Assessing Spiritual Intelligence
Assessing Spiritual Intelligence
Assessing Spiritual Intelligence
The Development and Preliminary Validation of the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS)
Palo Alto, CA
Working Paper
7/30/07
yamram@yamram.com
cdryer@itp.edu
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 1
Abstract
This paper describes the development and preliminary validation of an ecumenical measure of
spiritual intelligence (SI), the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS). SI was defined as the
as the ability to apply, manifest, and embody spiritual resources, values, and qualities to enhance
daily functioning and wellbeing. ISIS is an 83-item long form, and a 45-item short form, self-
report instrument. ISIS has shown satisfactory factor structure, internal consistency, test-retest
Purpose, Relatedness, Sacredness, Service, Synthesis, and Trust. These 22 subscales are grouped
into 5 domains: Consciousness, Grace, Meaning, Transcendence and Truth. ISIS predicted
satisfaction with life and correlated with existing measures of spirituality. ISIS scores were
significantly different among the different groups such that spiritual teachers and business leaders
who were nominated for their embodiment of spirituality in daily life scored higher than other
groups such as MBA students, even when controlling for other confounding variables.
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 2
Introduction
Over the last few decades, theories of multiple intelligences have broadened our concept of
intelligence beyond traditional cognitive, largely linguistic and logical abilities associated with IQ
testing, to include emotional, creative, practical, social, existential and spiritual intelligences (Bar-
On, 2000; Gardner, 1983, 2000; Emmons, 1999; Halama & Strizenec, 2004; Goleman, 2001;
Mayer & Salovey, 1993; Sternberg, 1997a, 1997b). Associated with each form of intelligence, a
theoretical model and an assessment instrument were developed and validated to operationally
measure the corresponding new intelligence construct (Bar-On, 2000; Boyatzis, Goleman, &
Rhee, 2000; Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, & Sitarenios, 2003; Sternberg, 1997a, 1997b). Indeed,
development of a reliable and valid measurement instrument is often seen as a criterion for
establishing a new form of intelligence construct (Mayer, 2000; Hedlund & Sternberg, 2000).
Much as emotional intelligence (EI) defines a set of abilities that draw on emotional
resources, spiritual intelligence (SI) involves a set of abilities that draw on spiritual resources.
Whereas spirituality per se refers to the search for, and experiential elements of, the sacred,
the abilities that draw on such themes to predict functioning and adaptation (Emmons, 2000a).
Hence, just as EI can be differentiated from emotionality, SI can be differentiated from spirituality
in general, spiritual experience (e.g. a unitary state), or spiritual belief (e.g., a belief in God.) In
this research, SI was defined as the ability to apply, manifest, and embody spiritual resources,
values, and qualities to enhance daily functioning and wellbeing (Amram, in press).
Despite prior discussions of SI (Emmons, 2000b; Nasel, 2004; Vaughan, 2002; Wolman,
2001) until now little or no universal measurement instrument of spiritual intelligence has been
developed and validated. The purpose of our research is to provide a measure of spiritual
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 3
measure of spiritual intelligence can be developed and validated. In the present study, we address
this research question using a multi-sample, observational quantitative study and present results
Literature Review
Intelligence Beyond IQ
In a review of prior research, Hedlund and Sternberg (2000), and Goleman (1998) found
that IQ, a measure of cognitive intelligence abilities, only accounts for about 20 to 30 percent of
professional success. Sternberg (1997b, 2001) argues that improved prediction of leadership
Sternberg (1997a) defines intelligence as the mental abilities necessary for adaptation to, as
well as selection and shaping of, any environmental context. Sternberg (1997b) offers a triarchic
model consisting of: (a) academic intelligence (as measured by classical IQ tests); (b) practical
intelligence (which grows through the accumulation of tacit knowledge for solving practical
everyday problems); and (c) creative intelligence, which involves synthetic abilities to see
problems in new ways and to escape the bounds of conventional thinking, but has not been
studied as rigorously.
A richer and broader model for multiple intelligences, which is adopted in this paper, is
Gardner’s (1983, 1999) model. Gardner defines intelligence as a set of abilities that are used to
solve problems and create products that are valuable within a cultural setting or community.
Gardner (1983) outlines seven types of intelligences including: linguistic, musical, logical-
Sternberg emphasizes mental abilities, Gardner’s model allows for a broader set of abilities, such
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 4
as musical or bodily-kinesthetic, that may have a corresponding biological basis for their
Gardner (2000) later added naturalistic intelligence, the ability to recognize patterns in the
flora and fauna in the wild, and suggested the possibility of an existential intelligence, involving
the capacity to address existential questions, pertaining to “the fact of our existence as individuals
in the cosmos and our capacity to puzzle over that fact” (p. 29).
Building on Gardner’s model, Halama and Strizenec (2004) define existential intelligence as
an ability to find and realize meaning in life. Furthermore, Halama and Strizenec suggest that the
ability to find and realize meaning in life is also an important element of spiritual intelligence, and
hence, they see existential and spiritual intelligences as non-identical but mutually related and
overlapping constructs. Similarly, several authors have developed models of EI that have been
found to be reliable and valid (e.g. Bar-On, 2000; Boyatzis, Goleman, & Rhee, 2000; Mayer,
involves a set of abilities that draw on spiritual resources. SI combines the constructs of
spirituality and intelligence into a new construct. Whereas spirituality refers to the search for, and
spiritual intelligence entails the abilities that draw on such spiritual themes to predict functioning
Emmons (2000a, 2000b) draws on Gardner’s definition of intelligence and argues that
spirituality can be viewed as a form of intelligence because it predicts functioning and adaptation
and offers capabilities that enable people to solve problems and attain goals. In other words,
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spirituality is based on abilities that produce valuable outcomes. Research suggests a relationship
between spirituality, life purpose and satisfaction, health, and wellbeing (George, Larson,
Koening, & McCullough., 2000; Kass, Friedman, Leserman, Zuttermeister, & Benson., 1991;
Veach & Chappel, 1992). Elmer, MacDonald, and Friedman (2003) reviewed research on the
impact of spirituality on health and found that it contributes to lower disease rate and longer life.
When facing an injury, spiritually oriented people seem to respond better to intervention, better
handle trauma (Emmons, 2000), and have lower depression rates (MacDonald & Friedman,
2002). Trott’s (1996) study of 184 workers in a Fortune 100 company indicated positive
In looking at spirituality through the lens of intelligence, Emmons (1999) writes, “spiritual
intelligence is a framework for identifying and organizing skills and abilities needed for the
adaptive use of spirituality” (p. 163). Emmons (2000a) proposes five components for SI: (a)
ability to utilize spiritual resources to solve problems; (b) ability to enter heightened states of
consciousness; (c) ability to invest everyday activities and relationships with a sense of the sacred;
(d) capacity for transcendence of the physical and material; and (e) capacity to be virtuous.
