Q.Which of the two, IQ or EQ, do you think would be more related to success in life and why?

Both matter, but EQ (emotional intelligence) is often more strongly related to success in life than IQ. A good IQ and scholastic record are not enough to be successful; many academically talented people are unsuccessful and face problems in family, workplace and relationships because they lack emotional intelligence — the ability to accurately appraise, express and regulate emotions in oneself and others. Emotionally intelligent people perceive and manage feelings, relate emotions to thinking, and thus handle life's challenges better, which supports success beyond examinations. …

What each measures

• IQ (Intelligence Quotient) reflects general cognitive/scholastic ability — reasoning, problem-solving and the capacity to profit from schooling. It predicts performance in academic and intellectual tasks.
• EQ (Emotional Quotient) expresses emotional intelligence — first introduced by Salovey and Mayer as the ability to monitor one's own and others' emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions. It is a set of skills underlying accurate appraisal, expression and regulation of emotions.

Why EQ is more related to success in life

The chapter points out that a good IQ and scholastic record are not enough to be successful in life. One can find many people who are academically talented but unsuccessful in their own lives — they experience problems in the family, at the workplace and in interpersonal relationships. Psychologists suggest the source of their difficulty may be a lack of emotional intelligence. Emotionally intelligent persons:

• perceive and are sensitive to their own feelings and to others' emotions (through body language, tone, facial expressions);
• relate emotions to their thoughts so as to take them into account while solving problems and making decisions;
• understand the influence of emotions; and
• control and regulate their emotions to achieve harmony.

These abilities help a person cope with stress, cooperate with others, and adjust to challenges outside the classroom — all of which support success. Programmes that raise students' emotional intelligence even improve their academic achievement.

A balanced conclusion …