IQ is a familiar standard of intelligence. You might even know your own IQ score, which comes from a measurement of your reasoning and problem solving abilities. Not so long ago, experts believed that a person's IQ score wouldn't change much over the course of their lives. Today, we understand that intelligence is multi-dimensional, meaning that many factors contribute to a person's ability to learn, use and develop skills. One of the most important is EQ or Emotional Quotient.
It's a measure of emotional intelligence, and it has even more bearing on success than IQ alone. Children and adults with high EQ are better equipped to handle social dilemmas and conflict. They have critical skills for teamwork and leadership. That's because EQ is all about the way we understand and regulate our own emotions. This helps us to respond to emotional cues from others too, so that we can reason and solve problems in a way that is emotionally aware, but not reactive to feelings alone.
The best part is that EQ is learned. It's something you can build and enhance throughout your life. Caregivers can enhance kids' EQ (along with their own) at every stage of development:
Infants & toddlers learn EQ from interactions with caregivers and close family members. Responsive relationships that include serve and return interactions, along with predictable environments help lay the foundation for EQ.
Pre and early schoolers They benefit from opportunities to learn emotional regulation, including safe space to name and process big feelings. Reading stories together is an easy activity to enhance EQ. Our SECPSD Sora reading list is a great place to start.
Children and tweens practice social skills they learn at home in their interactions with community members, teachers, out of home caregivers and same aged peers. They'll benefit from adults who model skills for emotional intelligence by dealing with conflict and disagreements calmly and with a focus on relationship and connection.
Teens and young adults enhance their EQ with space to make mistakes, and caring adults who will listen without trying to change how they feel. When mistakes are viewed as part of learning, teens can find ways to embrace imperfections in themselves and in others and move forward.
Everyone can boost their EQ by enhancing social and emotional skills. Learn how to be an active listener, find out more about the science of empathy and take a minute to examine the emotions that fuel your moods, attitudes and even conflicts.