However, in responding to criticisms from Mayer (2000) who argues that virtuous behavior
belongs more to ethics and personality rather than intelligence, Emmons (2000b) drops (e) the
capacity to be virtuous from his revised definition of SI and retains the first four (a through d)
capacity for a deep understanding of existential questions and insight into multiple levels of
consciousness…it implies awareness of our relationship to the transcendent, to each other, to the
earth and all beings.” (p. 19). Hence, Vaughan’s (2002) model may be seen to imply three
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 6
components of SI: (a) the ability to create meaning based on deep understanding of existential
questions; (b) an awareness of and the ability to use multiple levels of consciousness in problem
solving; and (c) an awareness of the interconnection of all beings to each other and to the
transcendent.
In focusing the definition of SI on issues of meaning, Zohar and Marshall (2000) define SI
as “the intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value, the
intelligence with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving
context, the intelligence with which we can assess that one course of action or one life-path is
more meaningful than another.” (p. 3). Zohar and Marshall’s definition also highlights and hints
Overlapping somewhat with prior authors, Levin (2000) argues that SI is exhibited when we
live in a way that integrates spirituality into our daily life. Levin suggests that the development of
SI requires the recognition of our interconnection to all of life, and the capacity to utilize
perceptual powers beyond the five senses including our intuition, which is seen as another level of
Wolman (2001) defines spiritual intelligence as “the human capacity to ask ultimate
questions about the meaning of life, and to simultaneously experience the seamless connection
between each of us and the world in which we live” (p. 83). Although Wolman’s (2001) book is
titled Thinking with your soul: Spiritual intelligence and why it matters, his Psycho-Matrix
Spirituality Inventory (PSI) appears more a measure of spiritual orientation than spiritual
intelligence. The PSI is an 80-item self-report measure on a 4-point Likert-type scale that has
been administered to over 6,000 people and has a stable 7-factor structure. Yet, many items in
the PSI lack face validity in relation to spiritual intelligence. For example, it contains factors
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assessing childhood trauma (e.g., “I think about serious physical injury that has happened to me’
or ‘I have witnessed serious illness in people close to me’), and childhood spirituality (e.g., ‘I have
said prayers at night as a child’) that Wolman believes are a stimulus to, or predictors of, spiritual
awareness. However, these factors do not appear to tie into Wolman’s own, or other, definitions
of spiritual intelligence. Furthermore, Wolman (2001) does not provide any predictive or
Nasel (2004) defines spiritual intelligence as the “ability to draw on one’s spiritual abilities
and resources to better identify, find meaning in, and resolve existential, spiritual, and practical
relevant to facilitating an individual’s capacity for finding meaning in experiences, for facilitating
problem solving, and for enhancing an individual’s capacity for adaptive decision making” (p. 42,
p. 305). Nasel (2004) developed the Spiritual Intelligence Scale (SIS) as part of a doctoral
dissertation. The SIS is a 17-item self-report measure of spiritual intelligence rated on a 4 point
Likert scale from 1 (never) to 4 (almost always). The questionnaire items are all positively worded
and designed to assess behaviors (e.g., ‘even when a situation seems hopeless, I can find a deeper
meaning in it’ or ‘I apply insights gained from self-reflection to problematic situations in my life’)
and attitudes (e.g., ‘in day to day living, I try to place my daily affairs within a larger context’)
Despite the overall satisfactory reliability, construct validity, and some limited predictive
validity, the SIS was designed to measure spiritual intelligence from a particular set of two
only 17 items, the model of spiritual intelligence used by the SIS excludes several potentially
important elements of SI. For example, the SIS does not include any items that assess the ability
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solving, nor does it include a factor corresponding to the ability to see the world and solve
Based on his study of some of the world’s major spiritual traditions (Buddhism,
Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism, Shamanism, and Taoism) Walsh (1999) identifies and
discusses 7 common practices that are universal across these spiritual traditions. And this first
minimum of 4 interviews was conducted within each of the following spiritual traditions:
Buddhism, Christianity, Earth-Based (Shamanic & Pagan), Hindu, Islam/Sufism, Jewish, Non-
Dual, Taoism, and Yoga. In addition to the well defined traditions, the largest single group of
participants (20) could be characterized as eclectic in their spiritual orientation, following their
own unique personal integration of several traditions. Based on the 45 initial interviews with
participants, 13 preliminary themes were identified. These initial themes were used by the authors
of this paper to generate some of the items developed in this study. As interviews continued,
Amram (in press) later refined, expanded and clustered the themes into 7 major themes which
emerged as nearly universal across the spiritual traditions and participants. These themes are:
2. Grace: Living in alignment with the sacred, manifesting trust in and love for life that is
4. Transcendence: Going beyond the separate egoic self into an interconnected wholeness,
including a holistic system’s worldview and the nurturing of human relationships through
5. Truth: Living in open acceptance, forgiveness, curiosity and love for all that is (all
Showing some overlap with other definitions and models of SI reviewed earlier above,
many of these themes derived from qualitative interviews by Amram (in press) found further
confirmation within the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale developed and validated in this
study.
intelligence. Hence, Gardner adds several considerations to the list of criteria for intelligence.
These include the potential for localization and isolation of certain abilities to specialized regions
in the brain, and an evolutionary history and plausibility for their development.
deductive reasoning are associated with the left brain hemisphere, whereas the unification of parts
into a greater holistic picture, and intuition (both of which may be deemed as components of
spiritual intelligence) are associated with the right brain hemisphere (Deutsch & Springer, 1997;
Herrmann, 1981; Power & Lundsten, 1997; Ornstein, 1998). In highlighting the biological basis
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 10
of the SI quality of mindfulness, Davidson and colleagues (2003) found that those who trained in
mindfulness meditation exhibit significantly greater activity in the prefrontal cortex even while not
in meditation. Lazar and colleagues (2005) found that a mindfulness meditation practice is
associated with increased cortical brain thickness, showing brain regions of the right anterior
insula, right middle and superior frontal sulci were thicker among the savvy meditators compared
to matched controls. And Lutz, Greischar, Rawlings, Ricard and Davidson (2004) found that a
long-term compassion and loving-kindness meditation practice is associated with altered resting
as compassion and loving-kindness involves temporal integrative mechanisms and may induce
short- and long-term neural changes in the brain. Furthermore, Lutz et al. (2004) found particular
brain area activation during loving-kindness and compassion meditation among such trained
meditators.
Similarly, recent discoveries of the mirror neuron system in the brain have provided
biological basis for the capacity for empathy, a component of SI (Gallese, 2003, 2005).
Furthermore, meta analysis of 80 studies reporting neural correlates of empathy suggest that the
medial prefrontal cortext mediates human empathy using 6 spatially distinct activation clusters in
the medial part of the frontal lobe dorsal to the intercommissural plane (Seitz, Nickel, Azari,
2006).
