Emotional intelligence is a buzzword that’s been flying around a lot these days.  Some people suggest EQ is supposed to be a better marker than IQ for job success and the best indication of the length and likelihood of marriage. But is that the truth? What is this relatively new psychological term—it can’t only be how nice you are to people, can it?—and how can it be measured?  Perhaps more importantly, if emotional intelligence, also known as EQ or EI, is so important, what can a person do to raise a low score?

IQ is defined as how complexly a person can think and process information. The idea is that people with higher IQ’s are capable of more difficult thinking, making them suited for more complicated jobs.  As the world changes, EQ or EI, may be a better indicator of job success. Defined as a person’s ability to manage his or her emotions, as well as manage and navigate the emotions in others and in groups, emotional intelligence marks a person’s aptitude in dealing with and relating to the people around them.

Studies of emotional intelligence began in the 1990s. Scientific articles emerged speaking towards ideas that emotions could enhance thought and that mental processes gave people an ability to reason about emotion.  These early articles didn’t give this kind of aptitude a name, but these types of studies eventually came under the heading of Emotional Intelligence.

Today, psychologists still debate how best to measure a person’s EQ.  Most tests try to determine how well a person can navigate new and changing social environments. However, emotional intelligence is still largely self-identified; in other words, people with high EQ’s know that they have high EQ’s.

Most psychologists suggest that it is impossible to significantly raise any type of intelligence. Intelligence is defined as one’s ability to engage in abstract reasoning in an area of information. In other words, intelligence itself is innate. Having a high intelligence in any particular area would mean being able to learn and remember material, find similarities and differences in ideas and to remember and use principles of the discipline. 

In this particular case, persons with high EQ’s can understand emotions abstractly and generally, apply emotions to specific situations and see similarities and differences with emotions.  No studies have been published that illustrate effective EQ-raising methods.  

However, it is possible for a person to improve their social and emotional relating.  People can learn about emotions.  Typically, emotions are well understood and can be understood more fully by most people. Courses or other books can increase this type of learning. Many school districts in the United States required students to take an “SEL” or “Social and Emotional Learning” requirement.    

One example of a book that helps improve emotional intelligence is Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More than IQ.  In it, Goleman suggests that the typical definition of intelligence is too narrow, saying that intelligence should be expanded to include self-awareness, ability to relate to others and management of emotions.  Goleman points to this as being a big—but not as big as IQ—predictor of the kind of career a person will have. He says that EQ is not innate, however, but that people, especially children, can build skills necessary for clocking a high EQ.