4 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence: The EQ Framework

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" by Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

Like this article? Sign up for a free trial here .

What are the 4 pillars of emotional intelligence? How do they come together to make up the EQ construct?

There are 4 pillars of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Each pillar is essentially a set of skills that pertain to the corresponding domain of emotional intelligence.

Keep reading for more about the 4 pillars of emotional intelligence.

What Are the Four Pillars of Emotional Intelligence?

The emotional intelligence (EQ) construct consists of 4 pillars that determine how we handle different aspects of our emotional world: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Self-Awareness

Self-awareness is your ability to identify your emotions as they occur and recognize your tendencies during different scenarios. 

People with high levels of self-awareness:

  • Recognize the people or situations that upset them
  • Notice patterns of behavior in specific situations 
    • For example, they may recognize that they get angry when someone wastes their time or nervous when a particular person enters the room.
  • Embrace emotional outbursts as learning opportunities
  • Take time to decipher the reasons behind their emotional responses
  • Know what they do well, and what they don’t
  • Understand the things that motivate them

Self-Management

After you’ve strengthened your self-awareness skills, you can begin to develop self-management. Self-management is the ability to use your self-awareness to manage your emotions and stay in control of your behavior.

People with high-levels of self-management:

4 Pillars of Emotional Intelligence: The EQ Framework

———End of Preview———

Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Travis Bradberry and Jean Greaves's "Emotional Intelligence 2.0" at Shortform .

Here's what you'll find in our full Emotional Intelligence 2.0 summary :

  • What emotional intelligence is and why it's essential for your workplace success
  • The 4 reasons you need to work on your EQ
  • How you can use EQ to better manage relationships

Darya Sinusoid

Darya’s love for reading started with fantasy novels (The LOTR trilogy is still her all-time-favorite). Growing up, however, she found herself transitioning to non-fiction, psychological, and self-help books. She has a degree in Psychology and a deep passion for the subject. She likes reading research-informed books that distill the workings of the human brain/mind/consciousness and thinking of ways to apply the insights to her own life. Some of her favorites include Thinking, Fast and Slow, How We Decide, and The Wisdom of the Enneagram.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *