Scientific approaches to the study of psychological essence of social intelligence: historical excursion

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Scientific approaches to the study of psychological essence of social intelligence: historical excursion

Starynska O.V.

Candidate of Psychological Sciences,

Associate Professor at the Department

of Applied Psychology

and Speech Therapy

Berdyansk State Pedagogical University

Scientific approaches to the study of psychological essence of social intelligence: historical excursion

The article is devoted to a historical overview of scientific approaches to the study of the social intelligence psychological essence. Within the definitive approach, scientists (D. Wechsler, F. Vernon, E. Ivashkevich, E. Thorndike, S. Stein, etc.) determined that the social intelligence of a personality is a set of the following abilities: to achieve a successful result in interpersonal relationships; to understand other people's emotional states and empathize with them; to manage people of different genders in interpersonal relationships; to perceive external social group incentives; to acquire knowledge of current social issues. Within the framework of the psychometric approach, scientists (L. Woodward, J. Guilford, F. Moss, K. Omwake, T. Hunt, etc.) determined the essence of social intelligence based on the results of the tests. As a result of the research conducted using the GWIST psychometric test, it was established that the general indicator of social intelligence reveals the ability of an individual to understand social information, evaluate social situations, remember the names and faces of other people, and establish mental states based on verbal and nonverbal manifestations of other people's behavior; and their sense of humor. However, it was later experimentally proven that the results of the GWIST test are insufficient to fully characterize the social intelligence of an individual. The development of the "Social Intelligence" test by a group of scientists under the leadership of J. Guilford made it possible to empirically measure all the abilities of a personality that construct social intelligence and reveal its psychological essence. Social intelligence is a compound integrated complex of a personalities' ability to recognize and solve tasks that determine the success of their social interactions. This complex integrates the following abilities of the personality: to understand different life situations and verbal and non-verbal behavioral expressions of other people; and to predict other people's behavior. The functions of social intelligence are the successful communication of an individual with other people and social and psychological adaptation to various situations. Within the framework of the socio-experimental approach, scientists (K. Smith, R. Sternberg, etc.) believed that the psychological essence of social intelligence is presented by the social competence of the personality as a factor of intelligence in the modal social and cultural environment. Social intelligence is a type of intelligence used by a personality for effective adaptation in society.

Key words: social intelligence, ability, behavior, adaptation, personality.

НАУКОВІ ПІДХОДИ ДО ВИВЧЕННЯ ПСИХОЛОГІЧНОЇ СУТНОСТІ СОЦІАЛЬНОГО ІНТЕЛЕКТУ: ІСТОРИЧНИЙ ЕКСКУРС

Статтю присвячено історичному екскурсу наукових підходів до вивчення психологічної сутності соціального інтелекту. У межах дефінітивного підходу вчені (Д. Векслер, Ф. Вернон, Е. Івашкевич, Е. Торндайк, С. Штейн та ін.) визначили, що соціальний інтелект особистості є комплексом таких здатностей: досягати успішного результату у взаємодіях з іншими людьми; розуміти емоційні стани інших людей і співпереживати їм; управляти іншими людьми різної статі у взаємодіях із ними; сприймати зовнішні соціальні групові стимули; одержувати знання про актуальні соціальні питання. У межах психометричного підходу науковці (Л. Вудвард, Дж. Гілфорд, Ф. Мосс, К. Омвейк, Т. Хант та ін.) визначили сутність соціального інтелекту за результатами проведених тестувань. Унаслідок проведених досліджень за допомогою психометричного тесту GWIST установлено, що загальний показник соціального інтелекту виявляють здатності особистості розуміти соціальну інформацію, оцінювати соціальні ситуації, запам'ятовувати імена й обличчя інших людей, установлювати ментальні стани за вербальними й невербальними проявами поведінки інших людей; їхнім почуттям гумору. Проте згодом експериментально доведено недостатність результатів тесту GWIST для повної характеристики соціального інтелекту особистості. Розроблення тесту "Соціальний інтелект" групою вчених під керівництвом Дж. Гілфорда дало змогу емпірично вимірювати всі здатності особистості, що конструюють соціальний інтелект, і розкрити його психологічну сутність. Соціальний інтелект - це складний інтегрований комплекс здатностей особистості пізнавати й вирішувати такі завдання, що визначають успішність її соціальних взаємодій. Цей комплекс інтегрують такі здатності особистості: розуміти різні життєві ситуації та вербальну й невербальну поведінкову експресію інших людей; прогнозувати поведінку інших людей. Функціями соціального інтелекту є успішність спілкування особистості з іншими людьми й соціально-психологічна адаптація до різних ситуацій. У межах соціально-експериментального підходу вчені (К. Сміт, Р Стернберг та ін.) уважали, що психологічну сутність соціального інтелекту презентує соціальна компетентність особистості як фактор інтелекту в модальному соціокультурному довкіллі. Соціальний інтелект є видом інтелекту, що використовується особистістю для ефективної адаптації в соціумі.

