Emotional Intelligence Tests & Assessments | Thomas.co

Emotional Intelligence Tests & Assessments

Thomas components
Emotional Intelligence Icon

Emotional Intelligence Tests & Assessments

Insight into a person's emotions towards others at work

  • Recruit emotionally intelligent candidates
  • Fine tune their management skills
  • Employ effective communication
  • Foster engagement and loyalty
  • Understand employees' emotions and how they manage relationships
Request a demo
g2-leader-winter-23-badge
Users Love Us badge G2

Check out the latest reviews from our most delighted customers

Request a demo

Thomas' Emotional Intelligence assessment

Thomas' emotional intelligence assessment, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), can help your business understand employees emotions and how they approach the emotions of others in the workplace.

How the Emotional Intelligence assessment works

The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) measures 15 emotional traits concerning Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality and Sociability.

Profile Report

Detailed Reports

Understand a person’s strengths and limitations, how they react under pressure, how well they develop new relationships and how self-motivated and adaptable they are.

No right or wrong answers icon

No right or wrong answers

There is no right or wrong way of using emotional intelligence. There are positive and negative implications for all the different scores within the questionnaire, which are explained in the reports.

Target icon

Many different uses

The TEIQue is used for a number of purposes, including appraisals, leadership training, work and life coaching, talent development, measuring employee morale, team building, recruitment and selection and many more.

Emotion Assessment Info

Assessment Information

  • Assessment type: Emotional Intelligence
  • Format: 153 questions
  • Time to complete: 30 minutes
  • Training required: TEIQue Accreditation

Validation:

Registered with the British Psychological Society and audited against technical criteria established by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations

TEIQue really helps us to get under the skin of a candidate's personality and gives prospective managers an in-depth insight into how a candidate would fit in their team.

Donna Carolan - Proco Global
Donna Carolan
Head of Talent Acquisition
Background and theory - EI image

Background & Theory

The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue - pronounced TQ) was developed, and is continually updated, by K.V. Petrides, PhD at his London Psychometric Laboratory, currently based at University College London (UCL).

The TEIQue is based on K. V. Petrides' trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) theory, which views the construct as a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. Trait EI provides a complete operationalisation of the affective aspects of personality, meaning that it assesses the emotional world of the individual comprehensively.

Among other psychological characteristics, the TEIQue assesses our beliefs about our emotional abilities (e.g., how good we believe we are at identifying, understanding, and managing our own and other people's emotions). These beliefs are strong predictors of a remarkable range of behaviours and achievements, many of which are vital in the workplace (job performance, job satisfaction, job stress, leadership, organisational citizenship, organisational commitment, teamwork, etc.).

Formt of EI Assessment image

Format of the Emotional Intelligence Assessment

The TEIQue is a self-report questionnaire. Individuals indicate their level of agreement on a 1-7 Likert scale (1 'disagree completely' to 7 'agree completely') with 153 unique items.

Behaviour Validity

Reliability & Validity

The TEIQue is registered with the British Psychological Society (BPS) after it was audited against the technical criteria established by the European Standing Committee on Tests and Testing, part of the European Federation of Psychologists' Associations.

Thomas International conducts on-going psychometric research with the TEIQue. We have previously collaborated with the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge University www.psychometrics.cam.ac.uk. Please get in touch with [email protected] if you are interested in supporting our continuous development programmes.

Unleash the power of your people with Thomas

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an Emotional Intelligence Test?

An Emotional Intelligence (EI) test is designed to understand your level of EI based on the five characteristics of emotional intelligence. It’s your ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathise with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

Pioneered under the research of Mayer, Caruso, Salovey & Sitarenios (2003), Emotional Intelligence is different from IQ (Intelligence Quota) which measures logical reasoning. EI gives us a greater understanding of how someone deals with their emotions and the emotions of others in day-to-day situations.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is something which can be developed over time. The main components of EI include: Self Awareness (a recognition of one’s own emotions), Social Awareness (recognition of others’ emotions), Self Management (ability to manage one’s emotions) and social skills (an ability to influence and manage others’ emotions). 

