Why Emotional Intelligence Matters

Building on the success of Daniel Goleman's 1997 best seller, "Emotional Intelligence," psychologists Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves designed a test that assesses the four pillars of EQ: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. "Emotional Intelligence Appraisal" was published in 2003, and the creators say more than 500,000 people have taken the assessment so far. The pair has used it to teach Fortune 500 companies, governments and even a few royal families how to fix management dysfunction. Now they are making their findings--and the test itself--available to anyone in their new book, "The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book: Everything You Need to Know to Put Your EQ to Work." When they say quick, they mean it. The test only takes about seven minutes, and the book is a fast read with compelling anecdotes and good context in which to understand--and improve--your score. Bradberry recently spoke with NEWSWEEK's Martha Brant. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: How much can people really change their EQ?

Travis Bradberry: Well, there was an interesting study done at Case Western Reserve [University]. They took M.B.A. students through emotional-intelligence training--not a usual part of M.B.A. training. They tracked students over many years. Even many years after graduating from the program some participants had raised their scores 40 percent. They had trained their brains. Practice doesn't make perfect but practice makes things habitual.

How much is someone's EQ determined by biology?

Anything dealing with psychology has a biological component and an environmental component. Here's one extreme example: individuals with autism have poor emotional reasoning because the cells in the brain's limbic system are shrunken and underdeveloped.

So does biology explain why women generally score higher than men on EQ tests?