Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

284 Chapter 
9 
Intelligence
(a)
(b)
Neuroscience in Your Life: 
Your Intelligent
 
Brain
FIGURE 2
Neuroscientists are fi nding that separate brain areas are involved in diff erent kinds 
of intelligence. For example, the images in (a) show areas of brain activation associated with 
tasks that specifi cally tap general intelligence. In comparison, the images in (b) show areas of 
brain activation associated with tasks that tap more crystallized intelligence. You can see that 
some of the areas are similar. 
(Source: Colom et al., 2009, adapted by Kevin Head.)
Practical and Emotional 
Intelligence: Toward a More 
Intelligent View of Intelligence
Consider the following situation:
An employee who reports to one of your subordinates has asked to talk with you about 
waste, poor management practices, and possible violations of both company policy and the 
law on the part of your subordinate. You have been in your present position only a year, 
but in that time you have had no indications of trouble about the subordinate in question. 
Neither you nor your company has an “open door” policy, so it is expected that employees 
should take their concerns to their immediate supervisors before bringing a matter to the 
attention of anyone else. The employee who wishes to meet with you has not discussed 
this matter with her supervisors because of its delicate nature. (Sternberg, 1998, p. 17)
Your response to this situation has a lot to do with your future success in a business 
career, according to psychologist Robert Sternberg. The question is one of a series 
designed to help give an indication of your intelligence. However, it is not traditional 
intelligence that the question is designed to tap but rather intelligence of a specifi c kind: 
practical intelligence.  Practical intelligence  is intelligence related to overall success in 
living (Sternberg, 2000, 2002; Sternberg & Hedlund, 2002; Wagner, 2002; Muammar, 2007).