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Intra and Inter-Individual Differences in Social Intelligence of Portuguese Students1 1 Paper deriving from the third author’s master’s thesis under the primary and secondary authors’ orientation, defended in the Master’s Program at the Instituto Superior de Línguas e Administração de Leiria - Portugal in 2013.

Diferenças Intra e Inter Individuais na Inteligência Social de Estudantes Portugueses

Diferencias Intra e Inter Individuales en Inteligencia Social de Estudiantes Portugueses

Social intelligence is a favorable condition for career decision-making and development. The social intelligence indices of Portuguese students in school years prior to a career transition are characterized and intra and interindividual differences are analyzed. Participants were 1095 students (552, 50.4% women) with a mean age of 14.78 years (SD = 1.86), in the 8th (542, 49.5%), 10th (295, 26.9%) and 11th (258, 23.6%) grades. The Cognitive Test of Social Intelligence (PCIS) was administered at two moments, six months apart. Results indicate that the 8th grade obtained higher average scores in Problem Solving, Motivation and Self-confidence (time 1), while the 10th grade obtained better results in Problem Solving, Motivation and Familiarity (time 2). Between the assessment moments, all school years register an increase in Problem Solving and Self-confidence in social situations. These results constitute favorable psychological conditions for the promotion of ethical questioning in career guidance interventions.

intelligence; ethics; vocational guidance


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