Social intelligence: What it is and why we need it more than ever before

Abstract

In this chapter, we discuss social intelligence and why it is of crucial importance to the world today. We open by defining social intelligence. Then we discuss whether social intelligence should be separated from general intelligence. Then we discuss the role of nonverbal communication in social intelligence. Finally, we discuss how social intelligence fits into a broader notion of adaptive intelligence. We conclude that, in the twenty-first century, the major problems the world is facing will be solved not merely by exercise of cognitive intelligence but by exercise of social intelligence and related constructs.