Is There ‘Spiritual Intelligence’? An Evaluation of Strong and Weak Proposals
Religions February 24, 2023 Fraser Watts, Marius Dorobantu 9 citations
The debate over whether spiritual intelligence exists as a distinct cognitive ability is clarified by distinguishing strong and weak versions. The strong version, which posits a separate spiritual intelligence meeting Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences criteria, lacks support from neuroscience, evolutionary psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, individual differences, experimental tasks, and psychometrics. The weak version, where general intelligence is deployed distinctively in spiritual contexts, is supported by evidence. Six key marks of spiritual intelligence are identified: ineffability, embodiment, open-minded attention, pattern-seeking meaning-making, participation, and relationality. This approach uses the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems (ICS) framework, useful for modeling spiritual practices, and should be integrated with psychometric and experimental research.