Hamer (2004) has found a gene contributing to self-report value of self-transcendence from
his study of same sex siblings. Furthermore, Kirk, Eaves, and Martin (1999) found genetic factors
In summary, these findings suggest a link between spiritual intelligence abilities and qualities
mindfulness and their biological basis, including association with specialized processing
Method
Participants
The purpose of the study was to develop a measure of spiritual intelligence. To do so, we
sought a standard to which the scores of our Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS) might
be compared. For our standard, we selected participants who were distinguished by the
application, manifestation, and embodiment of spirituality in their daily lives in ways that enhanced
their functioning and wellbeing, i.e. believed to be spiritually intelligent. To identify prospective
participants with this rare sample characteristic, we used a snowball sampling method
(Heckathorn, 1997). Specifically, referrals from initial participants were used to generate leads
for additional participants. We thought this would identify participants with qualities, skills, and
abilities related to spiritual intelligence with a method that was sufficiently distinct from our self-
report instrument that there would be no concern that some methodological artifact could account
for any association between the nominations and the scale scores that might result.
We needed to compare the ISIS scores of this group with the scores of a comparison group
of participants not nominated for the successful application and embodiment of spirituality in daily
life. To select this comparison group, we used simple convenience sampling, recruiting
lists, and word of mouth from the participants themselves. Therefore, our participants varied
along a theoretical factor of “spiritual embodiment.” This factor had two levels: “nominated for
embodiment of spirituality” and “not nominated for embodiment of spirituality.” (The comparison
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group participants were not thought to have low embodiment of spirituality; we simply had no
evidence about their embodiment of spirituality in daily life one way or the other.)
In previous research (Amram, in press), two distinct groups of participants who successfully
applied spirituality were identified: spiritual teachers and business leaders who apply and embody
spirituality in their work and daily life. Spiritual teachers are professors, religious leaders,
spiritual guides, or coaches who based on nomination and self-report are working with teaching
spiritual content in their professions and who integrate it into their daily life. Business leaders
who embody spirituality are individuals with vocational success who are nominated by others for
applying and embodying spirituality in their work and daily life and known by self-report to
attribute their success to their spirituality. Even though participants in both groups were
nominated for their successful embodiment of spirituality, they differed in their degree of business
savvy, and we wondered whether they might differ along some of the elements of spiritual
intelligence. Therefore, the group of participants nominated for the embodiment of spirituality
was further characterized as being distinguished by high business savvy (i.e., the business leaders
who embody spirituality) or not being distinguished by high business savvy, i.e., the spiritual
teachers. (Again, the spiritual teachers were not thought to have low business savvy; we simply
had no evidence about their business savvy one way or the other.)
To complete our full factorial design, we also sought a comparison group of participants
who were expected to be high in their business savvy and who were not nominated for their
1983) to invite advanced MBA students in finance classes at a school rated as a “top business
school” by US News and World Report. We selected this group because we believed that training
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 13
in a competitive MBA program would ensure high business savvy, and at the same time we saw
Thus, we sampled U.S. populations that varied across two independent variables:
embodiment of spirituality and business savvy. For each factor, we conceptually distinguished two
categorical levels, namely a population nominated to be high on the factor and another population
not believed to be high on the factor. We operationally defined the embodiment of spirituality by
into daily life. We operationally defined business savvy as either peer nomination of vocational
identified by convenience sampling, was invited to complete the ISIS again after a six-week
interval.
Research participants were 263 adult volunteers. The modal age category across the four
samples was 35 – 44, with 83 participants reporting this range; 1 participant reported an age of 17
or younger (and was excluded from our analyses); 35 reported 18 – 24; 44 reported 25 – 34; 33
reported 45 – 54; 31 reported 55 – 64; 6 reported 65 or older; and 30 participants choose not to
report their age. The high spiritual intelligence and business acumen sample included 15
participants who completed the ISIS out of 18 who met the criteria and were invited. Of these 15
participants, 9 were men, 5 women, and 1 who did not report gender. The modal age ranges for
this sample were 35 – 44 and 45 – 54, with 6 participants reporting their age in each of these
ranges. The high spiritual intelligence and average business acumen teacher sample included 17
participants who completed the ISIS out of 27 who met the criteria and were invited to
participate. Of these 17 participants, 5 were men, 7 women, and 5 did not report gender. The
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modal age range for this sample was 45 – 54 with 7 participants reporting their age in this range.
The MBA student sample included 21 participants who completed the ISIS out of approximately
65 MBA students in two finance classes who met the criteria and were invited to participate. Of
these 21 participants, 15 were men, 5 women, and 1 did not report gender. The modal age range
for this sample was 18 – 24 with 16 participants reporting their age in this range. The comparison
sample included 210 participants, 59 men, 116 women, and 35 who did not report gender. The
modal age range for this sample was 35 – 44 with 72 participants reporting their age in this range.
Instruments
All participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including the newly developed ISIS,
the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS, Pavot & Diener, 1993), the Index of Core Spiritual
Experiences (INSPIRIT; Kass, Friedman, Leserman, Zuttermeister, and Benson, 1991), and a
brief demographic questionnaire assessing age and gender. The battery was self-administered in
hardcopy and online formats. All dependent variables were analyzed to determine whether any
significant differences existed in responses to the two formats; no significant differences were
found, and we excluded this factor from subsequent analyses. The complete text of the ISIS is
could be used to locate a personalized profile after the questionnaires had been scored. For the
ISIS, participants were asked to indicate the frequency of behaviors over the past 6 to 12 months
using a six-point Likert scale with the following labels: “rarely or almost never;” “very
almost always.” Participants were encouraged not to leave items blank and use their best “guess”
Procedure
We initially generated over 400 candidate items for the ISIS. The items represented
spiritual intelligence identified by previous research (Amram, in press). These candidate items
were then reviewed, revised, and culled. We intended to include multiple items to assess each
theme, and we sought to balance items that would be reversed scored (i.e., behaviors that were
process, sets of items were administered to 12 volunteer participants in pilot tests of the
questionnaire. Informed by these pilot tests, we selected 148 items for the preliminary version of
the ISIS, plus one final item to assess validity “I have I have answered all the questions truthfully
and to the best of my ability.” (One participant was excluded from further analyses because of a
All data were analyzed using SPSS 11.0 statistical analysis software. Reverse scored items
were recoded such that high scores on all items theoretically provided evidence for spiritual
intelligence. Cases with missing data were excluded from analyses when the missing data were
required and included in analyses when the data were not required. Univariate statistics (including
mean and standard deviation), frequency histograms, and box plots were examined for all
variables to explore potential problems, violations of assumptions, and differences among the
samples.
Hypotheses. For our analyses, we identified the following hypotheses: (1) INSPIRIT and
ISIS scores will be highly but not perfectly correlated; (2) the correlation coefficients between the
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 16
INSPIRIT scores and the various ISIS subscale scores will differ significantly; (3) INSPIRIT and
SWLS scores will be moderately correlated; (4) the relationship between the ISIS and SWLS
scores will be strong when controlling for the INSPIRIT scores, and the relationship between
INSPIRIT and SWLS will not be strong when controlling for the ISIS scores; (5) the correlation
coefficients between the SWLS scores and the various ISIS subscale scores will differ
significantly; (6) the effects of age and gender on the overall ISIS scores and the ISIS subscale
scores will be statistically significant; (7) the effects of the embodiment of spirituality factor on
the overall ISIS scores will be statistically significant; and (8) the ISIS subscale scores will differ
Results
Scale development. Data from the ISIS were explored to identify preliminary spiritual
intelligence constructs. These explorations occurred in two stages. First, data at the item level
were analyzed to find evidence for specific spiritual intelligence capabilities. Based on the
resulting evidence, a number of capability subscales were developed. Second, data at the
capability subscale level were analyzed to find evidence for broad spiritual intelligence domains.
