Abilities vs. Skills vs. Knowledge

Three terms often used interchangeably that actually describe different things.

Abilities are enduring attributes that influence performance and the capacity to acquire skills. They’re relatively stable individual differences, things like spatial visualization, manual dexterity, or deductive reasoning. Abilities develop slowly through maturation and practice. They constrain what skills someone can acquire.

Skills are developed capacities that facilitate performance. They’re acquired through experience and training, things like programming, negotiation, or critical thinking. Skills build on abilities but are more malleable. Basic skills (reading, writing) facilitate learning; cross-functional skills (problem solving) extend across domains.

Knowledge is organized information applying to a domain. It’s acquired through learning, facts and principles about administration, engineering, psychology, or law. Knowledge is the raw material that skills operate on.

The sequence matters: Abilities → Skills → Knowledge. Raw capacity enables skill development enables knowledge application.

Conflating these creates confusion about what can be taught (skills, knowledge) versus what must be selected for (abilities).

Related: 06-atom—worker-oriented-vs-job-oriented, 06-molecule—tacit-vs-explicit-knowledge