Discrimination of two aspects of cognitive-social intelligence from academic intelligence.

The present study proposed a theoretical division of cognitive-social intelligence into declarative and procedural social knowledge (crystallized social knowledge) and flexible knowledge application aspects (social-cognitive flexibility) distinct from academic problem solving. Pictorial, verbal, self-, and teacher report measures of social-cognitive flexibility, crystallized social knowledge, and academic problem solving were collected for 169 high school seniors (102 girls and 67 boys) in a multitrait-multimethod study. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the discriminability of social-cognitive flexibility from academic problem solving and crystallized social knowledge. Crystallized social knowledge was not discriminable from academic problem solving. Significant correlations between these factors and teacher reports of social behavior confirmed that flexible application of social knowledge is an important aspect of social competence.