Social Intelligence Not a Genuine Intelligence?

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NeantHumain
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03 May 2005, 10:29 pm

I've read some posts on here where people have said social intelligence is not a genuine intelligence like verbal or spatial intelligence. They have insisted that it is just a few social rules that need to be learned and applied. While it is true there are many social customs that must be learned and applied in the right situations, social intelligence is more complicated than that.

Empathy is more complicated than just knowing a few social rules. A deep level of empathy requires a good deal of intelligence for several reasons. A person with a less evolved degree of social intelligence may fall back on facile assumptions and even stereotypes instead of searching for other possible reasons for a person's behavior. To juggle these numerous possibilities, a good working memory is required. Also, a certain amount of creativity or cognitive flexibility is needed to think of these scenarios. Keen observation is needed to discern the tone of voice, facial expression, and surrounding elements that affect the situation.

Example:

SCENARIO: An adult male is seen sitting on a bench crying in a mall with a cup of soda spilled near his feet.

  • OBSERVER 1
    • He notices the man crying.
    • He notices the spilled beverage near him.
    • He concludes the man is crying over spilled soda and grumbles to himself something he had probably heard too often as a child: "Is that man really crying because he spilled his soda? He really needs to toughen up!"

  • OBSERVER 2
    • She notices a visibly angry woman briskly passing by going in the opposite direction.
    • A few minutes later, she notices the man crying.
    • She notices the spilled beverage near him.
    • She realizes not many grown men would break down crying simply because they spilled a cup of soda, so she mentally searches for other explanations.
    • She then notices a red rose besides him on the bench, and this confirms her suspicion.
    • She concludes that this man is not crying over spilled soda but rather from a broken heart.
    • She further realizes this man must have really cared about the woman she'd seen earlier who seems to have shown a lack of sensitivity to this man.
    • She is moved to tears by this man's courageous willingness to put his heart on the line because he cared so much only to have it rejected so coldly.
    • She walks over and attempts to console the distraught man. She offers him a tissue and asks him what happened (remember she is not positive her scenario is fact and to to presumptive is rude). Her intuition turned out to be right, and she offered to take him to dinner.



NeantHumain
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03 May 2005, 10:35 pm

Please forgive the duplicate posts. WrongPlanet.net seems to be somewhat unresponsive today, and I clicked Submit a few times thinking it was being posted because I was not redirected to a new page.

I have pinged WrongPlanet.net and also used telnet on port 80; I can only conclude the problem lies with either PHP or the connection to the database.



Ghosthunter
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03 May 2005, 10:39 pm

I interpret this as Social Intelligence
and reading one's envirement is
equal. Am I reading this right?

For example the AS person, NT
person, or HFA person see's a
scenerio, and their giving nature,
provided they have one is naturally
activated. This is definely a non-
verbal form of intelligence, thus for
that I will agree.

Am I reading into this right?

Hmmm?
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Ante
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03 May 2005, 11:47 pm

Deleted



Last edited by Ante on 09 Nov 2005, 4:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Sarcastic_Name
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03 May 2005, 11:54 pm

I assume observer 1 would be someone without social intelligence, possibly AS/HFA and observer 2 is NT.

I'm difinitely observer 1-ish and agree with what you're saying. A lot of people here probably won't admit it, but a lot of us are lacking in social intelligence. That's considered a symptom last I checked.

Quote:
A. Qualitative impairment in social interaction, as manifested by at least two of the following:

1. marked impairments in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction
2. failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level
3. a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests, or achievements with other people (e.g. by a lack of showing, bringing, or pointing out objects of interest to other people)
4. lack of social or emotional reciprocity


Just insert intelligence rather than interaction? That sounds too harsh, though.

Quote:
C. The disturbance causes clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functionin


So, if there were a social IQ, would ours be lower than average?

8O :roll: :?:


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NeantHumain
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04 May 2005, 1:04 am

Sarcastic_Name wrote:
I assume observer 1 would be someone without social intelligence, possibly AS/HFA and observer 2 is NT.

