How Socially Intelligent Are You? Take This Quiz and See

The concept of Social Intelligence is becoming more and more familiar these days, to educated people and career professionals in many areas of endeavor. Businesses increasingly are recognizing the need to assess and develop SI as a primary career skill and a basic factor in workplace performance.

However, many people who like the general idea and the terminology of SI seem to have difficulty getting down to particulars, when it comes to describing specific behaviors of people they find abrasive or offensive.

And, of course, honest self-assessment is almost always a wise endeavor.

Here are a couple of key definitions: social intelligence is the ability to get along well with others, and to get them to cooperate with you. One of the most basic concepts of SI is the difference between “toxic” behavior and “nourishing” behavior.

We can think of toxic people as those who consistently behave in ways that make others feel devalued, inadequate, angry, frustrated, or guilty.

In contrast, nourishing people consistently behave in ways that make others feel valued, capable, loved, respected, and appreciated.

The Social Intelligence Quiz is an online interactive assessment tool, designed to quickly highlight specific problematic behaviors—toxic behaviors, as described above—and also to highlight consistent nourishing behaviors, as exhibited by a particular person you're trying to understand.

As an exercise in observation, you might first try assessing a well-known person, such as President Trump, to warm up your skills of observation and description. Then, use the tool again to make an honest assessment of your own habits of interaction with others.

Note to coaches, counselors, and advisors: feel free to use this tool, if you find it helpful, with your clients to help them understand themselves better. You can provide them with the link to the quiz so they can engage the tool privately, or if circumstances favor a more explicit assessment, you might walk them through the online quiz one item at a time, possibly discussing the details of various particular behaviors. Note also that the SI Quiz is not a psychometric instrument, nor is it represented as one; it is an educational tool, to be used solely for its developmental value.