You seem to be trying to equate intelligence as the ability to generalize and learn from experience ("inferring information from experience or experiments") as opposed to the ability to follow received rules ("book reading and following a teacher"). Your use of "social" in this context is irrelevant.

ADDED: Also Frank Herbert said something similar in Chapterhouse:Dune

Education is no substitute for intelligence. That elusive quality is defined only in part by puzzle-solving ability. It is in the creation of new puzzles reflecting what your senses report that you round out the definition.