This is emotional intelligence: know yourself; behave yourself; know others; build bonds.

Some people are uncommonly good at reading body language, able to judge at a glance what someone is thinking – and respond accordingly. They can calm a coworker who’s angry, or reassure a friend who’s anxious.

Why are certain people so good at this? The answer has to do with emotional intelligence, or EQ.

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand your own feelings and the feelings of others, and influence those feelings to your advantage. A person who's good at “reading” people has high emotional intelligence.

EQ combines four different elements.

The first is self-awareness, or the ability to understand your own feelings and behaviors.

The second is self-management. Self-management is about keeping yourself in situations in which you know you'll be able to behave correctly.

The third is social awareness. Once you know how to manage your behavior and understand your feelings, you'll know how to read the emotions of others. You'll understand what makes people feel angry, sad or excited, and you'll be able to better read body language.

The fourth and final element is relationship management. Understanding your own behavior and the behavior of others around you enables you to build stronger relationships with the important people in your life.

For example, if you know that one of your coworkers gets upset when he's criticized, you'll know how to give feedback to which he'll be able to respond more effectively.

Let’s look closer at the four elements of emotional intelligence. Read on!