Ключові слова: соціальний інтелект, здатність, поведінка, адаптація, особистість. tests psychological intelligence

In the context of the intensification of Ukraine's integration process into the European Union, the problem of the social intelligence development of a personality as a factor in their successful communication with other people attracts the special attention of scientists. The substantiation of the theoretical and methodological foundations of a personalities' social intelligence development study in sensitive periods requires clarifying the essence of the concept of "social intelligence", which, against the background of today, is an important task of modern Ukrainian psychological science.

The purpose of the article is to cover the historical overview of the leading scientific approaches of foreign and domestic scientists to the study of the psychological essence and structure of social intelligence.

We consider that the main scientific approaches to the study of the psychological essence of social intelligence are aptly defined and named by R. Sternberg [8] - the definitive approach, the implicit theoretical approach, the psychometric approach, and the socio-experimental approach (based on explicit theory). Following these names, we have grouped and analyzed the main approaches of foreign and domestic scientists to the study of the concept of social intelligence.

Representatives of the definitive approach (E. Ivashkevich, S. Stein, E. Thorndike, F. Vernon,

D. Wechsler, etc.) focused their efforts on defining the psychological essence of social intelligence.

The term "social intelligence" was first used in a popular scientific context by E. Thorndike [10]. The scientist interpreted social intelligence as a personalities' ability to understand other people and achieve successful results in interpersonal interactions with other people, as well as their ability to manage other participants in such interactions, regardless of their gender.

Subsequently, E. Thorndike and S. Stein [12] emphasized that further study of the essence of the "social intelligence" concept in psychological science is possible due to the development and use of tests for the social intelligence study. At the same time, E. Thorndike [11] noted the difficulty of psychometric measurement of social intelligence, in contrast to other types of intelligence, which relate to other abilities of the personality. In particular, abstract intelligence (the ability of a personality to perform operations with mathematical and verbal symbols) and practical intelligence (the ability of a personality to interact with material objects). In general, psychologists have developed many intellectual tests to measure different kinds of abilities in people.

The concept of "social intelligence" was introduced into scientific psychological circulation by H. Barnes [2], interpreting the history of social intelligence as changes in the historical stages of the development of culture, religion, social institutions, etc. in different countries. However, despite the title of the monograph "History and Social Intelligence", the scientist mostly used the terms "international intelligence", "social history", "social changes", "social control", "social relationships", "social life", etc.

According to P Vernon [13], the social intelligence of a personality is a complex formation that includes some abilities (to interact easily with other people, understand their moods in different situations, determine the general personalities' characteristics of other people (both unknown people and friends) in interactions between them), their sensitivity to social group incentives from the representatives of a specific group and knowledge of current social issues.

However, D. Wechsler [15] initially denied the existence of social intelligence and the need to introduce this term into scientific psychological circulation. Later, the scientist recognized social intelligence as a term. However, he was sure that social intelligence is not a distinct ability of a personality, but only their general intelligence, which is used by them in social interaction situations.

E. Ivashkevich was interested in the essence of social intelligence in the structure of general intelligence [1]. According to the psychologist, compared to general intelligence, the social intelligence of a personality concerns the norms of society. After all, the social intelligence of a personality, on the one hand, is oriented toward social, ethical, and moral norms that prevail in society. On the other hand, their desire to achieve a certain status in this society increases the importance of individual characteristics of the personality. It is the existing contradictions between the processes of stereotyping and individualization that intensify the development of the social intelligence of a personality. Thus, in this process, typical and individual components of their social intelligence can simultaneously develop. The social intelligence of a personality contains both declarative and operational knowledge that forms their cognitive substructure. An individual explains various life events, constructs and predicts life plans with the help of knowledge about the rules of interpretation of various social situations, actions, and behaviors of other people, as well as their evaluations. The mnemonic substructure of social intelligence is made up of the individual's personal experience. Instead, their empathic abilities, which form the empathic substructure of social intelligence, contribute to solving various social situations.

According to E. Ivashkevich [1], the social intelligence of a personality, which is a type of intelligence, provides an array of the following functions: recognizing and understanding other people's behaviors and actions, as well as one's own in interactions with them; assimilation of social norms and effective adaptation to social requirements; socialization; changing the behavior of other people and one's own behavior to meet personal needs and achieve certain goals; predicting the actions and behaviors of other people; solving various daily social tasks; organizing own intelligence; choosing certain reactions in various interaction situations with other people; promoting adaptability in changing conditions; planning interactions with a successful outcome; motivational; acquisition of social competence; self-knowledge and self-development, etc. The psychologist combined these functions of social intelligence in the process of performance by the personality into three interrelated groups:

1) cognitive-evaluative; 2) communicative and valuable; 3) reflective and corrective. At a certain stage of activity implementation, only one group of functions takes priority. Thus, at the initial stage, a group of cognitive and evaluative functions becomes a priority, at the stage of cognitive actions and achievement of the goal of activity - communicative and valuable, at the stage of actualization of effective actions - reflective and corrective.

