Understanding the Five Categories of Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

The development of good interpersonal skills is tantamount to success in your life and career. In today’s always-connected world, everyone has immediate access to technical knowledge. 

Thus, “people skills” are even more important now because you must possess a high EQ to better understand, empathize and negotiate with others in a global economy. Among the most useful skills are:

Self-awareness	Zelfkennis. Mensen met een hoog EQ hebben het vermogen om de eigen denkwijze, mogelijkheden en onmogelijkheden te kunnen inschatten en daar conclusies uit te trekken. The ability to recognize an emotion as it “happens” is the key to your EQ. Developing self-awareness requires tuning in to your true feelings. If you evaluate your emotions, you can manage them. The major elements of self-awareness are:	-Emotional awareness. Your ability to recognize your own emotions and their effects. -Self-confidence. Sureness about your self-worth and capabilities.
Self-regulation	You often have little control over when you experience emotions. You can, however, have some say in how long an emotion will last by using a number of techniques to alleviate negative emotions such as anger, anxiety or depression. A few of these techniques include recasting a situation in a more positive light, taking a long walk and meditation or prayer. Self-regulation involves	-Self-control. Managing disruptive impulses. -Trustworthiness. Maintaining standards of honesty and integrity. -Conscientiousness. Taking responsibility for your own performance. -Adaptability. Handling change with flexibility. -Innovation. Being open to new ideas.
Motivation.	To motivate yourself for any achievement requires clear goals and a positive attitude. Although you may have a predisposition to either a positive or a negative attitude, you can with effort and practice learn to think more positively. If you catch negative thoughts as they occur, you can reframe them in more positive terms — which will help you achieve your goals. Motivation is made up of:	-Achievement drive. Your constant striving to improve or to meet a standard of excellence. -Commitment. Aligning with the goals of the group or organization. -Initiative. Readying yourself to act on opportunities. -Optimism. Pursuing goals persistently despite obstacles and setbacks.
Empathy	Empathie. Mensen met een hoog EQ kunnen zich goed verplaatsen in de gevoelens van anderen. The ability to recognize how people feel is important to success in your life and career. The more skilful you are at discerning the feelings behind others’ signals the better you can control the signals you send them. An empathetic person excels at:	-Service orientation. Anticipating, recognizing and meeting clients’ needs. -Developing others. Sensing what others need to progress and bolstering their abilities. -Leveraging diversity. Cultivating opportunities through diverse people. -Political awareness. Reading a group’s emotional currents and power relationships. -Understanding others. Discerning the feelings behind the needs and wants of others.
Social skills	Sociale vaardigheden. Mensen met een hoog EQ kunnen goed met zowel bekenden als vreemden omgaan. The development of good interpersonal skills is tantamount to success in your life and career. In today’s always-connected world, everyone has immediate access to technical knowledge. Thus, “people skills” are even more important now because you must possess a high EQ to better understand, empathize and negotiate with others in a global economy. Among the most useful skills are:	-Influence. Wielding effective persuasion tactics. -Communication. Sending clear messages. -Leadership. Inspiring and guiding groups and people. -Change catalyst. Initiating or managing change. -Conflict management. Understanding, negotiating and resolving disagreements. -Building bonds. Nurturing instrumental relationships. -Collaboration and cooperation. Working with others toward shared goals. -Team capabilities. Creating group synergy in pursuing collective goals.

What factors are at play when people of high IQ fail and those of modest IQ succeed?

How well you do in your life and career is determined by both. IQ alone is not enough; EQ also matters. In fact, psychologists generally agree that among the ingredients for success, IQ counts for roughly 10% (at best 25%); the rest depends on everything else — including EQ.

[Bron: http://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-emotional-intelligence-eq/0001037]


Applications for Educators

There are very practical reasons to promote social and emotional learning in schools, from kindergarten through college. According to Goleman, bullying, disciplinary problems, violence and drug abuse are reduced in schools with a high EQ. With a solid basis in emotional intelligence, academic performance — as well as behavior — improves. There is an obvious connection to Goleman’s third, motivational component: learning stimulates curiosity and promotes feelings of satisfaction, even joy, when students immerse themselves in the process of assimilating new information.

The EQ of children starts developing long before they ever enter a classroom. But EQ levels will vary widely, depending on each child’s home environment. Thus teachers must be able to recognize those children whose emotional literacy needs a boost. Teachers should be ready to talk about feelings in the classroom. The message is that no emotion is “wrong,” but certain ways of expressing those emotions or acting on them are indeed inappropriate.


In 2002, UNESCO launched an international campaign to promote emotional learning in the classroom. The U.N. body sent a statement of 10 basic EQ principles to education ministries throughout the world. Those principles drew heavily from Goleman’s exposition of emotional intelligence.