Comparison of Emotional Intelligence Tests
Assess your EQ to build awareness and tap your strengths
We use and recommend several valid and valuable measures of emotional intelligence. This overview will help you decide which EQ test to use, and how to get it.
Here's a rundown of tests we use. All are statistically validated measures, and each measures different aspects of EQ. Click the link in the price column to purchase from the EQ Store (and support Six Seconds! †)
| Test | Purpose | Versions and price | | MSCEIT® "Mayer, Salovey, Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test" | Description: The only ability measure of EQ, the MSCEIT requires you to actually use your abilities in taking the test with questions where you look at faces, for example, and identify what emotions are present. It helps you understand the actual intelligence behind emotions: Perceiving, using, understanding, and managing feelings. Purpose: We recommend this test for people who want a substantive understanding of the way they process emotions. We use it for coaching and for advanced training. The MSCEIT is one of the best tools for research, especially sectional studies, as it truly measures the way intelligence works with emotions.
Validity: MSCEIT has outstanding psychometric properties and is very well researched. Even after controlling for personality, it predicts important workplace and life outcomes - while the claims are modest (ie, R2 ranging from .07-.35) the research is rigorous and meets high academic standards. MSCEIT is a Level B tool *
| Online (plus a paper version is available) Cost: $50 + debrief
| | SEI™, Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Assessment | Description: Focused on self-development, the SEI is the only test based on Six Seconds' EQ-in-action model: Know Yourself, Choose Yourself, Give Yourself. The test measures 8 fundamental skills in these three areas, such as emotional literacy, navigating emotions, intrinsic motivation, and empathy. Report comes with over 20 pages of interpretation and actionable, substantive development suggestions.
Purpose: The test is quite self-explanatory and easy to use. We use the SEI in our training programs (e.g., EQ Leadership, Selling with EQ, and EQ Team) and for 1:1 coaching as well as to assist hiring and for performance management. Because of the development focus, SEI is ideal for helping people to learn and apply emotional intelligence.
Validity: The SEI has excellent psychometric properties including Chronbach Alphas ranging from .73 - .84, and it strongly predicts self-reported outcomes such as effectiveness (R2=.501) and quality of life (R2=.435). The SEI has a highly sophisticated scoring algorithm including two self-correcting indices (positive impression and answer style) and a consistency scale. SEI is a Level B tool. *
| Online and paper, English, Italian, Chinese, Indonesian (Spanish pending). Group report available.
$45 + debrief | | OVS, Organizational Vital Signs™ by Six Seconds | Description: Organizational Vital Signs is an organizational climate assessment that gives a clear picture of how people are relating to each other and the workplace. It could be described as a way to see the effects of people using (or not using) emotional intelligence in the workplace.
Unlike the other tests, OVS is designed to assess a group or an organization to show the context in which individuals perform. The test measures six factors: Trust, Collaboration, Accountability, Leadership, Alignment, Adaptability. These factors statistically predict over 50% of productivity + customer service + retention.
Purpose: We use it to focus leadership strategy, gain buy-in for change, and to guide and measure our organizational change programs. It takes each person about 15 minutes to complete and results can be returned in under a week.
Validity: OVS has a strong factor structure and excellent predictive validity against self-reported outcomes. The norm group includes a broad cross-section of service, financial, healthcare, educational and technical organizations.
| Online and paper, English, Spanish, Portugese, Italian $2500 for up to 100 people, +$10 per additional user (or $5000 for unlimited).
| | EQ Map® by Essi Systems | Description: With a much broader perspective, the EQ Map helps people put emotional intelligence into a workplace context. The Map is self-scored, so you can do it completely on your own; it has questions along the lines of, "How well do you recognize emotions in people?" The 14 main scales include emotional awareness, emotional expression, resilience, outlook, trust, and personal power. It also has four outcome scales to show the benefit of increasing the first 14. The EQ Map includes an interpretation guide booklet. Purpose: We recommend EQ Map for people interested in developing their own abilities and for workplace teams seeking more effective ways of working together. One advantage is the EQ Map is self-scored, so it offers the confidentiality and convenience of a "do it yourself" process that can be used on-site in training.
