INTELLIGENCE AND THE EPISTEMICS OF INTERPERSONAL ACUMEN - TESTING SOME IMPLICATIONS OF GARDNERS THEORY

Gardner (1985) theorized a developmental trajectory leading to qualita tive changes in the ability to read motives or intentions, which we vi ewed as implying stages (or levels) of interpersonal acumen in adults. To test this idea, we conceptualized graduated levels of action-inten tion combinations ranging from least to most cognitively taxing accord ing to particular end-state skills described by Gardner. In a set of s tudies using varied formats, we found that, if adult subjects mastered one combination in the hierarchy, they also tended to master combinat ions implying more primitive skills; if they failed a task, they gener ally failed at combinations implying more complex skills. We were able to find no substantial relationships between task performance and sur rogate indices of verbal and mathematical IQ or standard tests of inte rpersonal reactivity, interpersonal trust, need for cognition, and sel f-monitoring. Although tentative, this finding was consistent with Gar dner's view of interpersonal intelligence as independent of g-ocentric facets of intellectual potential and different from personality. We i solated a set of self-described markers of high and low scorers, which also seemed consistent with Gardner's intuitions. We conclude by noti ng some limitations of this investigation.