Social intelligence

Proposed abilities involved in understanding and using information about people and social situations. Competing definitions emphasize social understanding, knowledge, human memory, effective behavior or self-perceived skill; measures of these are not automatically interchangeable indicators of one factor.

A 21-item self-report instrument developed with dimensions labeled social information processing, social skills and social awareness. Its internal structure is evidence about this operationalization; it does not by itself settle the organization of all social abilities.

Sensitivity to relevant social cues and consequences. Its operational meaning depends on the instrument; a factor with this label in a self-report scale is not automatically identical to a performance ability.

Behaviors supporting effective interaction in a specified context. Typical real-world behavior, maximal ability and self-perceived competence are related but distinct measurement targets.

Social knowledge is knowledge about people, relationships and social conventions. It can inform a prediction about another person’s behavior without guaranteeing that the prediction is accurate in every setting. A test of an expected response can depend on cultural familiarity as well as the ability to infer a mental state. Separating knowledge of a convention from applying it helps interpret measures of social intelligence. ^[ref]

human memory for socially relevant information. A distinct label does not establish a separate human memory mechanism; social and nonsocial tasks must be compared while controlling method and general human memory demands.

Interpreting socially relevant information such as intentions or implications of behavior. Performance depends on the information available, the scoring criterion and potentially general verbal or human memory abilities.