I'm difinitely observer 1-ish and agree with what you're saying. A lot of people here probably won't admit it, but a lot of us are lacking in social intelligence. That's considered a symptom last I checked.


Both observers are neurotypical. Observer 2 is highly empathetic whereas Observer 1 is less so. A more autistic response would probably be to wonder why he is crying or perhaps to notice he is crying because he spilled his soda without making the critical judgment Observer 1 made or having the high emotional involvement of Observer 2.

SarcasticName wrote:
So, if there were a social IQ, would ours be lower than average?

8O :roll: :?:


That's the experts' consensus.

AntiEverything wrote:
It's never enough to get along in society by just being generally intelligent because people are expected to relate to each other and form relationships, so I agree with you social intelligence is important.


My opinion is that social intelligence is important, but that was not the thrust of my original post. My actual intent was somewhat more conceptual: that social intelligence is a type of intelligence and not a misnomer.



Captain_Brain
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04 May 2005, 4:33 am

I believe "social intelligence" is a very primative form of intelligence, which is not to say that it's unimportant or less "good".


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berta
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04 May 2005, 5:41 am

I don't think I would have been observer 1 or 2. I would have been observer 3 whatever observer 3 would have done. It seems to me that anyone who would think some grown man would cry over spilled soda would have a lower intelligence in general as well as social intellegence. But since both observer 1 and 2 are NT, what does it have to do with aspies?

I think it is a genuine intellegence, or at least part of it if not it's own part. But I do think the aspie-observer/observer 3 would have understoof everythink observer 2 understood, but proably wouldn't have acted on it.



Civet
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04 May 2005, 6:06 am

Quote:
But I do think the aspie-observer/observer 3 would have understoof everythink observer 2 understood, but proably wouldn't have acted on it.


I agree, Berta.

Even if I understand a situation, I usually don't know how to respond. Though I am not sure I would have noticed the woman walking angrily away and connected her with the man on the bench, I don't think I would believe someone would cry over a spilt soda.



Noetic
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04 May 2005, 6:06 am

NeantHumain wrote:
I've read some posts on here where people have said social intelligence is not a genuine intelligence like verbal or spatial intelligence. They have insisted that it is just a few social rules that need to be learned and applied. While it is true there are many social customs that must be learned and applied in the right situations, social intelligence is more complicated than that.

As I said on that thread, social intelligence means precisely that you DON'T have to learn these things by rote but are good at picking them up instinctively.

What they were describing was how someone who LACKS social intelligence has to learn social skills.



NeantHumain
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04 May 2005, 9:23 am

Civet wrote:
I don't think I would believe someone would cry over a spilt soda.


The incident of the spilled soda may not have been the best example, but I came up with this off the top of my head. I merely had to have something that looked as though it could be the reason for the man's crying and could easily create a negative judgment in observers' minds.



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04 May 2005, 9:28 am

You know, the human species couldn't be where it is today without 1) having a graduating level of intelligence, and 2) being a SOCIAL animal. It was because we were intelligent AND worked together that the race is where it is. I wouldn't have this computer without another human being having designed it, another having produced the parts, another having put them together, and yet another having programmed it. And of course, the lovely person who shipped it to my home. I should think all of my possessions-- not even those which are technological-- I would not have.

Anywho, the big thing is, yes, we appear to be the smartest animals on the planet. But without pooling ALL our intelligence, a system of productivity would never have come about.

Thus, I think social intelligence is just as much a apart of the intelligence that is tested on standard IQ tests, such as the WAIS-II. And I realize that if social IQ were factored into this final score produced by the WAIS, my score would be much lower. A tested IQ doesn't always point towards the ability of a person being able to make their way through the world. I know I am more at risk of being taken advantage of, as well as just getting totally lost. NTs tend to be better at this.

One may consider it a more primitive form of intelligence if one likes, but true enough it is just as important as intellectual intelligence for our survival.


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