and how to address those feelings appropriately. They may be more likely to use reasoning or logic when trying to solve a problem instead of relying on instinct or emotion.

Overall, being emotionally intelligent can make you happier by helping you deal with conflicts more effectively and giving you a better sense of balance. You will also feel more confident as your understanding of yourself and the world around you grows.

Ways to improve emotional intelligence

Having more empathy, being able to read other people’s emotions, and using emotion regulation strategies are all ways to increase your overall EI.

Many professionals assess their own level of EQ by taking a test like the one mentioned above. There are also many different courses that focus on developing your emotional literacy or EQ.

These types of programs aim to help you understand your feelings and how to control them, as well as learn about various emotions and why some individuals may be motivated by certain ones.

Overall, understanding your emotions is an essential part in achieving success in life.

Become a good listener

A large part of emotional intelligence is being able to recognize what emotions are in other people and what they mean.

You will have to be very aware of others’ moods, as well as how their actions relate to their feelings.

This is also important because most of us get ourselves into stressful situations due to poor communication or misinterpretation of conversations.

If you want to improve your own EQ then start practicing by paying more attention to the people around you and understand why things happen.

Teach people to be authentic

Most people are not very good at reading their own emotions. They think they know what they feel, but they’re really not sure because they’ve never been trained to recognize them.

Most of us have grown up believing that when we “feel” something, it is our emotional state that makes us feel that way. We believe that if we can just learn to identify these feelings, then they will stop happening.

This isn’t true. Your emotions arise from your perception and thinking about the world around you, not from some internal process.

If you want to learn how to read your own emotions, you need to understand that. You must become aware of how you perceive things and yourself in the world, and learn to interpret those perceptions as messages or signals about who and what matters to you.

Be honest with your peers

When taking an emotional intelligence test, there is one thing you must be careful of aside from not lying about yourself. That is, how you respond to other people. If you’re in a room full of people when the test asks if someone else was helpful to you, what answer you give will determine whether they believe that you are good at showing empathy or not.

If the person answering the question says “no, he/she didn’t help me,” then that can hurt your self-esteem. You may feel like you’re bad at empathizing even though you tried hard to understand where they were coming from.

On the contrary, if they say something like “he understood me better than I thought he did” or “I think she showed sympathy for my feelings,” then you have proof that you do have some level of empathic ability.

This can make you feel more confident in yourself and your abilities. Obviously, only assess the test as true if you actually answered the questions, but just making sure that you don’t lie about who helped you could have similar benefits.

Be honest with your supervisors

When completing an EI test, there are some things you must be aware of. First, what information you include in your answers is up to you!

Some tests will ask you about past experiences or situations that made you feel bad or good. You do not have to tell everything, but it can affect your job if you don’t.

If you don’t feel comfortable talking about something, you don’t need to make yourself uncomfortable by putting it into this test. Just pick another question instead!

Second, remember that people show their true self differently depending on who they are interacting with. This includes how much emotional intelligence they have.

For example, someone who is very emotionally intelligent may put on extra charm when speaking to you to hide how they really feeling. Make sure to look beyond just the surface level qualities of someone’s emotional intelligence.