Consciousness Quotient

The Consciousness Quotient (CQ) theory and Consciousness Quotient Inventory were developed by psychologist Ovidiu Brazdau, PhD and first presented at the "Toward a Science of Consciousness Conference 2009" in Hong Kong (June 11th to 14th, 2009).
The Consciousness Quotient (CQ)
Ovidiu Brazdau describes the CQ as "the level of consciousness (or the level of being conscious) that is experienced in the morning, ½-1 hour after we woke up, after a refreshing sleep, without being exposed to any significant stimulus (coffee, TV, radio, music, talking etc.) "
In other words, the consciousness quotient is the general level of being conscious / aware throughout a day, in regular life conditions. Of course, this level of being conscious can change.
Every change in the conscious experience can be described in terms of information. Ovidiu Brazdau considers the main mechanism of all the states of consciousness to be the expansion / contraction of the consciousness field. "Some of us have a larger level of consciousness, described by a higher CQ, that is: they can access plenty of information. Some of us have a lower CQ, and can access less information. And of course, areas where we can access information can differ in different states, but overall, the general CQ is the same. In some moments we are more conscious about our feelings, but less of our thoughts or our own being".
Our CQ shows only the degree of what we are able to access simultaneously. In a regular state, increases in consciousness of one field (e.g. emotional field) can only be obtained “ stealing” consciousness resources from one side (e.g. social-relational field) and offer more consciousness to another field of life (e.g. emotional). In a way, it is similar to attention: we cannot focus on more than a few elements.
A higher CQ than the average means a person can access simultaneously a larger amount of information, while a lower CQ means that person can access a lower amount of information. Hence, the one with a higher CQ will usually have a larger perspective, if the information is processed and understood. If one person enters for one hour a mystic trance state, perhaps he/she will access much more information during that state.
Using CQ theory, his/her Consciousness Quotient is only what will remain after the peak experience vanished. If the state is „habitualized”, and persists months after the peak experience, we can assume that it is possible to have a higher CQ.
Consciousness Quotient Dimensions and CQ Inventory
The Consciousness Quotient has 6 main dimensions and 8 secondary factors that describe the conscious experience. The main dimensions are: physical, emotional, mental (cognitive), spiritual, social-relational and self-consciousness. These six dimensions are the main six factors of the Consciousness Quotient Inventory.

The primary six factors of the Consciousness Quotient
1. Physical Consciousness: refers to the ability of being conscious of the body and organism, and of the physical elements of the environment
2. Emotional Consciousness: describes the ability of being conscious of your own emotions and feelings, and generally, to be conscious of any emotional feeling
3. Mental (Cognitive) Consciousness: refers to the ability of being conscious of your own ideas, of the mental stream generally
4. Spiritual Consciousness: refers to the ability of being conscious about yourself as a part of the universe, and describes the ability of being conscious about the multiple connections with the surrounding life (13 items)
5. Social - Relational Consciousness: refers to the ability of being conscious about human relationships and the connections with the people you interact with
6. Self-Consciousness: Consciousness of Self or Self-Awareness refers to the ability of being conscious about your own person, your own self; this factor describes the ability of the reflexivity of the human being, of being able to look upon itself in an objective way
The Consciousness Quotient Inventory is composed of 62 items, that describe these dimensions. For answers the CQ Inventory the inventory uses a Likert scale with 5 degrees, from 1 to 5 points, showing the gradual agreement of the subject for each item: Strongly disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly agree.
The Inventory has other 9 secondary factors. 34 of the 62 items of the Scale contribute to the secondary factors. The secondary factors are: Internal State Awareness, Self-Reflectiveness, Mindfulness, Autonomy, Personal Growth, Positive Relations with Others, Purpose in Life, Verbal Expression, Openness toward new experiences.
CQ Inventory: Preliminary Testing & Main Study
The BCQI instrument was developed and verified through 3 studies, two on preliminary stage on 150 persons, and one large study on 2474 persons.
Preliminary Testing - Studies 1 & 2
First evaluations of the BCQI instrument were conducted on two samples, first one made of 30 persons, and the second one of 120 persons. The results and feedback were used to correct items and some errors in items. The initial form of the BCQI consisted of 64 items. After preliminary tests, 2 items were eliminated and 15 items reformulated.
Main study
The BCQI was applied between June - September, 2008. After eliminating some incorrect answers, the sample that was analyzed consisted of 2474 persons, significant for the Romanian “premium” population (higher education, higher incomes, upper social status) from urban areas
Psychometric Properties & Studies regardind CQ Inventory are available at www.consciousness-quotient.com
Results. What Consciousness Quotient do we have?
The BCQI instrument was developed and verified through 2 studies, on Romanian population. The BCQI was applied between June - September, 2008. The sample that was analyzed consisted of 2474 persons, significant for the Romanian “premium” population (higher education, higher incomes, upper social status) from urban areas.
The general CQ score was calculated using percentile 50. Data obtained by the sample of 2474 persons are below (100 is maximum):
Consciousness Quotient (average) = 56 
• Physical Consciousness = 60
• Emotional Consciousness = 57
• Mental (Cognitive) Consciousness = 54
• Spiritual Consciousness = 57
• Social - Relational Consciousness = 52
• Self-Consciousness = 59
All the primary factors have 50-60 points, showing that the subjects have a medium ability to be conscious. But, as the study presented above is the first study, this main CQ value doesn’t allow any other interpretations with other populations.
The researched variables (gender, body type, age etc.) seems NOT to correlate significantly with CQ descriptors (CQ general score, primary and secondary factors). The author concludes that "this can be attributed to the heterogeneousness of my sample, positioned in premium “category”, or maybe there is really no correlation between CQ and these variables".
Yet, some speculations regarding possbile correlations, presented by the author, need some attention:
- A small correlation between the height and the emotional consciousness. The taller the persons are, the more they seems to manifest interest and attention toward emotions. That fact shows that perhaps tall persons (especially women) seems to develop some elevation in the emotional field, I suppose as a sort of unhappiness, due to this height. Of course, all these speculations must be verified in other studies using BCQI
- Some small correlations, with interesting results seems to be between CQ and Age, Purpose in Life and Internal State Awareness. Reality shows that as time passes, we tend to think more about the ending of our life, thus more attention is directed to the content described by items of Purpose in Life factor.
- There are no significant correlations between the levels of income and CQ. Although not at significant values, theres is a tendency to show direct relation between higher income and higher CQ. It seems that BCQI supports the idea that when basic needs are satisfied, our mind becomes more relaxed and can think of something else other than food-shelter-cars.
Other correlations are available at www.consciousness-quotient.com/cq-inventory/
The Consciousness Quotient Inventory (BCQI) is currently in the international stage of development.

Main Menu

See Also

Main Menu