Practical and Emotional Intelligence

Practical intelligence is the cognitive ability to use practicality or common sense to adapt to and solve everyday, real-world problems. Practical intelligence relates to our successes in daily living (Sternberg, 2000,2002b; Sternberg & Hedlund, 2002; Wagner, 2002; Muammar, 2007; Lievens & Chan, 2010) and is absorbed primarily through the process of observing others’ behaviors (Stemler & Sternberg, 2006; Stemler et al., 2009). General customs and values are easy to grasp for those who are considered to have high practical intelligence. Not only do they learn quickly, they demonstrate their knowledge by applying what they have learned to fit situations (Feldman, 2013, pg. 385).

Emotional intelligence on the other hand, is the capability to relate to the feelings and emotions of others’ (Feldman, 2013, pg. 285). Emotional intelligence is much like empathy, which is having the ability to understand and relate to the emotional process of another person. Those with high emotional intelligence is known to have a high sense of self-awareness, are able to get along well with as well as have a high degree of sensitivity to others (Feldman, 2013, pg. 285).

The difference between practical and emotional intelligence is that practical intelligence is learned by studying other peoples’ behaviors while emotional intelligence is the ability for a person to relate to others’ by demonstrating empathy.

Practical intelligence is important in the workplace because many work etiquettes are expected but not actually taught. An example of practical intelligence in the workplace is to simply be courteous of others. Fill the copier with paper if you printed a generous amount of documents, change the coffee filter in the coffee maker if it requires it or replace the roll of toilet paper if you used the last piece. Practical intelligence is also important because it allows for appropriate social behavior within a work setting.

Emotional