My work on spiritual intelligence has relied on four critical perspectives within the field of psychology:

I. The humanistic paradigm. My body of work essentially assumes a humanistic or holistic approach to psychology. A humanistic perspective typically addresses and integrates factors on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. Accordingly, spiritual intelligence completes the spectrum of human intelligence. This is supported by the work of Zohar and Marshall (2000), who have proposed a model in which spiritual intelligence is positioned at the top of a hierarchy, with emotional intelligence (EQ) below and rational intelligence (IQ) falling at the bottom. If this were expanded according to the humanistic paradigm, some form of bodily intelligence would exist at the bottom of this hierarchy.

II. Spirituality is distinct from religiosity. I am also working under the well supported assumption that spirituality and religiosity are distinct psychological constructs. This is supported by many leading researchers and theorists within the field. Although the constructs are often related, they need not be, as many individuals are exclusively spiritual without any religious inclinations. On the other hand, many individuals are religious without any spiritual inclinations. The personal, intrinsic nature of spirituality is stressed, in contrast to the more social nature of religiosity.

III. The current view of human intelligence needs to be expanded. I support the notion that human intelligence is not restricted to IQ or verbal, spatial, and mathematical abilities. Although this is a continuing debate within the field of psychology, leading definitions of intelligence do not negate the possibility of additional ability sets, whether they be emotional, social, or spiritual in nature. Furthermore, the inclusion of additional intelligences validates aspects of human psychology, socioogy, and culture which are often marginalized by Western science.

IV. The current model relies on a general consensus of intelligence criteria (i.e., the criteria that must be met in order to support the establishment of a new human ability set), rather than only one perspective of intelligence. In particular, the following criteria rely heavily on those which have been proposed by Howard Gardner (1983), Robert Sternberg (1997), and Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey (2000).

A number of common criteria can be derived from the current body of intelligence theory and research. Generally, an intelligence should:

(1) include a set of interrelated mental abilities (distinct from behaviours, experiences, etc.).
(2) develop over the lifespan (from birth to old age).
(3) facilitate adaptation and problem-solving in a particular environmental context.
(4) allow an individual to reason abstractly and make appropriate judgements.
(5) demonstrate a biological component or foundation in the brain.

Needless to say, there will always exist certain individuals who demonstrate superior or inferior performance on a particular set of abilities. Empirical support from either psychometrics or experimental tasks is, of course, highly valuable as well, as was emphasized by Howard Gardner (1983).