Thus, according to the beliefs of the definitive approach representatives (E. Ivashkevich, S. Stein, E. Thorndike, F. Vernon, D. Wechsler, etc.), social intelligence, as a type of general intelligence, is important for various situations of a personalities' interactions with other people. Social intelligence is a complex of some personalities' abilities - to achieve a successful result in interactions with other people; to understand the emotional states of other people and empathize with them; to manage people of different genders in interpersonal relationships; to perceive external social group incentives; to acquire knowledge of current social issues.

Based on the explicit theory, psychometric and socio-experimental approaches to the study of the psychological essence of the social intelligence of the personality were developed.

Representatives of the psychometric approach (J. Guilford, T Hunt, F Moss, K. Omwake, L. Woodward, etc.) determined the psychological essence of the social intelligence of a personality based on the results of psychometric tests.

Within this approach, the psychological essence of social intelligence was first investigated with the help of the "Social Intelligence Test" (GWIST), which was developed by scientists from the University of J. Washington - F. Moss, T Hunt, K. Omwake, and L. Woodward [6]. The Social Intelligence Test (GWIST) contains subtests that help measure the following abilities of a personality: evaluate various social situations; understand social information; remember other people's names and faces; carefully observe the behavior of other people; establish mental states based on verbal and non-verbal manifestations of other people; as well as their sense of humor. The sum of the measurement results of the specified subtests is the general indicator of the subject's social intelligence. According to the developers of the GWIST test, the content of these subtests illuminates the psychological essence of the social intelligence of a personality.

However, further scientific experimental studies of the main parameters of the GWIST test proved that most of their subtests allow measuring abstract intelligence and verbal abilities. The results of the conducted experimental studies cast doubts on the previous conclusion of J. Washington University scientists that the sum of the measurement results of the GWIST subtests is a general indicator of a personalities' social intelligence [14].

The use of the Social Insight Test, developed by F. Chapin [3], contributed to the understanding of certain aspects of the social intelligence of a personality. The execution of the test consisted of choosing the best of four alternative situations that were offered to fictional characters to get out of various problematic or frustrating situations.

According to J. Guilford [4], social intelligence is a compound integrated complex of the personalities' abilities to recognize and solve tasks that relate to the behavior of other people and determine the success of their interactions in society.

Social intelligence integrates four basic abilities of a personality related to the cognition of various aspects of other people's behavior:

1) the ability to recognize and understand the results of the behavior of other people, to predict the consequences of this behavior, taking into account the information about it;

2) the ability to recognize and understand types of behavior, to determine general essential properties of non-verbal behavioral expression of other people;

3) the ability to recognize and understand the transformation of behavior, to notice changes in the verbal behavioral expression of other people in different situations of their interactions;

4) the ability to recognize and understand systems of behavior, to predict the further behavior of other people in various situations of interactions with them, according to the logic of each situation development.

An important result of a group of scientists' work on the implementation of J. Guilford's project was the development of the "Social Intelligence" test, which made it possible to experimentally measure all the intellectual abilities of an individual, related to the knowledge of results, classes, transformations and systems of behavior and construct social intelligence [4; 7].

Therefore, according to the position of the psychometric approach representatives (J. Guilford, T. Hunt, F. Moss, K. Omwake, L. Woodward, etc.), the general indicator and essence of the social intelligence of a personality are determined as a result of psychometric measurements. The use of the "Social Intelligence" test, developed by a group of scientists under the leadership of J. Guilford, contributed to the determination of a personalities' social intelligence. The social intelligence of a personality is a compound integrated complex of abilities to learn and solve tasks that determine the success of their interactions with other people. This complex is constructed by a personalities' ability to understand various life situations, non-verbal behavioral expressions of other people, and verbal behavioral expressions of other people, as well as the ability to predict the behavior of other people.

Representatives of the social-experimental approach to the study of the essence of social intelligence (K. Smith, R. Sternberg, etc.) adhered to the principles of social-experimental psychology. In their research, they used social intelligence tests that were developed based on the principles mentioned above.

In R. Sternberg's opinion [8], which coincides with the beliefs of D. Wechsler, social intelligence is nothing more than a personality use of intelligence for effective social adaptation. In other words, an individual's intelligence is a manifestation of their socially useful adaptation.

