Being somewhat curious about the subject of emotional intelligence, and thinking that AS/HFA and emotional intelligence quotient (EQ) may be correlated, I decided to take several online EQ tests. I noticed that the tests lacked much consistency, i.e. some said my EQ was above average, some said it was below average, different tests identified completely different strengths and weaknesses among the individual components of emotional intelligence, etc. Even pairs of tests that used a lot of the same questions gave different results depending on the few remaining questions and the scoring criteria of the particular quiz. This is in contrast to IQ tests, which always seem to land within the same 10-15 point range.
This makes me question the validity of emotional intelligence as a meaningful trait, despite the fact that I believe some of its components (empathizing ability, motivation, etc.) are perfectly meaningful traits. I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this.
I think some of the problem is that I'm quite high in some of the more intrapersonal parts of emotional intelligence (I tend to be self-motivated and tend to analyze myself), though low in most of the interpersonal domains.
14 May 2007, 2:05 am
