Magens Bay --San Thomas

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Practical Intelligence

Have you ever heard of "practical intelligence?"--To pyschologist, Robert Sternberg, practical intelligence includes things like "knowing what to say to whom, knowing when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect."

My pepper posses some kind of charm where she can talk her way out. One time when she was at the piano, CM, test. She could wiggle words out from the evaluator to hint her how she did at the test. She would talk to me in such a way that prep my mind to accept whatever she was about to say. --She wasn't born like this for sure.

I recalled when Pepper was younger, she would cry and threw temper tantrum if she didn't agree with us or she didn't get whatever she wanted. And she is the kind of child that would always push her limits. I stood my ground--unless the girls could-convince me! Remember, I am not easily convinced. Somehow those encounter sparked her practical intelligence, if you may.

Image from blog.lib.umn.edu

According to Gladwell, author of Outliers, " It is procedural: it is about knowing how to do something without necessarily knowing why you know it or being able to explain it. It's practical in nature: that is, it's not knowledge for its own sake. It's knowledge that helps you read situations correctly and get what you want. And, critically, it is a kind of intelligence separate from the sort of analytical ability measured by IQ. To use the technical term, general intelligence and practical intelligence are "orthogonal":the presence of one doesn't imply the presence of the other.

We see these all the times where some people always able to convince others easier and get what they want and somehow for whatever situations they may be in, they always manage to get out of them easier. They posses the charm --practical intelligence. And for the rest of us, who are quite intelligent, IQ wise, but not practically intelligent, we may find it harder to squirm ourselves out for many situations. But luckily this social savvy is knowledge --can be learned and normally unintentional trained by our families.

Annette Lareau, sociologist, conducted a fascinating study of group taken from two different classes, poor, middle/upper class. To her surprised that children from middle class own the most 'practical intelligence' --middle-class children learn a sense of "entitlement." --Parents from middle-class family tend to let their children negotiate, involved in conversation, speak for themselves, own their own problems.

It is still not too late ... if we find our children lack of the so called, practical intelligence, we still have a lot of chance to tend them--after all they need to posses both intelligence to be successful in this society.

Do you agree with Gladwell, Lareau and Sternberg that we should enhance our practical intelligence to be successful? 

If you enjoy my blogs, would you come 'Like' me on my FB fan page: https://www.facebook.com/AngelJourneyofLife --Thank you!

Until next stop,
Journey of Life

10 comments:

  1. Interesting topic (is this your entry to Wordless Wednesday?). I usually refer to the nine types of intelligence by Gardener (interpersonal intelligence would be the closest to what you are describing here).

    Without having read her study, I would have to disagree with the sociologist on face value, because I believe children with disadvantaged backgrounds also learn to negotiate, tho perhaps with different circumstances.

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    1. Hi Megan, It was nice seeing your familiar face here :-)
      I have to read that book that you mentioned. --I love this type of book.

      I can see why you are disagreeing, since it is hard to find a concrete answer to her study. Especially it was mentioned that her study was done on 12 families or so.And there are other factors that could potentially shaped children's practical intelligence.

      I was wondering, it could be due to the parents' attitude and parenting style that may impact their children's practical intelligence. What do you think?

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  2. I think we should enhance practical intelligence a bit. I know that for many of the students I teach, I wish I could help them gain more.

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    1. Yes. I am hoping to raise awareness so parents can help their children to develop more of this practical intelligence.
      Thanks for your visit! It would be tough for a teacher to do it ... I am not even sure if that is possible.

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  3. Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. I know many, many people who are extremely well educated but have no practical intelligence, or even a bit of common sense!

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    1. Thank you for your visit! I know what you mean ... sometimes you scratch your head and thinking ... where have they been?

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  4. I do agree that practical intelligence is due to upbringing (parenting styles), which is congruent to what Meagan stated that about children having disadvantaged background possessing the same type of intelligence. I also agree with Becky, and her comment made me think about, Emotional intelligence. I was thinking that they should include courses on it in public schools. This is another subject to include.

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    1. First of, Missed you! Where have you been? :-)
      Yes. It would be awesome to have those courses in school. It is a much needed intelligence.

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  5. I missed you too I have been really busy, I am now trying to divide my time to blog. Im working on some more post. One thing about Im learning about blogging you cant stop. lol I'm back. In the meantime I said at I can least come and visit you and others while working on some more post. You always have something good to write about my friend. :) God Bless.

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    1. Very true, tho I am keeping up with my daily post but I spent less time as well so I can balance (at least trying :-))

      Awesome and I will check from time to time to see your new posts!

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