| Emotional
Intelligence | Stevehein.com
Goleman's
1995 "EQ test" written for Utne Magazine
Introduction
Methodology
The questions, my findings and original
comments
Goleman's 1995
article which went with the test
New
(Feb 2006) comments
Goleman's Lack of feelings
Better
answers
Introduction
In 1999 I wrote:
"Because many people are
still interested in the 1995 Utne Reader magazine
"EQ test," I decided to take the test
apart, so to speak, to see how it works. (I have
always enjoyed taking things apart since I was a kid
and used to unscrew everything, earning me the label
of "Screwy Lewy.") The results, as I
interpret them, not only give an insight into the
beliefs and personal bias of Daniel Goleman, the test
author, but they also reveal the weakness of the test
instrument. (Goleman later admitted the test was
never intended to be taken seriously.)
Now I am taking another look at the
test. Goleman asked Utnet to take the test off their
site, which they did. Luckily I found a back up copy of
it on another site. Before I just had a link to the Utne
site. Now I have the questions, the scoring, and my
comments presented in an easier to read format.
S. Hein
Feb 2006
Methodology
I started out by selecting answer
"a" for all 10 questions. My score was 60. Then
I changed one answer at a time and recalculated the
scores to determine the "correct" and
"incorrect" answers. Later I saw that I didn't
need to go to all that trouble-- the correct and
incorrect answers were further down in the site! But
still, it was fun to figure it out for myself, and by not
seeing the answers, I was able to do my own thinking
about them.
The Questions, My Findings and
Comments
Here are the original questions, my
findings about how Goleman scored the answers and my 1999
comments.
1.
You’re on an airplane that suddenly hits
extremely bad turbulence and begins rocking from
side to side. What do you do?
a. continue to read your book or magazine,
or watch the movie, paying little attention
to the turbulence.
b. become vigilant for an emergency,
carefully monitoring the flight attendants
and reading the emergency instructions card.
c. a little of both a and b.
d. not sure; never noticed.
|
| Scoring |
Comments |
| Goleman gives you 20 points for answer a,b or
c You get no points for answer d
|
This seems odd - that there can
be three equally correct answers. I was so
surprised at these results I had to repeat them
several times to be sure this is how he scored
them! |
2.
You’ve taken a group of 4-year-olds to the
park, and one of them starts crying because the
others won’t play with her. What do you do?
a. stay out of it; let the kids deal with
it on their own.
b. talk to him and help him figure out ways
to get the other kids to play with him.
c. tell him in a kind voice not to cry.
d. try to distract the crying boy by showing
him some other things he could play with.
|
| Scoring |
Comments |
| You get 20 points for b No points for a, c
or d
|
Now it is just the opposite.
There are three equally incorrect answers! I'd
guess that a more intelligent, more valid test of
EI would reflect that some answers are relatively
better and worse, rather than simply being
"correct" or "incorrect." |
3. Assume you
had hoped to get an A in one of your courses, but
you have just found out you got a C– on the
midterm. What do you do?
a. sketch out a specific plan for ways to
improve your grade and resolve to follow
through on your plans.
b. resolve to do better in the future.
c. tell yourself it really doesn’t
matter much how you do in that particular
course, and concentrate instead on other
classes where your grades are higher.
d. go to the professor and try to talk her
into giving you a better grade.
|
| Scoring |
Comments |
| 20 points for a 0 for b,c,d
|
No points for resolving to do
better? No points for talking to the professors?
No points for not worrying about it and focussing
on positives? I'd say there is some value in all
of these! In fact, it helped me several times to
talk to the professors! |
4. Imagine
you are an insurance salesman calling prospective
clients. Fifteen people in a row have hung up on
you, and you are getting discouraged. What do you
do?
a. call it a day and hope you have better
luck tomorrow.
b. assess qualities in yourself that may be
undermining your ability to make a sale.
c. try something new on the next call, and
keep plugging away.
d. consider another line of work.
|
| Scoring |
Comments |
| I didn't score this in 1999 but I remember
that Goleman gave no points for d. I need to
check the web site where I found the copy of the
test to see if they also have scoring. |
I didn't comment on this one in
1999, but it did inspire me to think about
Goleman's concept of EI. He seems to believe that
an emotionally intelligent insurance salesman
will stay motivated to talk people into buying
from him, even if his conscience tells him that
the people don't need the insurance or the
insurance is not good for them financially. Also
the person might feel bad for bothering the
people he is calling and know that he is really
just trying to use them for his own personal
gain. Yet Goleman seems to indirectly advocate
that the salesman ignore his inner feelings and
focus on making money. This is one of the many
things I don't like about Goleman and his concept
of EI. |
5. You are a
manager in an organization that is trying to
encourage respect for racial and ethnic
diversity. You overhear someone telling a racist
joke. What do you do?
