Intelligences can be divided up in different ways, according to whether they address crystallized (memory-dependent) or fluid (process-dependent) abilities or, according to the type of information that is their focus. The approach that divides intelligences into information areas, for example, yields a verbal/propositional intelligence that deals with words and logic and a spatial intelligence that deals with arranging and rotating objects in space, among others. Analogously, an EI would address (a) the capacity to reason with and about emotions and/or (b) the contribution of the emotions system to enhancing intelligence.
Interpersonal intelligence is the ability to understand other people: what motivates them, how they work, how to work cooperatively with them. Successful salespeople, politicians, teachers, clinicians, and religious leaders are all likely to be individuals with high degrees of interpersonal intelligence. Intrapersonal intelligence … is a correlative ability, turned inward. It is a capacity to form an accurate, veridical model of oneself and to be able to use that model to operate effectively in life.
Emotional intelligence, “is a type of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use the information to guide one’s thinking and actions” (Mayer & Salovey, 1993).