Real-World Intelligence (RWI): Adaptive Coherence Under Irreversible Consequence

Contemporary intelligence research remains dominated by psychometric models centered on general intelligence (g), which reliably predicts performance in structured, low-consequence environments as assessed by standard psychometric measures. However, real-world functioning in domains such as crisis leadership, recovery, parenting, caregiving, and long-horizon decisionmaking frequently depends on whether cognitive capacity remains usable under uncertainty, physiological arousal, relational exposure, and irreversible consequence. This paper introduces Real-World Intelligence (RWI) as a functional construct describing the capacity of a human system to maintain adaptive coherence-the stable integration of perception, regulation, and action-under consequential conditions. RWI is not proposed as a replacement for g or as a relabeling of emotional, practical, or social intelligence. Instead, it advances a distinct organizing claim: (i) irreversible consequence is an under-specified constraint in prevailing intelligence constructs, and (ii) coherence is a measurable, system-level property that governs whether cognitive, emotional, somatic, and relational information can be jointly used for action selection under stress. We define coherence operationally, specify six contributing functional domains, and distinguish RWI from successful/adaptive intelligence, major emotional-intelligence frameworks, multiple intelligences, constructive-developmental stage models, resilience research, and naturalistic decision-making accounts. To address common critiques of theoretical proposals, we provide a concrete measurement pathway-a feasible Coherence Stability Index (CSI) protocol combining stress-modulated performance, recovery latency, and rupture-repair dynamics-and pre-registerable falsification criteria. Hypothetical examples are included solely to clarify construct boundaries.