All data were analyzed with a principle components analysis (PCA) and a hierarchical cluster
analysis (HCA). To aid interpretation, the component solutions were rotated using a Varimax
with a Kaiser Normalization method. Hierarchical cluster analyses using a variety of linkage
methods and a squared Euclidian distance metric were performed. A Ward linkage method was
The results of the PCA and HCA were examined to determine whether the results of the
two analyses converged to identify any natural classes of items. Any groupings both within the
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 17
same cluster and with high loadings on the same component were taken as evidence of a natural
class.
coefficients to examine the interrelationships among the potentially related items. In addition to
the strength of the interrelationships, we also considered participant feedback on the items, the
frequency histograms and variance, the balance of reverse- and positively scored items, and the
coherence of the set of items with theoretical constructs. We looked for items that had strong
normal distributions with wide variance, and aided to the theoretical interpretation of the classes.
On these bases, we tentatively assigned the following labels to the 22 subscales: Beauty,
Sacredness, Service, Synthesis, and Trust. Subscale scores were calculated as the mean of the
In addition to the specific spiritual intelligence capabilities, we theorized that the individual
items and capabilities could be grouped in a manner that would reflect higher-order domains of
spiritual intelligence. We considered previous theories and our theoretical framework together
with the overlapping evidence from the two empirical methods to identify five super-ordinate
Subscale scores for each capability were determined by calculating the mean of the scores of
the items assessing that capability. Domain scale scores were determined by calculating the mean
of the scores of the items included in the domain. An overall integrated spiritual intelligence score
was determined by calculating the mean of all of the item scores. These scores were then
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 18
analyzed to determine the reliability of the scales and the subscales, evidence for convergent and
discriminant validity, and evidence for differences among the scores of the four samples.
In order to construct a short form for the ISIS which can be administered in a shorter time,
for each capability subscale we also selected 2 items that showed high correlation with the overall
subscale score in order to formulate a short form for the subscale. Given the 22 subscales, the
resulting short form consisted of 44-items for assessing the 22 capabilities, plus one validity item
for a total 45-item short form. Based on a valid sample size of 240, this short form showed
correlation of .99 with the overall long form ISIS score. Correlations of the short form with the
long form ranged from 0.94 to 0.98 for each of the 5 domain scales and from 0.82 to 1.00 for
each of the 22 capability subscales. (Correlation of 1.00 was for the Gratitude subscale which
Reliability. To assess the internal consistency of the scale and subscales, we calculated
Cronbach’s Alpha. The internal consistency of the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale was
high; Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.97. The internal consistency of the domain scales also was high;
Cronbach’s Alpha ranged from 0.84 to 0.95, with a mean value of 0.89. The Cronbach alpha
values for the domain scales were: Consciousness, 0.84; Grace, 0.91; Meaning, 0.86;
Transcendence, 0.95; Truth, 0.90. The internal consistency of the capability subscales also was
moderate to high; Cronbach’s Alpha ranged from 0.62 to 0.88, with a mean value of 0.75. The
Cronbach alpha values for the subscales were: Beauty, 0.79; Discernment, 0.75; Egolessness,
0.62; Equanimity, 0.74; Freedom, 0.77; Gratitude, 0.72; Higher-self, 0.87; Holism, 0.82;
Immanence, 0.77; Inner-wholeness, 0.71; Intuition, 0.71; Joy, 0.74; Mindfulness, 0.71; Openness,
0.70; Practice, Presence, 0.73; 0.88; Purpose, 0.70; Relatedness, 0.68; Sacredness, 0.87; Service,
To determine temporal stability, we calculated the integrated spiritual intelligence scores for
a sub-sample of 26 participants who completed the ISIS again after a six-week interval. These
scores were compared with their scores on the first administration of the ISIS. The ISIS
Convergent and discriminant validity. Our initial investigation into the validity of the ISIS
spirituality using the Index of Core Spiritual Experiences and subjective wellbeing using the
Satisfaction With Life Scale. We reasoned that an examination of the correlation coefficients
between the scores of these measures might reveal patterns that would be consistent or
inconsistent with our conceptual framework. Because the reliability of each measure limits how
strongly the measure can be associated with any other measure, we also looked at the internal
consistency of the comparison measures; for the SWLS, Cronbach’s alpha is 0.87 (Pavot &
Diener, 1993), and for the INSPIRIT, 0.90 (Kass, et al;, 1991). We used these internal
consistency measures to calculate correlation coefficients among the measures correcting for the
attenuation. The Pearson correlation coefficients and the corrected correlation coefficients for the
SI, domain subscale, and capability subscale scores with the INSPIRIT scores, and with the
SWLS scores are shown in Table 1: Correlations Among Scale and Subscale Scores.
Uncorrected correlation coefficients of 0.159 or higher were statistically significant at p < 0.05;
correlation coefficients of 0.185 or higher were statistically significant at p < 0.01 (both two-
tailed). The sample size was 233 for the correlations with the SWLS scores and 234 for the
correlations with the INSPIRIT. Scores for the SWLS and the INSPIRIT were moderated
Short
Corrected Form
Correlation Corrected Correlation Correlation
Scale Correlation with Correlation with with Full
ISIS scale Alpha with SWLS INSPIRIT with SWLS INSPIRIT Subscale
BEAUTY 0.79 0.44 0.48 0.53 0.57 0.96
DISCERNMENT 0.75 0.44 0.42 0.54 0.51 0.89
EGOLESSNESS 0.62 0.11 0.20 0.15 0.27 0.93
EQUANIMITY 0.74 0.29 0.35 0.36 0.43 0.95
FREEDOM 0.77 0.23 0.34 0.28 0.41 0.95
GRATITUDE 0.72 0.54 0.48 0.68 0.60 1.00
HIGHER-SELF 0.87 0.33 0.86 0.38 0.97 0.92
HOLISM 0.82 0.29 0.65 0.34 0.76 0.90
IMMANENCE 0.77 0.27 0.38 0.33 0.46 0.91
INTUITION 0.71 0.22 0.43 0.28 0.54 0.87
INNER-WHOLENESS 0.71 0.52 0.21 0.66 0.26 0.91
JOY 0.74 0.53 0.46 0.66 0.56 0.92
MINDFULNESS 0.71 0.10 0.34 0.13 0.43 0.87
OPENNESS 0.70 0.32 0.28 0.41 0.35 0.88
PRACTICE 0.88 0.32 0.80 0.37 0.90 0.90
PRESENCE 0.73 0.41 0.30 0.51 0.37 0.92
PURPOSE 0.70 0.37 0.61 0.47 0.77 0.82
RELATEDNESS 0.68 0.16 0.49 0.21 0.63 0.92
SACREDNESS 0.87 0.35 0.75 0.40 0.85 0.95
SERVICE 0.82 0.43 0.63 0.51 0.73 0.94
SYNTHESIS 0.70 0.19 0.43 0.24 0.54 0.93
TRUST 0.77 0.57 0.32 0.70 0.38 0.91
CONSCIOUSNESS 0.84 0.20 0.47 0.23 0.54 0.94
GRACE 0.91 0.51 0.55 0.57 0.61 0.98
MEANING 0.86 0.41 0.65 0.47 0.74 0.94
TRANSCENDENCE 0.95 0.35 0.85 0.38 0.92 0.97
TRUTH 0.90 0.51 0.37 0.58 0.41 0.97
ISI 0.97 0.48 0.73 0.52 0.78 0.99
among the ISIS, the INSPIRIT, and the SWLS. The interrelationships suggested meaningful
patterns among the constructs of spiritual intelligence, spirituality, and wellbeing, providing
evidence for the validity of the ISIS. Because spiritual intelligence draws upon spiritual
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 21
experience and practice, we hypothesized that measures of spirituality and spiritual intelligence
would be highly (but not perfectly) associated. The evidence supported this hypothesis. Scores
on the INSPIRIT were highly correlated with the ISIS scores; Pearson r = 0.73, p < 0.01. We
further hypothesized that some facets of spiritual intelligence would be more strongly associated
with spirituality than others. Evidence also supported this hypothesis. Scores on the INSPIRIT
were highly correlated with the ISIS Transcendence subscale (r = 0.85, p < 0.01) and only
moderately correlated with the ISIS Truth subscale (r = 0.37, p < 0.01).
