This article from The Great Courses Daily, emphasizes the importance of “social intelligence” as many cities around the world begin to emerge from post-pandemic lockdowns. The author references Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences when explaining the skills necessary for successful social interactions. Click here to read the full article.
Howard Gardner used the term interpersonal intelligence rather than “social intelligence.”
What is interpersonal intelligence?
In Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons, he explains as follows.
Interpersonal intelligence builds on a core capacity to notice distinctions among others—in particular, contrasts in their moods, temperaments, motivations, and intentions. In more advanced forms, this intelligence permits a skilled adult to read the intentions and desires of others, even when they have been hidden. This skill appears in a highly sophisticated form in religious or political leaders, salespersons, marketers, teachers, therapists, and parents…All indices in brain research suggest that the frontal lobes play a prominent role in interpersonal knowledge. Damage in this area can cause profound personality changes while leaving other forms of problem solving unharmed— after such an injury, a person is often not the “same person."
…Biological evidence for interpersonal intelligence encompasses two additional factors often cited as unique to humans. One factor is the prolonged childhood of primates, including the close attachment to the mother. In those cases where the mother (or a substitute figure) is not available and engaged, normal interpersonal development is in serious jeopardy. The second factor is the relative importance in humans of social interaction. Skills such as hunting, tracking, and killing in prehistoric societies required participation and cooperation of large numbers of people. The need for group cohesion, leadership, organization, and solidarity follows naturally from this.
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