Social intelligence, the ability to understand others and to act wisely in social situations, is a concept with a long history, sporadic development, but promise as a late bloomer. Although current references to social intelligence per se are limited, the concept appears to be alive and well under various terms, e.g., role-taking, interpersonal competence, egocentrism (or decentering), and empathy. This review was designed, therefore, to: (a) serve an integrative function by tracing the history of social intelligence and its ramifications; (b) provide an overview of the measurement approaches and relevant research; (c) consider substantive issues, such as the relationship of social intelligence to abstract intelligence and the status of measuring the understanding and action aspects of the concept.

This study investigated the hypothesis that symbol road signs (similar to the international signs) could be more accurately recognized than word road signs (typical of the American signs). The Ss used were 81 college undergraduates. The hypothesis was significantly supported under 2 conditions. Under 1 condition, both the symbols and signs were black; in the other, the symbols were black and red. A further phase of the study demonstrated the ease with which the symbol signs were learned A simple memory test conducted 24 hrs. after the learning indicated perfect recall of the symbol signs and their meaning. The potential significance of the results and research possibilities were discussed.

Initiated research on a Sufi personality typology that describes nine life stretegies as depicted by a nine‐sided figure called the enneagram. Through workshops and classes, a S pool was formed that consisted of 390 adult and college‐age Ss (311 females and 79 males) who knew the enneagram system well enough to type themselves. The stability of the typing was found to be satisfactory. The Myers‐Briggs and Millon personality inventories were administered to the Ss, and on both instruments significantly different yet congruent profiles emerged among the enneagram types thereby providing some concurrent validity for the system. An objective 135‐item test instrument was devised to differentiate the nine styles, and positive results were obtained. The enneagram typology appears to have diagnostic, prognostic, and heuristic value for the study of personality structure and dynamics.