Because researchers have previously found evidence linking spirituality to wellbeing (as
between the INSPIRIT and SWLS scores. The evidence supported this hypothesis (Pearson r =
0.30, p < 0.01); participants who reported high levels of spirituality also tended to report high
levels of life satisfaction, and participants who reported low levels of spirituality also tended to
report low levels of life satisfaction. By definition, spiritual intelligence is the ability to leverage
wellbeing better than spirituality does. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the relationship
between the ISIS and SWLS scores would be strong when controlling for the INSPIRIT scores,
and the relationship between INSPIRIT and SWLS would not be strong when controlling for the
ISIS scores. We examined the first order relationship first. ISIS and SWLS score were strongly
correlated; Pearson r = 0.73, p < 0.01. We next calculated the partial correlation coefficient
between the ISIS and SWLS scores, controlling for the effect of the INSPIRIT score. With a
valid sample size of 230, the resulting partial correlation coefficient was strong and statistically
significant, r = 0.41, p < 0.001. We also calculated the partial correlation coefficient between the
SWLS and INSPIRIT scores, controlling for the effect of the ISIS score. With a valid sample
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 22
size of 230, the resulting partial correlation coefficient was not statistically significant, r = -0.09.
These results suggest that the relationship between spirituality and wellbeing is spurious (that is,
due to the relationship that each of these variables has with spiritual intelligence rather than an
actual relationship between them). Perhaps spiritual intelligence and not spirituality itself predicts
wellbeing.
We further hypothesized that not all of the ISIS subscale scores would be strongly positively
correlated with wellbeing. Evidence also supported this hypothesis. Scores on the SWLS were
highly correlated with the ISIS Grace (Pearson r = 0.51, p < 0.01) and Truth (Pearson r = 0.51, p
< 0.01) subscales and only moderately correlated with the ISIS Consciousness (Pearson r = 0.20,
p < 0.01), Meaning (Pearson r=0.41, p<0.01) and Transcendence (Pearson r=0.35, p<0.01)
subscales.
this study would differ in terms of measures of their spiritual intelligence. We began with
exploratory one-tailed t-tests (assuming unequal sample variance) examining if the scores on each
of the individual ISIS items differed significantly among the different groups. To control for the
overall error rate on the multiple tests, we applied the Bonferroni correction to the individual
alpha levels (Abdi, 2007). The business leaders nominated for their embodiment of spirituality
(n=15) scored higher than the MBA student group (n=21) on 55 of the 82 individual ISIS items
(corrected p < 0.10), 19 of the 22 ISIS capability scales (corrected p < 0.05), and all 5 of the ISIS
domain scales (corrected p < 0.01). These exploratory analyses indicated that meaningful group
differences could be found even at the individual item level. For a more sophisticated analysis, we
sought to determine whether group differences in ISIS scores for all participants would still be
To explore these possible differences, we analyzed the integrated spiritual intelligence scores
using an ANCOVA with gender as a two-level (male or female) fixed factor and age as a
covariate. This analysis revealed statistically significant effects for the fixed factor and for the
covariate; for gender, F(1,218) = 9.15, p < 0.01 and for age, F(1,218) = 26.74, p < 0.01. For the
ANCOVA, R-squared = 0.14. Women tended to have higher integrated spiritual intelligence
scores than men did; the mean and standard deviation was 4.43 and 0.61 for women and 4.16 and
0.66 for men. In addition, older participants tended to have higher integrated spiritual intelligence
scores than younger participants did; the means and standard deviations are shown in Table 2:
Age and Spiritual Intelligence. Means with different subscripts are significantly different at p <
0.05.
18 - 24 34 4.02a 0.60
25 - 34 44 4.16a,b 0.61
35 - 44 83 4.27b,c 0.65
45 - 54 33 4.79c 0.52
55 - 64 31 4.64c 0.58
65 or older 6 4.47c 0.30
A similar analysis was performed on the five domain scale scores using a MANOVA with
gender as a two-level (male or female) fixed factor and age as a covariate. This multivariate
analysis revealed statistically significant effects for the fixed factor and for the covariate; for
gender, F(5,214) = 5.21, p < 0.001 and for age, F(5,214) = 6.87, p < 0.001. The gender effect
was significant for Consciousness, F(1,218) = 5.20, p < 0.05; Grace, F(1,218) = 9.16, p < 0.001;
Meaning, F(1,218) = 17.10, p < 0.001; and Transcendence, F(1,218) = 8.83, p < 0.01. The
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 24
gender effect was not significant for Truth. For the four statistically significant domains, women
had higher mean scores than did men across the domain scales. The age effect was significant for
all domain scales: Consciousness, F(1,218) = 5.02, p < 0.05; Grace, F(1,218) = 31.53, p < 0.001;
Meaning, F(1,218) = 14.53., p < 0.001; Transcendence, F(1,218) = 17.06, p < 0.001; and Truth,
F(1,218) = 19.95, p < 0.001. Older participants had higher mean scores across the domain scales
than did younger participants. In some cases, the oldest participants reversed this trend. For
lower mean scores than did one or more categories of younger participants. It was not clear from
the data if this is due to real decline in spiritual intelligence or in fact increased modesty and
previous analyses, we also had identified a few potentially confounding variables: age, gender,
subjective wellbeing, and spirituality. Therefore, to examine the relationships between the
independent variables (business savvy and embodiment of spirituality), we performed a two factor
(business savvy and embodiment of spirituality) ANCOVA with two levels of each fixed factor
As expected, the covariates accounted for significant portions of the variance in integrated
spiritual intelligence scores: for Age, F(1,211) = 13.19, p < 0.01; for Gender, F(1,211) = 4.15, p
< 0.05; for spirituality, F(1,211) = 138.74, p < 0.01; and for subjective wellbeing, F(1,211) =
45.21, p < 0.01. The effect of the embodiment of spirituality independent variable was also
significant, F(1,211) = 12.25, p < 0.01. The mean and standard deviation of the scores was 4.95
and 0.40 for the participants nominated for the embodiment of spirituality and 4.24 and 0.62 for
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 25
the participants not so nominated. The effect of business savvy was not statistically significant.
