What Is the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal?

The Emotional Intelligence Appraisal is a test designed to measure a person's emotional intelligence, which is sometimes referred to as EQ. This test is based on the research of Daniel Goleman, though it was not developed by him. Testing for emotional intelligence began in the 1990s as an alternative or supplement to intelligence testing. Though some measures of emotional intelligence treat it as an innate ability, the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal treats this type of intelligence as a mixture of innate ability and learned behavior. These tests are often used in business to identify strengths and weaknesses in employees so that these employees can learn skills to improve certain aspects of their emotional intelligence.

In 1995, Daniel Goleman published his first book on emotional intelligence. His research suggests that this type of intelligence is as important as standard intelligence when evaluating a person's job performance, leadership ability, and meaningful contribution to society. Dr. Travis Bradberry and Dr. Jean Greaves developed the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal by expanding on Goleman's work. This test measures four different skills, social awareness, relationship management, self-awareness and self-management, as first outlined by Goleman.

A person who takes the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal encounters 28 test items. The test usually takes only about 10 minutes to complete and quantifies a person's answers into a score in each of the emotional intelligence skills and an overall emotional intelligence quotient. By breaking emotional intelligence down into its component parts, the test identifies emotional strengths and areas of emotional intelligence that could be improved.

By treating emotional intelligence as a set of learned skills, the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal offers a measurement of ability that is considerably different from the intellectual ability measured by an intelligence quotient (IQ) test. The research that went into creating this test acknowledges the presence of multiple kinds of intelligence, some of which are innate and some of which are learned. Learned intelligences, such as emotional intelligence, can be improved by practicing a variety of skills.

Many businesses have adopted the use of the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal as a way to identify strengths and weaknesses in employees. Once emotional intelligence has been quantified, there is both a baseline to measure improvement and a set of skills to target for improvement. For each of the emotional intelligence skills measured by this test, there are a number of activities and strategies that can be used to improve a person's emotional intelligence.