If you think IQ is the only measure of intelligence, we invite you to learn about practical intelligence
What Is Practical Intelligence, and Can It Be Improved?
Updated on May 09, 2024
We may take what it means to be “smart” as a given: You got straight A’s in school and can add up a table of numbers in your head or maybe you scored well on an IQ test, which measures your “intelligence quotient.” However, psychologists have been trying to come up with an intelligence definition since psychology itself was first established as a scientific discipline in the late 1800s. In recent times, other theories of intelligence have been proposed that challenge the intelligence definition in psychology as a fixed IQ. Instead of just one measure of smarts, more modern ideas suggest many different types of intelligence.
One such theory that’s gained traction is the triarchic theory of intelligence, developed by psychologist Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, now a professor of Psychology in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University. In Sternberg’s triarchic theory, three types of intelligence exist simultaneously. “My triarchic theory of intelligence basically states that there are three aspects to intelligence: analytical, creative and practical,” Sternberg tells Reader’s Digest. Below, let’s look at the different types of intelligence and how they each play a part in a person’s life.
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About the experts
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What is Sternberg’s triarchic theory of intelligence?
We asked Sternberg himself to tell us about the difference between analytical intelligence, creative intelligence and practical intelligence. “An analytically strong person generally does well in school and on standardized tests, but is not necessarily creative or high in common sense,” he says. This is the closest intelligence type to the old high-IQ notion. “A creatively strong person is very good at generating novel and useful ideas, but may not be as good at critiquing ideas or in applying them in the real world,” Sternberg says. “A practically strong person, one with high common sense, is good at applying ideas and persuading others, but they may not be as good at analyzing ideas or coming up with their own ideas.”
How did the triarchic theory of intelligence come about?
“Some years back, I was director of graduate studies in the psychology department at Yale,” Sternberg remembers. “Three students who applied to our graduate program caught my eye. That’s how I came up with theory—three different people with different patterns of intelligence.”
In looking at the three students, Sternberg saw that they were all smart in different ways. “One, whom I have called Alice, had great grades and test scores. She was admitted to the graduate program,” he says. “She proved to be very good at what the standardized tests would be good at. If you gave her a problem, she almost always could solve it, so she did well her first year. But she lacked creativity and had trouble coming up with ideas of her own, so by the end of her studies, she was floundering for lack of ideas.” Alice had analytical intelligence.
“A second student, whom I have called Barbara, had decent grades but lousy standardized test scores on her GRE [Graduate Record Examinations],” Sternberg says. “But she had done extremely creative research as an undergraduate. She was rejected. I was the only faculty member who voted for her and decided she should be given a chance, so I hired her as a research associate. She did terrifically and was admitted a couple of years later. But ‘Barbaras’ are rarely given a chance in our educational system, because standardized tests, if anything, penalize creativity.” This is, unfortunately, the downside of creative intelligence.
What is Sternberg’s practical intelligence?
The third type of intelligence in Sternberg’s theory was based neither on a person’s ability to analyze information and reproduce it on a test; nor on coming up with novel ideas. Instead, it’s based on their ability to apply their knowledge in the real world. “A third student, whom I have called Celia, had grades and test scores that were okay but nothing special. She was admitted,” he says. “As a student, she seemed to be middle of the pack—but when it came time to apply for jobs, she got an offer every place she applied. She was practically intelligent: She could figure out what an audience wanted and give it to them.” Celia had street smarts, common sense, know-how and a way of reading people. That’s the practical intelligence definition.
How does practical intelligence differ from IQ?
The idea of IQ is based on a “g factor” or “generalized intelligence,” and is considered by some psychologists as too narrow in scope. Although it may seem limited now, the theory as conceived by Charles Spearman in 1904 was based on observations that people who exceeded in one area, such as reading or math, also perform better in another. You may recognize this approach in labeling certain children as “gifted.”
But Sternberg feels looking at intelligence in this way leaves out a whole slew of other factors that determine success in life. We all know someone who might not be “book smart,” but who can instantly navigate their environment even in unfamiliar circumstances—they’re adaptable and can learn from past experience. They may also seem to possess a unique ability to influence people and get what they want. This type of practical intelligence is its own unique, and arguably very valuable, skill. Conversely, people with academic learning might not be able to apply their knowledge to the real world to affect positive change.
What’s a practical intelligence example?
