Assignment 4

Sharing about my EQ

---

I will be sharing to you my second EQ Test (Emotional Quotient Test) or better known as the Emotional Intelligence Test since I have doubts about the credibility and validity of the questions presented by the first website from which where I took my first EQ test.

After sometime looking for another website EQ tester I ended up with the website:

http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_eq_quiz.htm

In the website was a thorough explanation about the Emotional Intelligence ability of a person:

  

"Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control, and evaluate emotions. Some researchers suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened, while other claim it is an inborn characteristic. A number of testing instruments have been developed to measure emotional intelligence, although the content and approach of each test varies. The following quiz presents a mix of self-report and situational questions related to various aspects of emotional intelligence."

Source: http://psychology.about.com/library/quiz/bl_eq_quiz.htm

Underneath that explanation was a question:

What is your emotional intelligence quotient? Take the quiz to learn more.

I was presented with this first question. It was already noticeable that the questions where all about certain situation, scenarios and dilemmas and a group of choices was presented as of to how would I respond to the different cases presented by the quiz. Of course there is no correct or wrong answer in here, but answering truthfully and honestly will really help.

After answering all the questions I was then ready to view my results.

The IE test results for me were:

In my EQ Test I scored above average, as interpreted by the site people with above average EQ scores tend to be very good at interpreting, understanding, and acting upon emotions. The site also quoted that above average scorers are also good at dealing with social and emotional conflicts, doesn’t have a hard time expressing their feelings, and are able to deal with emotional situations.

Though the interpretation of the results wasn’t a perfect fit, there were areas in myself that was indeed dead-on accurate as presented by the results of the site. Answering all the questions honestly basing from what you really would do does greatly to clearly know yourself more.

---

Sharing about my AQ

I took my AQ (Adversity Quotient) test guided by an article from #517 from Innovative Leader Volume 10, Number 2 which was published on February 2001 and was posted in a website:

http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/501-550/article517_body.html

The article was entitled Your Adversity Quotient by Paul Stoltz, Ph.D.

I was reading the direction when I came to understanding why is there a need to take an Adversity Quotient, it was explained in the article that the purpose of the adversity quotient is to know the extent of the effects of every adverse event we experience on an average day. It helps us evaluate ourselves if we are bad in handling adverse events to the extent that it is badly consuming us or is it for the better that it helps us perform well by leading us to a stronger performance. Thus by taking an Adversity Quotient we are able to rate ourselves on how valuable we are at work by determining how ourselves unconsciously react to these adverse event.

A simple explanation was placed before proceeding to the Adversity Quotient questions.

“Imagine the following events as if they were happening right now. Then circle the number that represents your answer to each of the related questions.”

A sample of a question is:

You suffer a financial setback.

To what extent can you influence this situation?

and I was to answer it by rating my response 1-5 depending also to the type of response definition which for this case is; the "not at all" and "completely".

Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 Completely

There were 20 questions all in all. I continued answering until I have finished every question and I was surprised by how the scoring of the AQ is done.

A table was provided with 4 columns represented by the letters C,O,R and E, and I am to insert my answer for each question sequentially placing each by row which means I have to place 4 answers per row.

C	O	R	E
1.	2.	3.	4.
5.	6.	7.	8.
9.	10.	11.	12.
13.	14.	15.	16.
17.	18.	19.	20.
Total for C:	Total for O:	Total for R:	Total for E:

I can find out my ARP score by (Total of C + Total of O + Total of R + Total of E)*2 = ARP Score.

The article quoted that the average ARP score is 147.5. The higher you get the better.

My results where:

Total of C: 21

Total of O: 16

Total of R: 17

Total of E: 17

(21+16+17+17)*2= 142 my mark was below average.

I need to work out areas in my life to improve myself, but how will I know what areas will I improve? Fortunately it was also explained that the corresponding letters in each column signify the four CORE dimensions:

The four (4) cord dimensions from Your Adversity Quotient by Paul Stoltz, Ph.D.:

C = Control

To what extent can you influence the situation?

How much control do you perceive you have?

Those with higher AQs perceive they have significantly more control and influence in adverse situations than do those with lower AQs. Even in situations that appear overwhelming or out of their hands, those with higher AQs find some facet of the situation they can influence. Those with lower AQs respond as if they have little or no control and often give up.

O = Ownership

To what extent do you hold yourself responsible for improving this situation?

To what extent are you accountable to play some role in making it better?

Accountability is the backbone of action. Those with higher AQs hold themselves accountable for dealing with situations regardless of their cause. Those with lower AQs deflect accountability and most often feel victimized and helpless.

R = Reach

How far does the fallout of this situation reach into other areas of your work or life?

To what extent does the adversity extend beyond the situation at hand?

Keeping the fallout under control and limiting the reach of adversity is essential for efficient and effective problem solving. Those with higher AQs keep setbacks and challenges in their place, not letting them infest the healthy areas of their work and lives. Those with lower AQs tend to catastrophize, allowing a setback in one area to bleed into other, unrelated areas and become destructive.

E = Endurance

How long will the adversity endure?

Seeing beyond even enormous difficulties is an essential skill for maintaining hope. Those with higher AQs have the uncanny ability to see past the most interminable difficulties and maintain hope and optimism. Those with lower AQs see adversity as dragging on indefinitely, if not permanently.

Seeing that I garnered bitter scores in the Endurance, Reach and especially lowest in Ownership areas, I must begin to work out on these 3 specified to improve myself.