Validity: EQ Map is normed and has a good factor structure. Because the paper version is self-scored, there is not a complex scoring alogrithm and there are no self-correcting indices. This is a Level C tool.
| Paper; Online also available $29.95
(+ optional phone debrief)
| | EQ-i® by Reuven BarOn | Description: One of the most widely-used assessments in research, the EQ-i helps you see how your "emotionally intelligent behavior." This is a self-report, so you answer questions along the lines of, "How easy is it for you to adapt to new situations?" The EQ-i sections are Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Stress Management, Adaptability and Mood. Purpose: We use this test to help people understand their behavior and to look for trends in groups (job performance profiling, ie what skills help people succeed in this job?).
We have also used the Youth Version of the EQ-i in our school projects.
Validity: The EQ-i has a strong factor structure and a very large normative sample. It uses a complex scoring algorithm with a self-correcting positive impression index and a consistency scale. The EQ-i predicts important work and life outcomes (job performance, leadership, sales, learning, university retention), but these studies do not control for personality and EQ-i has about a .7 correlation with a "Big 5" personality assessment. EQ-i is a Level B tool *
| Online, paper, 360, youth. Development or Leadership reports, plus group reports and comparison reports. English, French, Spanish. $50 + debrief
| | Emotional Intelligence Appraisal® by Talent Smart | Description and Purpose: There are 3 versions of this test. All use the Daniel Goleman 4-quadrant model: Self-awareness, Other-awareness, Self-management, Relationship-management, and questions are along the lines of, "When I am frustrated, I can put that aside to take care of the work I need to do." All take about 7 minutes to complete, and all come with 6 months of e-learning and a valuable goal-tracking reminder system. The ME edition is a self-report that gives a quick picture of your own EQ. We recommend it for people who want an introduction.
The MR is a "multi-rater" where you and 6-12 other people rate you - and you can see how your self-perception is different from and like others' perception of you. This is useful for a more in-depth understanding and coaching, and can be effective with teams.
The TE is a team assessment where you get a profile of the team's EQ overall (an average).
Validity: Considering the brevity of the tool (27 items), there is a strong factor structure. There are no self-correcting indices or consistency scales. This is a Level C tool.
| Online. ME is also available in paper. ME = $29.95
MR = $129.95
TE = $199.95
see talentsmart.com
| | ECI® (Emotional Competence Inventory) by Hay McBer | Description: Using Goleman's 4-quadrant model (awareness of self and others, management of self and others), the ECI measures a spectrum of critical competencies shown to affect workplace performance. The ECI is a "multi-rater" so the test-taker receives feedback from several people. Purpose: We use this test for professional and personal development for coaching leaders who really want to know how they are coming across to their team members.
Validity: The ECI is a competency profile, not a psychometric assessment. The competency model is based on the extensive Hay database.
| Online. $250 (+ optional phone debrief)
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* Levels: A Level B tool is a psychometric assessment that can only be administered by someone with Master's level training in assessment or a special Certification. Care must be taken with Level B tools to ensure that test-takers have access to a qualified person to debrief the feedback. Level C tools do not require special certification.
About the Statistics:
To be an informed consumer, you should know that it's possible to make a "statistically reliable" test in a few months. However, a valuable test takes longer.
The most valuable tests:
- Test something that matters (ie higher scores predict higher performance in the world).
- Make sense (ie there is a logic to the way the test is organized - it "hangs together").
- Test something new (ie not just like other tests).
- Are consistent (ie five different people with similar skills or traits score in similar ways).
It's also important that a tool appears to measure what it says it tests. This reduces confusion and, more importantly, it helps the test-taker stay open to the feedback they receive.
If you want a recommendation for your particular situation or application, please contact us!
Disclaimer / Bias:
This review was created by Joshua Freedman who has taken EQ Map Certification and used that tool for over 5 years, is EQ-i Certified and used over 250 EQ-i assessments in training, coaching and research, is MSCEIT Certified, used MSCEIT in training, and co-presented MSCEIT certification training, and is a co-author of the SEI and of the OVS.
For businesses, our Institute for Organizational Performance has a page comparing tests for teams, and assessment professionals to help administer them.
Copyright © by All About Emotional Intelligence from Six Seconds All Right Reserved. Published on: 2004-06-26 (54530 reads) [ Go Back ] |
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