However, the interaction between business acumen and embodiment of spirituality was significant,
F(1,211) = 4.06, p < 0.05. The mean scores for the four groups are shown in Table 3: Spiritual
Intelligence Scores by Group; groups with different subscripts differ significantly, p < 0.05.
Unexpectedly, the evidence indicates that the MBA students had significantly lower integrated
spiritual intelligence scores than did the other participants. Overall, this ANCOVA accounted for
the majority of the variance in integrated spiritual intelligence scores; R-squared = 0.66.
Embodiment of Spirituality
Business savvy Not nominated Nominated Total
Not nominated 4.31b (N=210) 4.85c (N=17) 4.35 (N=227)
Nominated 3.64a (N= 21) 5.04c (N=15) 4.23 (N= 36)
Total 4.24 (N=231) 4.95 (N=32) 4.33 (N=263)
To further explore the differences among these four groups, we used a discriminant function
analysis (DFA) to determine which combination of the five spiritual intelligence domain scale
scores best distinguish the groups. For this DFA, the domain variables were entered stepwise
using the Wilks’ lambda method. The first variable entered was the scale score for the Meaning
domain; F(3,250) = 26.63, p < 0.001. The second variable entered was the scale score for the
Truth domain; F(6, 498) = 16.80, p < 0.001. After the second variable, no further variables met
the inclusion criteria. The final solution consisted of two canonical discriminant functions. For
the first function, the coefficients were 0.82 for Meaning and 0.34 for Truth. For the second
function, the coefficients were –0.71 for Meaning and 1.03 for Truth. Along these functions, the
comparison group values were near the middle of both functions (-0.03, -0.09). The MBA group
values were low on the first function and high on the second (-1.43, 0.45). The spiritual teacher
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 26
group values were high on the first function and near the middle of the second function (1.11,
0.03). The business leaders’ group values were high on both functions (1.23, 0.66). In other
words, the first function (high Meaning) may relate to the nomination of embodiment of
spirituality; the second function (high Truth) may relate to the degree of business savvy.
Discussion
the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS). This 83-item self-report instrument provides a
single, overall measure of spiritual intelligence (SI), as well as scores for 5 broad domains and 22
specific capabilities.
In our tests of the ISIS, we found evidence for its reliability, internal consistency, and
temporal stability. We also found evidence for the convergent validity of the ISIS. In our
predicts wellbeing. Therefore, we predicted positive correlations between the ISIS scores and the
INSPIRIT scores, and between the ISIS scores and the SWLS scores. The evidence supported
these predicted relationships. Moreover, consistent with our theoretical framework and despite
other research to the contrary, our results suggest no direct relationship between spirituality and
wellbeing when controlling for spiritual intelligence. The scores between the ISIS and the SWLS
were positively correlated when controlling for the INSPIRIT scores. When controlling for the
ISIS scores, however, we found no evidence for a correlation between the INSPIRIT and SWLS
scores. These results indicated that spiritual intelligence, and not spirituality, is a predictor of
wellbeing. Altogether, the results supported the convergent validity of the ISIS.
We also found evidence for the discriminant validity of the ISIS. Because of the
multifaceted nature of spiritual intelligence, we expected that some facets might not be as strongly
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 27
associated with spirituality, wellbeing, or both. We hypothesized that some subscale scores would
be less strongly correlated with the INSPIRIT scores. The results indicated that the ISIS Truth
subscale scores were less strongly correlated with the INSPIRIT scores than were the ISIS
Transcendence subscale scores. The ISIS Transcendence subscale appears to measure the ability
to transcend the self and connect with something larger, bringing the sacred into everyday
experience. This seems closely related to the heavily theistic spirituality that is assessed by the
INSPIRIT. In contrast, the ISIS Truth subscale appears to measure a surrender to truth that
enhances emotional stability, which seems much less related to the notion of spirituality assessed
by the INSPIRIT.
We further expected that some facets of spiritual intelligence would be more strongly
associated with wellbeing than others. Of the ISIS subscales, the Grace and Truth seem most
closely associated with the ability to leverage spirituality to enhance affect and wellbeing; Grace
seems related to inspiring positive affect (e.g., joy and gratitude), whereas Truth seems related to
avoiding negative affect (e.g., equanimity and trust). Strong associations between these facets of
spiritual intelligence and satisfaction with life appear consistent with theories of subjective well
being; Diener (1984) argued that life satisfaction is closely interrelated with the presence of
positive emotions and the absence of negative emotions, and that jointly these cognitive and
affective factors comprise subjective well being. In contrast, the ISIS Consciousness subscale
appears to assess the ability to shift consciousness to enhance functioning. Although shifting
consciousness may be essential for certain insights and understandings, this construct
understandably seems relatively less important to life satisfaction. In all, the results provided
The examination of group differences provided further evidence for the validity of the ISIS.
To provide a standard to which the ISIS score could be compared, we recruited participants who,
according to the nominations of their peers, embodied and applied spirituality in their lives in ways
that enhanced their functioning and wellbeing to a noteworthy extent. As predicted, we found
evidence that participants nominated for the embodiment of spirituality in their daily lives had
significantly higher ISIS scores than did participants not so nominated. We also found evidence
that a number of other variables also were associated with spiritual intelligence scores, including
age, gender, wellbeing, and spirituality. Importantly, the relationship between peer nominations
for the embodiment of spiritual and the spiritual intelligence score was statistically significant
(p<0.01), even after we had accounted for the effect of these other potentially confounding
variables. The business leaders and spiritual teachers who had been nominated for the study
because of their noteworthy embodiment of spirituality did not score highly on the ISIS merely
because they tended to be older, more satisfied with life, more spiritual, and more likely to be
female, relative to the other participants. We believe the group nominated for their embodiment
of spirituality scored higher than the other participants because the ISIS assessed their spiritual
intelligence, and that their spiritual intelligence was noteworthy enough to have been noticed by
their peers.
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 29
The results of this study, together with previous research, suggest a theoretical model of
spiritual intelligence. We expect this model to change as future research informs our
Spiritual intelligence is a set of abilities people use to apply, manifest, and embody spiritual
resources, values, and qualities in ways that enhance daily functioning and wellbeing (Amram, in
press). People have these abilities to a greater or lesser degree, and practice or training might
help people to develop some or all of these abilities. We group these abilities into five broad
Consciousness. This domain reflects the ability to raise or shift consciousness, to tap
intuition, and to synthesize multiple points of view in ways that enhance daily functioning and
wellbeing. We break consciousness into three capabilities: Intuition, Mindfulness, and Synthesis.