a. ignore it—it’s only a joke.
b. call the person into your office for a
reprimand.
c. speak up on the spot, saying that such
jokes are inappropriate and will not be
tolerated in your organization.
d. suggest to the person telling the joke he
go through a diversity training program.
|
| Scoring |
Comments |
20 for c
0 for a, b, d
|
In this question and answer
Goleman shows his own personal bias by saying the
only correct thing to do is: "Speak up on
the spot, saying that such jokes are
inappropriate and will not be tolerated in your
organization." I am not sure how Goleman
would justify this answer as being a sign of high
EQ. This is clearly his personal belief. I first
noticed his strong personal bias against anything
he believes is "racist" or "racial
intolerance" in his 1995 book when he
attacked, by name, a US corporation for it's
allegedly racist management practices.
Another way Goleman reveals more about himself
is by his use of the word
"inappropriate." On reading Goleman I
get a clear indication that he believes he is the
judge of what is and isn't
"appropriate."
(When I went back and read Goleman's
explanation of his answer I see that he makes it
clear he believes in external control of behavior
(through fear in this case, the fear of getting
fired) and the forced imposition of one's
"morals" and values on another. This is
one reason I call him the "BF Skinner"
of emotional intelligence!)
Finally, Goleman's reference to intolerance
suggests that he believes one can be emotionally
intelligent, as he loosely defines it, and yet be
intolerant! I find this hard to rationalize. I
believe tolerance is a reflection of compassion,
something which Goleman himself stated so
passionately that we need more of! (Goleman,
1995, p xii)
At any rate, this question and Goleman's
"correct" answer provides us with one
of the clearest signs of how he has slipped his
own personal belief system into his presentation
of emotional intelligence. Or perhaps we might
even say how he has shaped his presentation of
emotional intelligence to fit his own belief
system.
|
the rest of this is under construction.....
6. You are trying to calm down a friend who has worked
himself up into a fury at a driver in another car who has
cut dangerously close in front of him. What do you do?
a. tell him to forget it; he’s okay now and
it’s no big deal.
b. put on one of his favourite tapes and try to distract
him.
c. join him in putting down the other driver, but
exaggerate your reaction.
d. tell him about a time something like this happened to
you and how you felt as mad as he does now, but then you
saw the other driver was on the way to a hospital
emergency room.
7. You and your boyfriend or girlfriend have gotten into
an argument that has escalated into a shouting match; in
the heat of anger, you are both making personal attacks
you don’t really mean. What’s the best thing to
do?
a. take a 20-minute break and then continue the
discussion.
b. just stop the argument—go silent, no matter what
your partner says.
c. say you’re sorry and ask your partner to
apologize too.
d. stop for a moment, collect your thoughts, then state
your side of the argument as clearly as you can.
8. You have been assigned to lead a work group that is
trying to come up with a creative solution to a nagging
problem at work. What is the first thing you do?
a. draw up an agenda and allot time for discussion of
each item so you make best use of your time together.
b. have people take the time to get to know each other
better.
c. begin by asking each person for ideas about how to
solve the problem, while ideas are fresh.
d. start with a brainstorming session, encouraging
everyone to say whatever comes to mind, no matter how
wild.
9. Imagine that you have a 5-year-old son who is
extremely timid, and has been hypersensitive
about—and a bit fearful of—new places and
people since he was born. What do you do?
a. accept that he has a shy temperament and think of ways
to shelter him from situations that would upset him.
b. take him to a child psychiatrist for help.
c. purposely expose him to lots of new people and places
so he can get over his fear.
d. engineer an ongoing series of challenging but
manageable experiences that will teach him he can handle
new people and places.
10. For some time now, you have been wanting to get back
to playing the musical instrument you learned to play
when you were younger. You have finally gotten around to
practicing again, and want to make the best use of your
time. What do you do?
a. hold yourself to a strict practice time every day.
b. choose pieces that stretch your abilities a bit.
c. practice only when you are really in the mood.
d. pick pieces that are far beyond your ability, but that
you can master with diligent effort.
| 6 |
5 points for b and c 20 points for d
0 points for a
|
I have several problems with this. First,
Goleman gives points for trying to distract the
driver out of his feelings. I believe we already
are far, far too dependent on distractions, and
we need to focus on our feelings and understand
them. Next, I disagree with the idea that
joining in the attack is emotionally intelligent.
I suspect this will simply help the driver feel
justified in his anger, and perhaps even escalate
the situation.
Finally, I strongly disagree with Goleman's
idea of giving the guy a little lecture. I think
a lot of people would tell someone to shut up if
they started that on them. It is clearly
invalidating. Much better would be to let the
driver talk about why it bothers them so much,
show some understanding and empathy, rather than
acting superior. When ever someone is upset, it
is they who need to do the talking. They don't
need a lecture, they need someone to listen to
them. I suggest that this is obvious to someone
who is truly emotionally enlightened.