According to R. Sternberg [8], the psychological essence of a personalities' social intelligence is most clearly presented in their social competence, which is one of the factors of intelligence in the modal social and cultural environment. The social competence of a personality integrates certain abilities: to consciously express themselves and act; to correctly assess the relevance of information for solving various problematic issues; to avoid impulsive judgments and decisions; to admit one's own mistakes; to adhere to punctuality; to show curiosity, interest in the world in general and the immediate environment in particular; to be sensitive to other people's needs; to fairly evaluate and treat other people tolerantly; to be sincere and honest with yourself and others.

The basis of the experimental studies of social intelligence, conducted by R. Sternberg and K. Smith [9], were the following provisions of social experimental psychology relating to non-verbal communication.

According to the beliefs of H. Eysenck [5], the interpretation of the concept of "social intelligence" in the scientific works of R. Sternberg [8] is cumbersome, because among its components there is an array of such intellectual, personal, motivational, and other formations and factors that are not connected with each other. Namely, they are health, experience, education, motivation, family upbringing, personality, action strategies, cultural and socioeconomic status, etc. Therefore, it is more expedient to experimentally investigate these formations and factors separately, and not as part of social intelligence.

Thus, according to certain representatives of the social-experimental approach (K. Smith, R. Sternberg, etc.), the psychological essence of a personalities' social intelligence is most clearly highlighted by their social competence. Instead, social competence is a factor of intelligence in a modal social and cultural environment. Therefore, social intelligence can be considered as a special type of intelligence that is used by a personality for effective adaptation in society.

The theoretical analysis of the main scientific approaches to the study of the psychological essence of the "social intelligence" concept contributed to the formulation of such generalizations. The social intelligence of a personality is a compound integrated complex of their abilities: to recognize social phenomena, to perceive external social group incentives, and to acquire knowledge about current issues of social interactions; to understand different life situations; to understand emotions and verbal and non-verbal behavioral expression of other people and empathize with them; to predict the behavior of both one's own and other people; to manage the behavior of both one's own and other people of different genders in interpersonal relationships; to effectively adapt to situations of social interactions; to achieve a successful result in interactions with other people.

These abilities can be combined into three groups: 1) cognitive; 2) emotional and evaluative; 3) behavioral. Indicators of the social intelligence of an individual are empirically measured using psychometric tests. Social intelligence has a significant impact on the effectiveness of the personalities' adaptation to society

The conclusions about the psychological essence and structure of the phenomenon of "social intelligence" within the framework of leading scientific approaches - definitive, psychometric, and socio-experimental (based on explicit theory) are presented below.

Within the definitive approach, scientists (E. Ivashkevich, S. Stein, E. Thorndike, F. Vernon, D. Wechsler, etc.) determined that the social intelligence of a personality is a set of the following abilities: to achieve a successful result in interactions with other people; to understand the emotional states of other people and empathize with them; to manage other people of different genders in interpersonal relationships; to perceive external social group incentives; to acquire knowledge about current social issues.

Within the psychometric approach, scientists (J. Guilford, T Hunt, F. Moss, K. Omwake, L. Woodward, etc.) determined the essence of social intelligence based on the results of the tests. As a result of research conducted with the help of the GWIST psychometric test, it was established that the general indicator of an personalities' social intelligence is determined by their ability to understand social information, evaluate various social situations, remember the names and faces of other people, establish mental states based on verbal and non-verbal manifestations of other people's behavior; as well as their sense of humor. However, further experimental studies proved that the results of the GWIST psychometric test are not enough to fully characterize the social intelligence of a personality.

The development of the "Social Intelligence" test by a group of scientists under the leadership of J. Guilford made it possible to experimentally measure all the abilities of a personality that construct social intelligence and to reveal the psychological essence of this phenomenon. Social intelligence is a compound integrated complex of a personalities' ability to recognize and solve tasks that determine the success of their social interactions. This complex integrates such individual abilities as understanding various life situations, understanding the non-verbal behavioral expression of other people, understanding the verbal behavioral expression of other people, and predicting the behavior of other people. Important functions of a personalities' social intelligence are determined by their successful communication with other people and socio-psychological adaptation to various situations.

Within the framework of the socio-experimen- tal approach, scientists (K. Smith, R. Sternberg, etc.) believed that the psychological essence of a personalities' social intelligence is presented in their social competence, which is a factor of intelligence in a modal socio-cultural environment. Instead, social intelligence is nothing more than a type of intelligence used by a personality for effective adaptation in society.

We consider the obtained generalizations about the essence and structure of social intelligence to be fundamental for further methodological and empirical research of the social intelligence of higher education students, both those developing in a normative way and those with special educational needs.

Bibliography