Practical Intelligence

The concept of practical intelligence reflects the idea that there might be some ability besides general mental abilities (g), some street smarts or common sense that predicts how successfully individuals handle situations in their actual lives in the form of appropriate responses, given facts and circumstances as they are discovered, and considering a person’s short- and long-range goals.

This definition of practical intelligence differs from the usual conception and measurement of g. First, unlike tasks assessing g, tasks for practical intelligence are more contextualized in that they aim at an individual’s own long- and short-range goals and are usually of the individual’s own intrinsic interest, rather than formulated by others. Second, the task is encountered during a situation connected to the individual’s ordinary experience, and, just ...