Emotional Intelligence Test (EQ Test)
An emotional intelligence assessment measures how well a person recognizes, understands, and manages emotions in themselves and in others. TTI Success Insights' EQ assessment scores five dimensions and returns a report designed for coaching and leadership development, not a pass/fail grade.
This page covers what the five dimensions are, how they are organized, how TTI's naming maps onto Daniel Goleman's original model, and what an EQ score can and cannot tell you.
Key Takeaways
- TTI measures five dimensions: self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, social regulation, and motivation.
- TTI's naming differs from Goleman's. Social awareness covers what Goleman called empathy; social regulation covers what he called social skills.
- EQ is developable. Unlike cognitive ability, emotional intelligence is influenced by feedback, coaching, and deliberate practice.
What Is an Emotional Intelligence Assessment?
An emotional intelligence assessment is a structured questionnaire that scores a person across the components of emotional intelligence — typically awareness and management of one's own emotions, awareness and management of others' emotions, and the internal drive behind both. Results are used for leadership development, coaching, team communication, and conflict work.
The category divides into two quite different things, and the distinction matters more than most buyers realize. Free online EQ quizzes give a single score and a paragraph of interpretation. Professionally developed instruments score multiple dimensions separately, come with a full report, and are debriefed by someone trained to interpret them.
You can review the actual output before deciding: download a sample EQ report (PDF).
The Five Dimensions of TTI's EQ Assessment
| Factor | What Does It Measure? | What Do Lower Scores Look Like at Work? |
|---|---|---|
| Self-awareness | The ability to recognize and understand your emotions, moods, and their impact on others | Struggle to identify or name emotions, trouble recognizing what triggers reactions |
| Self-regulation | The ability to manage impulses, control reactions, and think before acting | Reacting impulsively when frustrated or stressed with difficulty managing anger or other strong emotions |
| Social awareness | The ability to understand others' emotions and recognize how your actions affect them | Misreading the room or pushing a contradictory idea at the wrong moment |
| Social regulation | The ability to manage relationships, influence others, and build strong networks | Struggling to influence or persuade others effectively, difficulty building trust and rapport |
| Motivation | An internal drive to pursue goals with energy, persistence, and purpose, beyond external rewards | Disengaging when work feels challenging, difficulty connecting daily work to a larger purpose |
How the EQ Wheel Organizes the Five Dimensions
The five dimensions of EQ are not a flat list. TTI's EQ report reveals them on an EQ Wheel, and the shape of that wheel is a fast and helpful way to understand what the assessment is actually telling you.
Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation
Self-awareness and self-regulation measure how well you manage your own emotional experience. Self-awareness comes first for a reason — it is foundational, and the other dimensions build on it.
Others: Social Awareness and Social Regulation
Social awareness and social regulation measure how well you manage relationships. The pairing is deliberate: social awareness is reading the room, and social regulation is responding to it effectively.
Motivation runs around the outside of the wheel, because it influences all four of the other dimensions rather than sitting alongside them. Someone working on their emotional regulation for their own reasons is far more likely to sustain the change than someone doing it because a manager asked.
TTI's Five Dimensions Compared With Goleman's Five Elements
Daniel Goleman's model is the reference point most people arrive with, and TTI's instrument is built on the same foundation with more precise naming for two of the dimensions. If you have seen a different list, this is usually why.
| Goleman's Element | TTI's Dimension | Why the Naming Differs |
|---|---|---|
| Self-awareness | Self-awareness | Same construct, same name |
| Self-regulation | Self-regulation | Same construct, same name |
| Empathy | Social awareness | "Empathy" can be confused with sympathy; social awareness measures the ability to accurately perceive and understand others' emotions |
| Social skills | Social regulation | "Social skills" can imply charisma; social regulation measures the ability to intentionally manage relationships and interactions based on an understanding of others |
| Motivation | Motivation | Same construct, same name |
Where EQ Fits Alongside DISC and 12 Driving Forces
EQ answers a question neither behavioral nor motivational data can reach. DISC reveals how a person naturally approaches work. 12 Driving Forces reveals what they value. EQ reveals if someone can read a situation and adjust in the moment.
Because the three answer different questions, they are frequently combined. Multi-science reports like TriMetrix EQ present them together rather than as separate documents. See the full assessment suite for all five sciences.
The overlap people ask about most is motivation, since both EQ and 12 Driving Forces use the word. Driving Forces identifies which values energize a person. The motivation dimension in EQ measures the emotional satisfaction and persistence behind pursuing goals at all. A person can have clearly identified drivers and still score low on motivation.
How Organizations Use EQ Data
- Leadership Development — the gap between a capable manager and an effective one can be social regulation, not technical skill. See solutions for more.
- Conflict and Team Communication — separating "misreading the situation" from "reading it correctly and responding badly" changes a coaching conversation entirely.
- Customer-Facing and High-Stress Roles — social awareness and self-regulation carry disproportionate weight when emotional labor is part of the job.