In this case, the basis for the anger is fear.
As Goleman says, the other driver cut dangerously
close to him. An emotionally intelligent response
might be "Wow, that was a little
scary." With this response you are doing
three important things 1) showing empathy, 2)
de-escalating the situation 3) helping the driver
label their primary feelings
|
| 7 |
20 for a 0 for b,c,d
|
I have no idea how Goleman came up with this
one as being the best answer! I suggest one
person stop and ask how the other is feeling, in
feeling words, then the partners reflect on what
kind of feelings they want to create in the
relationship. |
| 8 |
20 for b 0 for a, c, d
|
|
| 9 |
5 for b 20 for d
0 for a, c
|
Here is another confusing scoring system. And
I found it noteworthy that Goleman would give
someone 5 points for responding that they would
take their child to a child psychiatrist. Does
this say something about Goleman's belief in the
use of medication to get "socially desirable
behavior" out of children--or adults? Does
it say something about his belief in the cause
effect relationship of parents and children? |
| 10 |
20 for b 0 for a, c, d
|
Final thoughts: Remember that this is a self-reporting
test, so answers don't necessarily reflect true behavior.
Further, I suggest that anyone with high IQ and a
knowledge of the test author's personal biases could
easily increase his score. Also, note that as of
November, 1999 Goleman is listed as a
"contributor" to the Utne magazine, which
suggests to me a financial relationship.
New
comments (Feb 2006), part 1
As I look at this test again and
think more about how Goleman scored it, I tend to think
that either a) Goleman is not a very open minded person,
or b) he thinks the public is not very smart.
As for "a" I say this
because his answers are often very black or white, and
very simplistic. It also gives me more evidence that
Goleman is quite judgmental and thinks he knows just how
the would should be and what people should do and what is
"appropriate" and "inappropriate."
Note that he uses the word "inappropriate" in
his answer to question 5 about the racist joke.
As for "b" one reason I
say this is when I look at question 1, about the
airplane. Answer d is "not sure. never
noticed." Now how could someone have never noticed
"extremely bad turbulence"? I think to myself,
"How stupid does he think some people are?"
(Then again I think of the school
director in Peru who told
me he didn't know whether one of the teachers was his
wife! See more on this.)
I say this also because it is
possible that Goleman knows that there are lots more
possible answers than the ones he has offered and he
simply watered them down for the public, thinking that we
aren't smart enough to handle more complexity.
Or he may have simply been busy
when he was writing the test and didn't put much time or
thought into it. Or he may have had someone else write
it, or copied it from somewhere else. Or he may have just
wanted to write a test to go with his little article for
Utne, which they probably were paying him for, and he may
have wanted to do it as quickly as possible just to meet
a deadline and get paid for the article.
Again I am struck by the fact that
Goleman is so popular and so wealthy, yet we really know
so little about who he actually is, how he thinks, what
he really believes, how he feels and what motivates him.
New comments part 2 - Goleman's lack
of feelings
I just did a search of the original
test and Goleman's answers. I was looking for the words
"feel" and "feelings". Nowhere in
either the test or the answers does Goleman use either
word. (Though he does use the word "felt" one
time.)
I really wonder how someone can
write a whole book about emotional intelligence and then
not even use these words in what is supposed to be a a
practical test of one's EI.
I am so puzzled by Dan Goleman. To
me he is an enigma.
Better
answers
The longer I study Goleman's
answers, the more I am led to believe he really does not
have very good emotional skills. I won't say he is not
emotionally intelligent. These are quite different things
to me, though they don't seem to be different to him. At
any rate, Goleman generally doesn't offer us answers
which include talking directly about feelings.
Look at the answers he gives to the
problem of the child who feels left out, number 9. He
never says "Ask her how she feels" or
"Tell her how you feel." Or "Ask her what
would help her feel better."
And in the question about the
couple arguing, number 7, he also leaves out possible
answers such as "Ask how much your partner feels
understood from 0 to 10, then try to listen and show
understanding till the number improves"
I believe that if Goleman were more
emotionally skilled, he would be able to come up with
better answers. And though I don't want to sound
arrogant, I really believe if he would read my site he
could get some helpful ideas. Then again, we don't know
what his answers would be like these days, since the test
is over 10 years old. But my guess is that Goleman talks
less about feelings now than he did back then. I say this
because it seems his time has been spent in corporate
boardrooms and managers offices, where feelings are
typically only talked about indirectly if at all.
-
For some of my suggestions on how
to improve our emotional skills see listening, understanding,
validating and emotional literacy
The Peruvian school director
I have a story about a school
director in Peru who answered "I don't know"
when I asked him if one of the teachers was his wife!
Unfortunately the story is only in Spanish so far, but if
you want to have a look, here it is - Colegio1.htm
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