Not surprisingly, people with practical intelligence often end up in leadership roles, due to their ability to communicate effectively with others, and adapt to—and shape—their environment. “If I think of presidents high in practical intelligence, I would think of John Kennedy, whose breathtaking charisma and idealism changed the nation even in his short period of time as president, or Ronald Reagan, who was admired as someone who knew how to get things done,” Sternberg says. “Both presidents were inspirational in a positive way, making people better.”
Interestingly, he even sees a practical intelligence example in the founding of the United States itself. “The Constitution is an example of practical intelligence at work,” he says. How? A group of ambitious, persuasive men used their experience to take action in order to shape their environment for the better: the original movers and shakers.
A practical intelligence example in everyday modern life might be, as Sternberg mentioned, nailing a job interview based not only on your resume but on your ability to navigate a tense situation, communicate effectively and influence the people you’re talking to. Successful managers, entrepreneurs and salespeople are often very practically intelligent, although Sternberg says the skill can be found among many trades and professions.
Practical intelligence in Sternberg’s theory may also take the form of literal navigation in an unfamiliar city or subway system; not just figuring out where to go, but how to get locals to help you with directions to get there.
Is practical intelligence fixed?
Science has found that kids inherit intelligence from their mom, but this is the best part of practical intelligence: You can learn it. “You are not born with practical intelligence—you acquire it,” Sternberg says. “Practical intelligence is based on ‘tacit knowledge,’ or what you need to succeed that you are not explicitly taught and that often is not even verbalized.” It’s not something you’re instructed on in school because it’s based on your own individual experiences—how you process the info you gather through your experiences, how you sort out the important stuff, and mix it in with what you already know. People with practical intelligence tend to do this without outward effort, which is why they seem to just “have a way” about them that lets them easily cruise through life.
How do you build practical intelligence?
So if you don’t learn it in school, how do you gain practical intelligence? Here are a few tips from our experts.
1. Put your experiences to use
Building practical intelligence is almost like learning how to learn, by taking your daily experiences and putting the knowledge you gained into practice. “You acquire practical intelligence by learning from your experiences,” Sternberg says. “Experience is not enough—you have to actually learn from it!” In addition, you can learn from experiences that aren’t even first-hand. “Hearing or reading about other people’s experiences is a great way to expedite the acquisition of practical knowledge,” says Jennifer Hedlund, PhD, an associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Central Connecticut State University, who has researched practical intelligence with Sternberg.
2. Learn from your mistakes
The lessons you learn don’t always have to be positive: You can also learn from failures or things that didn’t work out the way you thought they would, at least the first time. “In order to learn from our mistakes, we need to take the time to reflect on them and be open to considering the situation from alternative perspectives,” Hedlund says. For example, she relates a story in which she dismissed her adult daughter’s feelings. “I started to reflect on why my response caused her to be so mad at me,” she says. “I searched online for some parenting advice and found that the mistake I made was not validating her feelings in the moment. I didn’t provide the response she needed. I also realized that I had probably made that mistake hundreds of times before but didn’t take enough time to fully reflect on those prior interactions and get to the root cause of the problem.”
3. See what others did wrong
You can also learn from other people’s mistakes. “In a class I teach on wrongful convictions, we discuss what factors contributed to the wrongful conviction in each individual case, including things like eyewitness misidentification and misleading forensic testimony,” Hedlund says. “But we also look for patterns across cases, such as the fact that a commonality among most cases is a lack of effective defense counsel.” Then, we can break the patterns in our own lives or careers by finding alternative ways to handle those situations.
4. Hone your problem-solving skills
Another way that Sternberg and Hedlund identified to build practical intelligence is by developing or refining the skills involved in solving practical problems. First, Hedlund says, you need to identify the main or underlying problem—which often isn’t as easy as it sounds because the root issue isn’t always obvious (such as the above reason for wrongful convictions). Then, after assessing the situation and critically evaluating the facts, you can generate solutions or strategies to address the problem. Lastly, you can monitor the outcome to see if you’ve achieved the desired result, and consider alternative solutions if it’s not working.
5. Try new ways of doing things
To solve problems, you also need to be flexible in coming up with solutions for new situations—this means having an open mind and thinking outside the box, so-called “lateral thinking,” as well as keeping a clear head in challenging or changing situations. “Being able to adapt to new information and new circumstances is a form of practical intelligence,” Hedlund says. “The more we challenge ourselves with new problems, whether for work or pleasure, the more we can develop our practical problem-solving skills.”