- Coaching and Personal Development — because EQ is developable, a baseline score is genuinely useful as a starting point rather than a verdict.
Read more on the five dimensions in depth, starting with self-awareness and self-regulation.
Emotional intelligence isn't just for leaders — it's a life skill for everyone. The EQ assessment helps you understand your strengths and blind spots across the five core skills and gives you practical ways to improve how you connect, communicate, and manage stress.
Adam Wong, Co-Founder, Rockstar WorkforceWhat Your EQ Score Does and Does Not Tell You
Emotional intelligence assessments, including TTI's, are usually self-report instruments. These assessments measure how a person perceives and describes their own emotional functioning, which is informative but inherently is a self-view. That is why results are most useful when debriefed, and why they pair well with observed behavioral data.
It's important to note: there is no universal "average EQ score". Scores are interpreted against the instrument's own scale, so a number from one publisher's test does not translate to another's. Also, a candidate's EQ score should not be used as a hiring cutoff. Any assessment influencing a U.S. employment decision must be job-related and monitored for adverse impact under EEOC guidance. TTI's validation and compliance documentation is on the compliance page, with supporting research published on the TTI Research portal.
Two Ways To Work With TTI
Whether you are a leader bringing emotional intelligence data into your own organization or a coach or consultant who wants to use it with clients, the starting point is the same conversation.
Organizations: book a 20-minute consultation to scope where EQ fits in your development or leadership programs.
Coaches, consultants, and trainers: join the TTI partner network of more than 7,000 experts and get certified to debrief EQ reports under your own brand.
Prefer to talk now? Call 866.891.5706, or see learning and certification programs.
Emotional Intelligence Assessment: Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Best Assessment for Emotional Intelligence?
There is no single best instrument, because the right choice depends on what the results are for. Several established options exist, including TTI's EQ assessment, the EQ-i 2.0 and EQ 360 published by MHS, and TalentSmart's appraisal. What matters more than the brand is whether the instrument scores dimensions separately rather than returning one number, whether the publisher can produce validation documentation, and whether someone trained will debrief the result. A free online quiz and a professionally developed inventory are not comparable products.
What Are the 5 Main Dimensions of EQ?
In Daniel Goleman's original model the five elements are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. TTI's EQ assessment measures the same five dimensions but names two of them precisely: social awareness in place of empathy, and social regulation in place of social skills. Four of the five split into managing yourself and managing others, with motivation influencing all of them.
What Is an Average EQ Score?
There is no cross-industry average EQ score, because each assessment provider scores against its own scale and normative sample. A result from one instrument cannot be compared directly with a result from another, and a single overall number is far less useful than a dimensional breakdown. Treat any source quoting a universal "average EQ" figure with caution.
Is an Emotional Intelligence Test Accurate?
Accuracy depends on the instrument's validation evidence and on how the results are interpreted. It is worth knowing that most EQ assessments, including TTI's, are self-reported — they capture how a person describes their own emotional functioning. That is genuinely useful information, and it is also a self-view, which is why results are strongest when debriefed and read alongside observed behavioral data.
Can Emotional Intelligence Be Improved?
Yes. Unlike cognitive ability, emotional intelligence can be improved with feedback, coaching, and deliberate practice. Self-awareness is usually the place to start, since the other four dimensions build on it. Motivation is the exception worth knowing about: it can be influenced and improved, but it cannot be taught directly.
Two Ways to
Work With Us
Whether you are a leader who wants to use assessments in your organization or a consultant who wants to use them with your clients, you’re in the right place. Working with TTI is easy. We have complete assessments ranging from DISC assessment tests, EQ tests, and more.
What is emotional intelligence (EQ)?
Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and apply emotions effectively in yourself and others. It includes skills such as self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, social awareness, and relationship management, all of which influence communication, decision-making, leadership, and interpersonal effectiveness.
What is the difference between EQ and IQ?
IQ (intelligence quotient) measures cognitive abilities such as logical reasoning, problem-solving, and analytical thinking, while EQ (emotional intelligence) measures how effectively a person understands and manages emotions in real-world situations. IQ is more closely tied to technical or academic capability, whereas EQ is strongly linked to leadership effectiveness, collaboration, and long-term professional success.
Is an emotional intelligence test accurate?
An emotional intelligence test can be accurate when it is research-based, well-structured, and designed to measure consistent emotional patterns rather than temporary moods. Professionally developed EQ tests focus on validated emotional competencies and are widely used in leadership development, coaching, and organizational settings, with accuracy depending on the quality of the assessment and how results are interpreted and applied.
Can emotional intelligence be improved?
Yes, emotional intelligence can be improved over time through increased self-awareness, feedback, coaching, and intentional practice. Because emotional skills are learnable, EQ development is commonly included in leadership training, professional development, and personal growth programs.
Who should take an EQ test?
An EQ test is useful for individuals seeking greater self-awareness, leaders and managers aiming to improve leadership effectiveness, teams working to strengthen communication and collaboration, and organizations focused on talent development, performance, and workplace effectiveness.