Practical intelligence and tacit knowledge: Advancements in the measurement of developing expertise

Practical intelligence as measured by tacit-knowledge inventories generally has shown a weak relation to other intelligence constructs. However, the use of assessments capturing specialized, job-related knowledge may obscure the generality of practical intelligence and its relation to general intelligence. This article presents three studies in which three new everyday tacit-knowledge inventories are examined. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the factor structure of each inventory and their measurement equivalence across samples. In addition, a single-factor model was tested for its fit to the covariance among the three new tacit-knowledge inventories and the Practical subscale from the Sternberg Triarchic Abilities Test. The relation between a higher-order practical intelligence factor emerging from this analysis and fluid and crystallized intelligence also was investigated. The results indicate that the new tacit-knowledge inventories are reliable and valid assessments of practical intelligence across diverse samples. The results also support the conclusion that practical intelligence and general intelligence are not the same construct, though some overlap was found.