{"id":603,"date":"2019-07-19T11:12:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T15:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=603"},"modified":"2022-04-12T22:25:48","modified_gmt":"2022-04-13T02:25:48","slug":"practical-vs-analytical-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"Analytical vs Practical Intelligence: Which Is Better?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/kinds-of-intelligence\/\">kind of intelligence<\/a> measured by IQ tests is called analytic intelligence. But extraordinary success in life is often the result of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/robert-oppenheimer-practical-intelligence\/\">practical intelligence<\/a>. Let\u2019s look at what distinguishes the two:<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Analytical Intelligence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Measured by IQ tests<\/li><li>Good for solving intellectual puzzles<\/li><li>Genetic and innate, at least in part<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Practical Intelligence<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Not measured by IQ tests<\/li><li>Good for knowing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-express-yourself-better\/\">how to express yourself<\/a>, and to whom, in order to get what you want<\/li><li>Learned rather than innate<\/li><li>Knowledge-based rather than skills-based<\/li><li>Also known as social savvy<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Practical intelligence enables you to accurately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-read-other-people\/\">read other people<\/a> and situations and adjust accordingly.<\/strong> It helps you get what you want.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having analytical intelligence does not necessarily mean you\u2019ll have practical intelligence.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If practical intelligence is learned, where do we learn it from? Here\u2019s where we return to the book\u2019s theme of external factors contributing to our success.<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The kind of intelligence measured by IQ tests is called analytic intelligence. But extraordinary success in life is often the result of practical intelligence. Let\u2019s look at what distinguishes the two:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,9],"tags":[32],"class_list":["post-603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-psychology","tag-outliers","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Analytical vs Practical Intelligence: Which Is Better? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IQ tests measure analytic intelligence. But success in life is often due to practical intelligence. Let\u2019s compare the two types of smarts.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Analytical vs Practical Intelligence: Which Is Better?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IQ tests measure analytic intelligence. But success in life is often due to practical intelligence. Let\u2019s compare the two types of smarts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-07-19T15:12:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-13T02:25:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-practical.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"799\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"420\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Allen Cheng\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Allen Cheng\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Allen Cheng\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/e9c1cecc340502045489d4c4e6f4a877\"},\"headline\":\"Analytical vs Practical Intelligence: Which Is Better?\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-19T15:12:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-13T02:25:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\"},\"wordCount\":155,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-practical.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Outliers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\",\"Psychology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/\",\"name\":\"Analytical vs Practical Intelligence: Which Is Better? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/practical-vs-analytical-intelligence\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/outliers-practical.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-07-19T15:12:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-13T02:25:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"IQ tests measure analytic intelligence. 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