Intuition was assessed with the following four items: “I pay attention to my dreams to gain
insight to my life;” “I listen deeply to both what is being said and what is not being said;” “I listen
to my gut feeling or intuition in making important choices;” and “I remember to consider what is
Mindfulness was assessed with the following five items: “I look for and try to discover my
blind spots;” In arguing or negotiating, I am able to see things from the other person's perspective,
even when I disagree;” “I live and act with awareness of my mortality;” “In meetings or
conversations, I pause several times to step back, observe, and re-assess the situation;” and
Synthesis was assessed with the following three items: “Even in the midst of conflict, I look
for and find connection and common ground;” “To solve problems, I draw on my ability to hold,
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 30
accept and go beyond paradoxes;” and “I can hold as true and integrate seemingly conflicting or
Grace. This domain reflects inner-directedness (combining discernment and freedom) and
love for life, drawing on the inspiration, beauty and joy inherent in each present moment to
enhance functioning and wellbeing. We break grace into five capabilities: Beauty, Discernment,
Beauty was assessed with the following three items: “I notice and appreciate the beauty that
is uncovered in my work;” “I appreciate the sensuality and beauty of my daily life;” and “I find
Discernment was assessed with the following four items: “My actions are aligned with my
soul—my essential true nature;” “I am aware of my inner truth—what I know inside to be true;”
“My actions are aligned with my values;” and “I have a hard time standing firm in my inner
Freedom was assessed with the following three items: “Because I follow convention, I am
not as successful as I could be” (reverse scored); “I have a good sense for when my purpose
requires nonconformity or breaking the rules;” and “I have a hard time going against conventions,
Gratitude was assessed with the following two items: “My life is a gift, and I try to make the
most of each moment;” and “I remember to feel grateful for the abundance of positive things in
my life.”
Immanence was assessed with the following four items: “I am mindful of my body's five
senses during my daily tasks;” “In my daily life, I am disconnected from nature” (reverse scored);
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 31
“I spend time in nature to remind myself of the bigger picture;” and “I enjoy the small things in
Joy was assessed with the following three items: “I bring a feeling of joy to my activities;”
“Even when I seem to have very few choices, I feel free;” and “I am frustrated by my inability to
Meaning. This domain reflects the ability to experience meaning, link activities and
experiences to values, and construct interpretations in ways that enhance functioning and
wellbeing even in the face of pain and suffering. We break Meaning into two capabilities: Purpose
and Service.
Purpose was assessed with the following five items: “I hold my work as sacred;” “In my
day-to-day activities, I align my purpose with what wants to and needs to happen in the world;” “I
see financial rewards as being the primary goal of my work” (reverse scored); “I see advancing my
career as the main reason to do a good job” (reverse scored); and “I derive meaning from the pain
Service was assessed with the following three items: “I feel that my work is an expression of
love;” “My work is in alignment with my greater purpose;” and “In my daily life, I feel my work is
Transcendence. This domain reflects the ability to align with the sacred and transcend the
egoic self with a sense of relatedness and holism in ways that enhance functioning and wellbeing.
We break Transcendence into five capabilities: Higher-self, Holism, Practice, Relatedness, and
Sacredness.
Higher-self was assessed with the following five items: “A higher consciousness reveals my
true path to me;” “I draw on deep trust or faith when facing day-to-day challenges;” “I am aware
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 32
of a wise- or higher-self in me that I listen to for guidance;” “I seek to know only what is provable
and avoid the mysterious” (reverse scored); and “My goals and purpose extend beyond the
material world.”
Holism was assessed with the following four items: “To gain insights in daily problems, I
take a wide view or holistic perspective;” “I strive for the integration or wholeness of all things;”
“I feel like part of a larger cosmic organism or greater whole;” and “Seeing life's processes as
Practice was assessed with the following six items: “I have a daily spiritual practice—such
as meditation or prayer—that I draw on to address life challenges;” “In difficult moments, I tap
into and draw on a storehouse of stories, quotes, teachings, or other forms of time-proven
wisdom;” “I practice inner and outer quiet as a way of opening myself to receive creative
insights;” “I have daily and weekly times set aside for self-reflection and rejuvenation;” “I use
rituals, rites, or ceremonies during times of transition;” and “I use objects or places as reminders
Relatedness was assessed with the following three items: “I work toward expanding other
Sacredness was assessed with the following four items: “Experiences of ecstasy, grace, or
awe give me insights or direction in dealing with daily problems;” “In my daily life, I feel the
source of life immanent and present within the physical world;” “I live in harmony with a force
greater than myself—a universal life force, the divine, or nature—to act spontaneously and
effortlessly;” and “In my day-to-day tasks, I pay attention to that which cannot be put into words,
Truth. This domain reflects the ability to be present to, love, and peacefully surrender to
truth, manifesting open receptivity, presence, humility, and trust in ways that enhance daily
functioning and wellbeing. We break Truth into six capabilities: Egolessness, Equanimity, Inner-
Egolessness was assessed with the following three items: “Being right is important to me”
(reverse scored); “When looking at others, I tend to focus on what they need to do to improve”
Equanimity was assessed with the following three items: “When things are chaotic, I remain
aware of what is happening without getting lost in my experience;” “I get upset when things don't
go the way I want them to go” (reverse scored); and “Even when things are upsetting and chaotic
Inner-wholeness was assessed with the following four items: “I am my own worst enemy”
(reverse scored); “I have a hard time integrating various parts of my life” (reverse scored); “I
accept myself as I am with all my problems and limitations;” and “I don't know how to just be
Openness was assessed with the following four items: “I resist events that I don’t like, even
when they need to occur” (reverse scored); “I harbor resentment towards those who have
wronged me” (reverse scored); “I find it frustrating when I don’t know what the truth is” (reverse
scored); and “I strongly resist experiences that I find unpleasant” (reverse scored).
Presence was assessed with the following three items: “My mind wanders away from what I
am doing” (reverse scored); “I find it upsetting to imagine that I will not achieve my desired
outcomes” (reverse scored); and “I tend to think about the future or the past without attending to
Trust was assessed with the following four items: “I am driven and ruled by fears” (reverse
scored); “I am limited in my life by the feeling that I have very few options available to me”
(reverse scored); “I expect the worst in life, and that's what I usually get” (reverse scored); and “I
have faith and confidence that things will work out for the best.”
Limitations
Despite the strong psychometric properties reported for the ISIS above, the present study
suffers from several limitations. First, the study was the first of its kind and no replication studies
demonstrating generalizability with different populations have been done to confirm the reported
results. In particular, the factor structure and various psychometric properties may only be
considered preliminary.
Furthermore, future studies are required to further demonstrate the predictive validity of the
ISIS beyond subjective wellbeing, as well as show discriminant validity relative to other
multiple dimensions, themes and sub-themes (Amram, in press). Hence, it is not clear if the
current 5 ISIS domain scales and 22 capability subscales reflect all aspects of spiritual intelligence.
