Sometimes a person's ability to understand people around him helps him very much in life. He can predict the behavior of others and his own in different circumstances and recognize emotions and intentions depending on verbal and nonverbal communication. All these gifts determine the so-called social intelligence of a person.
What is social intelligence?
Social intelligence is the knowledge and skills that determine the success of interaction, a kind of gift that helps people easily get along with people and do not get into embarrassing situations. The concept is often identified with the emotional mind, but more often the researchers see them going in parallel. In the concept of social intelligence there are three components:
- Some sociologists distinguish it in a separate kind of mind, cognitive ability, and put on a par with knowledge, verbal and mathematical intellects, etc.
- The other side of the phenomenon is concrete knowledge, talents acquired in the process of socialization.
- The third definition is a special personality trait, which guarantees successful contact and adaptation in the team.
Social Intelligence in Psychology
In 1920, Edward Lee Thorndike introduced psychology into the concept of social intelligence. He regarded him as a wisdom in interpersonal relationships, the so-called "foresight." In subsequent works such authors as G. Allport, F. Vernon, O. Comte, M. Bobneva and V. Kunitsyn, and others contributed to the interpretation of the term SI. He found such characteristics as:
- the ability to get along with individuals and understand the mood of the group;
- independence from the intellectual. factor a;
- formation of skills in the course of socialization;
- the opportunity to see yourself through the eyes of others;
- global abilities, developed against a background of communicative features.
Levels of social intelligence
Having determined the role of social intelligence in professional development, scientists began to think what is necessary for social intelligence and what people possess it. In the middle of the twentieth century, J. Guilford developed the first test, capable of measuring SI. Considering such parameters as the complexity of the task, the speed and originality of the solution, one can say whether a person is socially savvy. On the existence of a good level of social intelligence says the effectiveness of actions in different states. Efficiency determines several levels of SI:
- average - action patterns, performance in everyday life situations;
- low - destructive behavior, capable of spoiling even the most favorable coincidence of circumstances;
- high - the skill of communication, management of people, the ability to take control of any problem.
High social intelligence
The mathematics of life is such that people regularly encounter difficultly achievable tasks. Those who can solve them, come out victorious. Social and emotional intelligence is high if the individual has the desire and ability to think. A socially erudite person is always a leader. It forces opponents to change their thoughts, beliefs, ideas; quickly digests the information received and manages the problem, finding the right solutions in a short time.
Low social intelligence
If a person has a low level of social intelligence, his existence is full of difficulties that appear by themselves and especially through his fault. People who can not choose a vector of behavior, act instincts and impulses. They severely converge with others, because they are able to hack at the root of the emerging sympathy and spoil relations with important people. And the difficulties arising in communication, unearned individuals can overcome only with someone else's help and help.
How to develop social intelligence?
Many people care about the development of social intelligence, as an opportunity to raise their status in society. For this it is necessary to understand what the model of this phenomenon includes. The structure of social intelligence is multidimensional and contains such components as:
- the potential of the individual - contactness, compatibility with other people;
- self-awareness, absence of barriers and neglected complexes;
- societal modeling. phenomena;
- understanding of the motives of people and their behavior.
To raise the bar of social intelligence, it is necessary to improve one's knowledge and get rid of other habits that interfere with social contact. The very first thing is to go beyond egoism and turn your attention to other people, that is, to increase your receptivity. It would be useful to learn how to do the following things:
- understand the body language;
- read emotions;
- to catch the mood of the interlocutor;
- listen and hear;
- manage your own emotions;
- to act in public without hesitation.
Social intelligence - literature
To understand the essence of social intelligence, you can also get acquainted with the literature on this topic. This work on psychology and sociology, works, which tells about the problems of the individual, as well as the ways to solve them. It is useful to get acquainted with such publications as:
- Guilford J., "Three sides of the intellect," 1965.
- Kunitsyna VN, "Social competence and social intelligence: structure, functions, relationships", 1995.
- Albrecht K., "Social Intelligence. The science of the skills of successful interaction with others ", 2011.