6. Build on your strengths
Understanding our strengths and weaknesses is at the core of practical intelligence, Hedlund says. “If you know, for example, that you are very good at paying attention to details—people tell you that you are good at ‘getting into the weeds’—you can focus on looking for patterns or connections in the details,” she says. Take advantage of the strong skills already in your toolbox to solve problems, and put those skills forth when in group situations.
7. Shore up your weak spots
While you use your strengths to their full potential, you can also recognize and work on the things you’re not so good at. Continuing our example, if you’re great with details, the flip side is you might have a harder time seeing the bigger picture. “You can’t ‘see the forest through the trees,'” Hedlund says. To build your skill in this area, “using visuals such as Venn diagrams or flow charts can help see how different pieces of information fit together,” Hedlund says. “When I work with students on developing research hypotheses, I often grab a piece of paper and start writing down the different concepts they are interested in studying. Then I start drawing boxes and arrows to illustrate different relationships that might exist among those concepts. It is rewarding to see the ‘aha moment’ when all these ideas that have been swirling around in their head suddenly come together in a meaningful way.” They just needed that extra tool to compensate for their weakness in seeing the big picture, she says.
8. Challenge yourself
The more you try to figure out new things, the more your brain learns the skills to do so. “Activities such as learning coding and building objects from scratch are great for developing practical intelligence because they involve trial and error, and reflecting on what worked and what didn’t,” Hedlund says. “If you’ve ever put together a piece of furniture without fully reading the instructions, only to find out that the door handle is in the wrong place when you finish, then you likely have learned a practical lesson.” You’ll look back to see where you went wrong, and next time avoid the same pitfall.
9. Practice decision-making
Another activity Hedlund points out that can help build practical intelligence is something you might do for fun with friends: an escape room. “The thrill of escape rooms comes from the uncertainty and discomfort of not knowing if we will successfully find a solution,” she says. “It requires looking for patterns in the clues and trying steps in different orders until we get it right, and occasionally we might need assistance or even fail.” This can be a safe, low-stakes way to dip your toes into the uncertainty and discomfort of real-world problems. “Even if we fail, there will be another problem to apply what we have learned, just like there will be the next room to try to escape from,” Hedlund says.
10. Put it on paper
You don’t need to be a great artist to try the next activity Hedlund recommends. “Drawing can be a useful way to build practical intelligence because it involves developing a visual representation of our ideas, and can help to build connections among otherwise seemingly independent thoughts,” Hedlund says. “It reminds me of recent efforts to reintegrate cursive writing into elementary education based on neuroscience evidence that shows that connecting letters helps develop pathways in the brain and facilitates learning.” There also is research suggesting that writing notes by hand can be better for learning and memory than typing them, she says. “I shared this with my classes, as more and more students rely on their computers for note-taking during class,” she says. “Following the science on that matter might be a great demonstration of practical intelligence.”
Can you test practical intelligence?
Sternberg did develop a test to measure practical intelligence, called the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test (STAT), which has been proposed as an effective alternative to the SAT test for college admissions or even graduate programs, and has shown promise in research in reflecting students’ future success. Although studies on proving the theory of practical intelligence have been mixed, research in entrepreneurship, in particular, showed high scores in practical intelligence as a predictor of business success.
Sternberg says that limiting our notion of intelligence to one factor, the kind that most tests reward, ends up creating “smart fools,” and that instead, we should be nurturing additional skills—including the practical intelligence Sternberg theorizes—to solve today’s problems.
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Sources:
- Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, professor of psychology in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University and author of many books, including Adaptive Intelligence.
- email interview November 2019
- Jennifer Hedlund, PhD, associate professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Central Connecticut State University and co-author of Practical Intelligence in Everyday Life.
- ; email interview April 2024
- Journal of Intelligence: “The Intelligent Attitude: What Is Missing from Intelligence Tests,” 2022
- New Scientist: “Rethinking Intelligence,” 2021
- Journal of Intelligence: “Meta-Intelligence: Understanding, Control, and Interactivity between Creative, Analytical, Practical, and Wisdom-Based Approaches in Problem Solving,” 2021
- The Cambridge Handbook of Intelligence: “Practical Intelligence,” 2019
- Entrepreneurship Research Journal: “The Practical Intelligence of Social Entrepreneurs: Managing the Hybridity of Social Enterprises,” 2019