For example, qualities such as compassion and empathy may represent their own capabilities and
deserve their own subscale instead of being assessed as part of Relatedness as in the current
version of the ISIS. Moreover, 2 of the current ISIS subscales (Relatedness and Egolessness)
may be considered preliminary and experimental as they have not shown the same level of internal
consistency and other psychometric properties as the other subscales. Additionally, the
ecumenical nature of spiritual intelligence needs further empirical demonstration using different
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 35
populations that draw on different spiritual traditions to enhance functioning and wellbeing in
Lastly, the current version of the ISIS is a purely self-report measure of SI and hence suffers
from the same limitations of other self-report instruments that are susceptible to social desirability
bias. In summary, future studies are be required to further to develop, refine and validate future
Conclusion
In contrast to the perennial philosophy (Huxely, 1945; Smith, 1987, 1992; Wilber, 1975,
2000), which presupposes a unifying cosmology across spiritual traditions, an integrated theory
and ecumenical measurement instrument of SI does not necessitate such unified cosmology.
However, it does suggest that most spiritual and wisdom traditions cultivate a universal set of
qualities that are adaptive, i.e., increase functioning and wellbeing. For example, a Christian may
align with the sacred through Jesus, while a Jew may do so through the scrolls of the Torah, and
the Shaman by sitting under a tree. Nonetheless, the capacity to align with the sacred may be
universally adaptive (spiritually intelligent) and indeed can be assessed with the ISIS.
Spiritual intelligence can be applied to solve specific problems by taping specific abilities
holistic systems perspective to solve problems more globally. In addition to helping solve specific
problems, spiritual intelligence can be applied in every moment of daily life to experience greater
meaning, and wellbeing by exercising SI abilities such as mindfulness, presence, and equanimity,
even in the face of pain and suffering. Hence, a reliable and valid ecumenical measurement
instrument of spiritual intelligence supports an expanded view of human potential. In this view,
people are capable of: experiencing existential meaning; developing refined consciousness;
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 36
transcending small egoic self to live in interconnected wholeness and alignment with the sacred;
living in grace to experience freedom, joy, beauty, and gratitude; and being curious and open to
The development and preliminary validation of the Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale
(ISIS) suggests that SI contributes to wellbeing and can be differentiated from spirituality and/or
spiritual experience, belief or orientation. Further studies are required to inquire into its
predictive power and to more fully refine and validate the ISIS with regards to related constructs
such as emotional intelligence and determine its relationship to other established constructs such
as personality.
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Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 41
On the next few pages, please score all the items on a scale from 1 to 6 based on the general
frequency of your behavior over the past 6 to 12 months:
___ 2. I expect the worst in life, and that's what I usually get.
___ 3. When things are chaotic, I remain aware of what is happening without getting lost in my
experience.
___ 4. During an activity or conversation, I monitor and notice my thoughts and emotions.
___ 5. I practice inner and outer quiet as a way of opening myself to receive creative insights.
___ 6. I have a good sense for when my purpose requires nonconformity, out-of-the-box thinking, or
taking an unpopular stand.
___ 7. I resist events that I don't like, even when they need to occur.
___ 8. In my daily life, I feel the source of life immanent and present within the physical world.
_*_ 9. I get upset when things don't go the way I want them to go.
___ 10. In my day-to-day activities, I align my purpose with what wants to and needs to happen in the
world.
___ 11. I find it frustrating when I don’t know what the truth is.
___ 14. Seeing life's processes as cyclical rather than linear gives me useful insights to daily challenges.
_*_ 17. In difficult moments, I tap into and draw on a storehouse of stories, quotes, teachings, or other
forms of time-proven wisdom.
_*_ 18. I don't know how to just be myself in interactions with others.
_*_ 20. I have a daily spiritual practice—such as meditation or prayer—that I draw on to address life
challenges.
___ 21. I enjoy the small things in life—such as taking a shower, brushing my teeth, or eating.
_*_ 23. I tend to think about the future or the past without attending to the present moment.
_*_ 24. My life is a gift, and I try to make the most of each moment.
___ 26. I am limited in my life by the feeling that I have very few options available to me.
___ 27. I set aside daily and weekly times to ground myself in nature.
_*_ 29. In meetings or conversations, I pause several times to step back, observe, and re-assess the
situation.
___ 30. I use objects or places as reminders to align myself with what is sacred.
_*_ 31. I have a hard time going against conventions, expectations, or rules.
_*_ 32. Even when things are upsetting and chaotic around me, I remain centered and peaceful inside.
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 43
___ 33. I find it upsetting to imagine that I will not achieve my desired outcomes.
_*_ 34. In my day-to-day tasks, I pay attention to that which cannot be put into words, such as
indescribable sensual or spiritual experiences.
_*_ 35. I am aware of a wise- or higher-self in me that I listen to for guidance.
_*_ 36. I can hold as true and integrate seemingly conflicting or contradictory points of view.
_*_ 39. I derive meaning from the pain and suffering in my life.
___ 42. My actions are aligned with my soul—my essential, true nature.
_*_ 47. I notice and appreciate the sensuality and beauty of my daily life.
_*_ 49. Even in the midst of conflict, I look for and find connection and common ground.
_*_ 51. I listen deeply to both what is being said and what is not being said.
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 44
___ 53. I seek to know what is logically provable and ignore the mysterious.
___ 56. I work toward expanding other peoples' awareness and perspectives.
_*_ 57. I live in harmony with a force greater than myself—a universal life force, the divine, or nature—to
act spontaneously and effortlessly.
_*_ 58. My goals and purpose extend beyond the material world.
___ 59. I draw on deep trust or faith when facing day-to-day challenges.
_*_ 60. I hold resentment towards those who have wronged me.
___ 61. I feel like part of a larger cosmic organism or greater whole.
___ 63. When looking at others, I tend to focus on what they need to do to improve.
___ 64. Experiences of ecstasy, grace, or awe give me insights or direction in dealing with daily problems.
_*_ 65. To gain insights in daily problems, I take a wide view or holistic perspective.
___ 66. I have daily and weekly times set aside for self-reflection and rejuvenation.
_*_ 67. I remember to feel grateful for the abundance of positive things in my life.
_*_ 68. I have faith and confidence that things will work out for the best.
___ 70. To solve problems, I accept and go beyond paradoxes or seemingly contradictory viewpoints.
Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale… 45
_*_ 71. In my daily life, I feel my work is in service to the larger whole.
___ 72. In arguing or negotiating, I am able to see things from the other person's perspective, even when I
disagree.
_*_ 73. I see advancing my career as the main reason to do a good job.
___ 74. I see financial rewards as being the primary goal of my work.
_*_ 77. Even when I seem to have very few choices, I feel free.
_*_ 79. I have a hard time standing firm in my inner truth—what I know inside to be true.
___ 83. I have answered all the questions truthfully and to the best of my ability
* Items marked with * indicate items included in the short-form version of the ISIS