Essay Topic:

The comparison and contrast of two types of intelligence: Academic and Everyday intelligence.

Essay Questions:

What personal characteristics does academic intelligence require?

What is the main difference between the practical and theoretical abilities of a man?

Does academic intelligence provide a man with a good problem-solving pattern?

How does practical intelligence assist a man throughout his whole life?

Thesis Statement:

Academic intelligence is a set of characteristics required to gain information and to be able to explain and understand it theoretically and the ability to apply it in practical actions is called practical intelligence.

Academic intelligence vs. practical intelligence Essay

Academic intelligence

1. Analysis and synthesis abilities

2. Ability to perceive a lot of new information

3. Ability to establish logic connections

4. High criticality

5. Patience

6. Purposefulness

7. Ability to be attentive

8. Developed speech

9. Ability to self-educate

Everyday intelligence

1. Ingenuity

2. Objectivity

3. Skills to constrain emotions

4. Ability to analyze the problem from different positions

5. Communicative skills

6. Ability to evaluate all the consequences

7. Ability to plan

8. Ability to find new unique solutions

9. Ability to concentrate and find solutions quickly

Introduction: According to Sternberg: “Intelligent behavior involves adapting to your environment, changing your environment, or selecting a better environment” [1]. He suggests the point of view that there are three types of intelligence: practical intelligence, analytical intelligence and creative intelligence. Analytical intelligence or componential intelligence is what is known as academic intelligence. The list of the qualities of academic intelligence listed above offers such abilities as: analysis and synthesis abilities, ability to perceive a lot of new information, ability to establish logic connections, developed speech and others. Sternberg and his colleagues in their turn declared three major components of academic intelligence: abstract thinking and logical reasoning, verbal and mathematical skills. Therefore the listed characteristics do truly relate to those proposed by Stenberg in a way that the central element is the logic reasoning part which is reflected in the mentioned ability to analysis and synthesis and in the ability to establish logic connections. Gould calls this type of intelligence Reified Abstraction and adds the importance of proper motivation and personal involvement. Basically academic intelligence is a set of characteristics required to gain information and to be able to explain and understand it theoretically and the ability to apply it in practical actions is called practical intelligence. Practical intelligence or contextual intelligence is what is known as everyday intelligence.

Cattell calls it “crystallized intelligence” and Turnstone views it as a set of primary mental abilities. As everyday intelligence is aimed at finding solutions it has a straight connection to practical intelligence, or in other words they both relate to the problem-solving function. This type of intelligence for sure implies the ability to find new unique solutions and the ability to analyze the problem from different positions and find the right decision quickly. In terms of practical intelligence (everyday intelligence) Sternberg highlights two main blocks: ability to apply knowledge to the real world and the ability to shape one’s environment or choose an environment. Obviously the understanding of everyday intelligence as seen by ordinary people absolutely resembles the notion of Sternberg’s practical or contextual intelligence.

Conclusion: Basically Sternberg and his colleagues have made summary and a scientific approach to what ordinary people call academic and everyday intelligence. The primary difference between these two types of intelligence is the difference between theory and practice, where academic intelligence is theory and everyday intelligence is practice. Or if to analyze the list provided in the beginning academic intelligence “perceives” information and everyday intelligence “applies” it in different situations.