An Emotional Intelligence test is designed to analyse these traits and understand what areas require development to help round out a person’s ability to develop their EI in specific situations. 

How to test for Emotional Intelligence

There are a few different ways to test for Emotional Intelligence. They are primarily split into three groups, self reporting, others reporting and ability tests. Each comes with their own pros and cons but fundamentally they’re designed to test your emotional intelligence based on situations and your responses. 

Self reporting is most commonly used in personality testing. Traits including warmth, empathy, anxiety and so on are tested in this way through a series of questions that ask the respondent on a sliding scale of whether they agree or disagree with the statement. 

As emotional intelligence considers other people, then getting others to report back is also a commonly used technique. This doesn’t mean that it’s a free-for-all attack on your character. Like self report, where the answers are based on a form of sliding scale, the questions are not being asked to you directly, they are being asked to people you have asked for feedback from. Commonly known as observer ratings or 360 degree feedback, this is a way to understand how your emotional responses and behaviour are being observed by those you work with. 

Finally, there is ability testing. EI is an actual ability so it makes sense that it can be measured along with other abilities. There are several ways of doing this but one of the most common methods is to use the MEIS system as developed by Mayer, Caruso, Salovey & Sitarenios which analyses answers based on Identifying EmotionsUsing EmotionsUnderstanding Emotions and Managing Emotions

How does an Emotional Intelligence Test work?

Based on the type of test you’re using (self report, others report and the MEIS test), you will have different methodologies to complete an emotional test. 

Self reporting tests can be done by yourself and give you some insight into your EI. The test works by posing a question and then requiring you to answer honestly based on the options available. For example, “I find it's hard to fall asleep at night” followed by responses which include, “not true” “somewhat true” “very true”. 

Others reporting (360 degree feedback) is similar to self reporting, the primary difference being that, other people are answering. A typical example in others reporting for emotional intelligence includes “Understands my emotions” followed by responses which include, “not true” “somewhat true” “very true”. 

MEIS testing is based on questions from situational scenarios with three potential answers equating to a score per answer (the respondent isn’t aware of weighting). These answers are then evaluated across a database of responses to provide a total score and thus measure your EI. 

Thomas uses the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Registered with the British Psychological Society, the test is designed to measure 15 emotional traits concerning Well-Being, Self-Control, Emotionality and Sociability. 

Why use Emotional Intelligence Tests in the workplace?

Understanding how your employees will manage their emotions and those of their colleagues will help organisations understand who is better suited to roles which can either be highly stressful or require good leadership skills, two areas where good Emotional Intelligence thrives. 

Being able to conduct Emotional Intelligence tests for leaders is a pragmatic way of understanding who will benefit the organisation with the nuances and soft skills that EI brings to the team. 

Having leaders within an organisation who are more emotionally intelligent can provide a calming workplace environment whilst also helping to improve productivity and create a fun working environment which reduces staff turnover and improves overall business objectives.

How can Emotional Intelligence Tests help recruitment?

Identifying which candidates have soft skills and good emotional intelligence at the interview stage will help provide a greater insight into the candidate and the role they are fulfilling. Knowing which candidate has a better relationship managing their emotions and those of people around them would also be an important aspect for any company that is looking to help guide a recruitment decision around who gets selected for leadership roles. 

Knowing how to test emotional intelligence in an interview is, of course, essential. This can be done during a face-to-face meeting where scenarios are brought out and answers evaluated on both gut feel and understanding the response, or it could be done using one of the many techniques previously described. 

Using the Thomas Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), candidates can be asked to complete this online assessment before a face-to-face interview. Answers and assessments remain private and are privy only to the recruiter at this stage. 

How can Thomas help with Emotional Intelligence Tests?

Thomas’ (TEIQue) assesses our beliefs about our emotional abilities (e.g., how good we believe we are at identifying, understanding, and managing our own and other people's emotions).

These beliefs are strong predictors of a remarkable range of behaviours and achievements, many of which are vital in the workplace (job performance, job satisfaction, job stress, leadership, organisational citizenship, organisational commitment, teamwork, etc.).