How emotionally intelligent are you?

It is now universally recognised that emotions play a critical role in all areas of our lives, especially relationships. However it is only in the last 15 years or so that we are beginning to understand on a neurological level how emotions work and what impact they have on thinking and behaviour.

Through highly sophisticated equipment called FMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) neuroscientists are now able to see which parts of the brain are firing when we experience certain emotions and how these are specifically linked to areas of the brain responsible for thinking and behaving.

From this vast body of information as well as research into the psychosocial aspects of emotions, a new form intelligence termed Emotional Intelligence (EI) has emerged with strong applications to organisations, leadership, education and therapy.

Researchers in emotional intelligence have also developed scientific ways of measuring EI levels in people just as in the past IQ measures were developed.

Among the most popular current instruments is the Mayer Salovey Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT, pronounced Meskeet), designed to assess and measure emotional intelligence. It is an ability-based test, which measures how well people perform on specific tasks related to emotional intelligence.

Responses to MSCEIT represent the actual abilities to solve problems by integrating emotional and cognitive factors in dealing with various situations. This means that the test measures how well a person combines thought and feelings in managing oneself, others, problem solving, decision making, and taking action. This can be critical to successful results and performance, whether in a workplace context or in one's personal life.

MSCEIT measures four main branches of emotional intelligence: accurately perceiving emotions in oneself and others; using emotions effectively to facilitate thinking, problem solving, and creativity; understanding emotions; and managing emotions.

The main features of MSCEIT are:

• A performance-based assessment of overall emotional intelligence for those 17 years and over;

• Two area sub-scores consisting of the experiential and strategic aspects of emotional intelligence;

• Independent measures of the four branches of emotional intelligence: identifying; using; understanding; and managing emotions in oneself and others;

• Independent measures of eight task scores, two for each of the four branches. This offers the test-taker both depth and detail in understanding their scores;

• Proven reliability and unique predictive validity;

• Psychometric developmental history;

• A large standardisation sample of 5,000 respondents;

• Consensus and expert-referenced scoring systems;

• Ease of use and interest for respondents;

• User-friendly scoring and reports.

The MSCEIT is versatile in corporate environments. It can be used as a developmental tool, particularly with people who have a leadership role and would like to identify their emotional intelligence abilities and build on them. The detailed feedback that it provides gives test-takers ample information about themselves.

This is complemented with feedback/coaching sessions with a psychologist or qualified practitioner that further helps test-takers understand their result and interpret them.

MSCEIT can also be used as a means of identifying personal and professional development needs that can be met in a training programme. This is especially useful with groups of people, such as management teams.

Another application of the MSCEIT is for recruitment of employees for positions that require healthy levels of emotional intelligence for optimal performance. This is especially the case in selecting people for leadership roles.

Supplemented by other sources of information, such as interviews and the results of other tests, MSCEIT can make the employee recruitment process more reliable and more efficient. It should be noted that using MSCEIT results alone to select candidates for employment is unethical.

MSCEIT may only be administered, scored and interpreted by qualified psychologists or certified MSCEIT practitioners.

For more information about MSCEIT, call Mr Psaila on 7988 7982 or e-mail pjpsaila@workassist.eu. Mr Psaila is a registered psychologist and master practitioner of NLP. His main area of specialisation is training and development of managers and leaders in organisations with an emphasis on the development of EI skills.