Difference Between IQ and EQ

IQ vs EQ

There are ways to measure one’s height, weight and other physical attributes but how do you measure mental attributes like intelligence and emotional behavior. Well, scientists have developed quotients as tools to measure the intelligence of a person which are known as IQ (intelligence quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient). While most of us are aware of IQ, not many know about EQ. Though there are similarities between the two, the two are also different in many ways and these differences will be highlighted in this article.

What is IQ?

Also known as intellectual quotient, IQ is a number that measures mathematical and logical abilities of an individual. This is a relative intelligence of a person that is a ratio multiplied by 100 of the mental age as reported on a standardized test to the chronological age. IQ is a measure of the person’s ability to learn or understand new things, his ability to deal with new situations and to manipulate one’s environment or to think abstractly.

What is EQ?

It is a measure of a person’s emotional intelligence and tells the ability of a person to use both his emotions as well as cognitive abilities. The attributes that are measured in this quotient include but are not limited to empathy, intuition, integrity, authenticity, intrapersonal skills and interpersonal skills.

Comparison of IQ and EQ

If we try to compare IQ with EQ, we find that while IQ can measure concepts like word power, math skills and logical reasoning, it falls short when it comes to creative skills and emotional abilities of a person. In fact it has been shown that some of the people scoring very heavily on the IQ test are not particularly adept in managing personal relationships and are at best socially awkward. None can forget Bobby Fisher, once world chess champion who had an amazing IQ of 230 but was a social misfit.

IQ tests have failed miserably with kids suffering from autism giving them high scores whereas it is well known that such children find it difficult to cope in real life situations with others. This is why it was felt necessary to develop other tests that were a true reflection of a person’s cognitive as well as mental abilities. This was how EQ came into existence.

IQ tests are therefore not very popular these days and employers prefer to make their employees go through EQ tests as they believe the scores will help in screening employees on their ability to cope in stressful conditions. There are some administrators who feel that neither IQ nor EQ have the ability to represent a human being in totality. They feel that these tests oversimplify human behavior but it is much more complex than these standardized tests suggest.