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Discuss the term intelligence
Chapter 9: intelligence and it's measurements
The Real Meaning of Intelligence
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The true nature of intelligence has been debated more intensely then ever over the last century. As the science of psychology has developed one of the biggest questions it had to answer concerned the nature of Intelligence. Some of the definitions that have been given for intelligence have been the ability to adjust to one’s environment. Of course by such a definition even a person who is generally considered to be dull can be regarded as being intelligent if he can take care of himself. Other definition is such as having the tendency to analyze things around yourself. However it can be argued that such behavior can lead to over-analyzing things and not reacting to one’s environment and dealing with it in an intelligent manner. One of the most definitive things ever said regarding the nature of intelligence was that intelligence is whatever IQ tests measure. The IQ test has been in use throughout the 20th century and serves as an accepted measure of a person’s intelligence. It is used by institutions such as schools and the army to screen people’s level of intelligence and decisions are made based on that. The IQ test consists of a series of questions regarding certain skills such as vocabulary, mathematics, spatial relations. The scores that a person gets on these tests depend on the amount of questions that a person answers correctly. The actual score that a person gets is dependant on how others in that age group do on those particular questions. While the IQ test is generally used and widely accepted they have been criticized for several different reasons. One is that the test by its nature measures how well a person does answering questions on paper. However it is well-known that not all forms of intelligence involve memorizing words or solving equations. Recently there has been a movement in psychology regarding something called EQ or emotional quotient. What this is saying that there should also be a rating for people that are particularly able to deal with other people and social situations. While someone that is very good at dealing with people and real world situations is generally not regarded as being intelligent in a stereotypical manner there hasn’t been any definition of intelligence proposed which have ruled out this particular form of intelligence.
Webster's Collegiate Dictionary defines intelligence as the capacity to apprehend facts and propositions, to reason about them, and the ability to understand them and their relations to each other. A. M. Turing had this definition in mind when he made his predictions and designed his test, commonly known as the Turing test. His test is, in principle, simple. A group of judges converse with different entities, some computers and some human, without knowledge of which is which. The job of the judges is to discern which entity is a computer. Judges may ask them any question they like, "Are you a computer?" excepted, and the participants may answer with anything they like, and in turn, ask questions of the judges. The concept of the test is not difficult, but creating an entity capable of passing the test with current technology is virtually impossible.
Before answering the questions let find out what intelligence test is. It is a test consisting of a series of tasks requiring people to use various verbal and non verbal skills to measure the individual’s intellectual ability. Now that we know what an intelligence test is we can now answer the question better. Three important short comings of intelligence test that have nothing to do with intelligence are: having low motivation or high anxiety which can greatly influence the performance on the test, also IQ test may contain cultural biases in their language and or tasks that may place people of one background above people of another back ground, and members of minority groups may have little experience with this kind of test or may be uncomfortable with examiners of a different ethnic back ground than them (Comer, 2013, pp.107).
For more than a century, the topics of intelligence test have raised many strong and weak arguments which presented supporting both the “professional” side of the proposition and the “anti” side of the proposition. Like many anti-IQ tests’ arguments, Isaac Asimov’s “Thinking About Thinking (1976)” is a relatively common argument when he argues that intelligence is not something that can be measured or tested. In this essay, it presents common ideal that intelligence is defined by people who are subject to their own biases and to the ideas of their culture, the prevail definition of intelligence is not reliable. Asimov uses personal experiences, hypothetical situation, and casual/semi-simple language to convince readers of his view. With these
IQ. An acronym that is not heard as much in today’s world but was a major decision maker back when it was introduced. An intelligence quotient (IQ) is a total score derived from one of the several standardized tests designed to assess human intelligence (dictionary). In his famous book,Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell indites, “The relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point. Once someone has reached an IQ score of somewhere around 120, having additional IQ points doesn’t seem to translate into any measurable real-world advantage.”
Intelligence tests have been developed by scientists as a tool to categorize army recruits or analyze school children. But still discussing what intelligence is, academics have a difficult time defining what intelligence tests should measure. According to the American researcher Thorndike, intelligence is only that what intelligence tests claim it is (Comer, Gould, & Furnham, 2013). Thus, depending on what is being researched in the test and depending on the scientist’s definition of intelligence the meaning of the word intelligence may vary a lot. This essay will discuss what intelligence is in order to be able to understand the intelligence theories and aims of intelligence tests.
" In 1982, Eysneck said "IQ correlates very highly (.8 and above, without correction for attenuation) with tests which are essentially so simple, or even directly physiological that they can hardly be considered cognitive in the accepted sense." Many other people would agree that all these skills could be put into a single category called intelligence, but there are also other people who would disagree and say that there is more than one type of intelligence.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Intelligence is having the ability to have reason and logic, the act of understanding and having the capability to apply aspects of knowledge and skill to everyday life.
Most researchers believe that we are born with a certain intelligence or potential intelligence. They also believe that the intelligence we are born with is difficult to change. Psychologists use short-answer tests to assess one’s intelligence (Gardner papers). It was believed that intelligence was a single inherited thing. Human beings start out initially as a blank slate and could be trained to learn anything, provided that it was presented in an appropriate way (Multiple Intelligences and Education). Currently an “increasing number of researchers believe the opposite. Gardner defined intelligence as: “the ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in culture; a set ...
Can intelligence be measured? Does an IQ test actually measure a person’s intelligence? Does a high score indicate a genius? Does a low score indicate stupidity or merely ignorance? These questions have been asked over and over again by psychiatrists and scientists alike, but to date there are no clear answers. These questions cannot be answered without first defining what is meant by the term intelligence. Once intelligence has been defined then it should be easy to answer these questions; however, multiple definitions of the word tend to lead to further confusion.
Intelligence by definition is “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills” (Oxford Dictionary, 2014). However, many psychologists argue that there is no standard definition of ‘intelligence’, and there have been many different theories over time as psychologists try to find better ways to define this concept (Boundless 2013). While some believe in a single, general intelligence, others believe that intelligence involves multiple abilities and skills. Another largely debated concept is whether intelligence is genetically determined and fixed, or whether is it open to change, through learning and environmental influence. This is commonly known as the nature vs. nurture debate.
In psychology intelligence if often debated, but there are many different views on what intelligence is. Some say you have to have a wide range of abilities. Other opinions are intelligence is strictly based on upon the knowledge of subjects. For example Charles Spearman and Louis Thurstone had different views on the topic.
The Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale is a standardized test that assesses intelligence and cognitive abilities. Intelligence is "a concept intended to explain why some people perform better than others on cognitive tasks. Intelligence is defined as "the mental abilities needed to select, adapt to, and shape environments. It involves the ability to profit from experience, solve problems, reason, and successfully meet challenges and achievement goals. Intelligence tests began as a psychologist's solution to a problem faced by Paris schools at the beginning of the century.
While it is very difficult to define intelligence in itself, I believe in the theory of multiple intelligences. This is the idea that intelligence has different modalities, rather than a general understanding that someone is either intelligent, or that they are not. Interpersonal intelligence is the most important modality in my view. This can be roughly defined as having the ability to interact well with others. A good example of someone with high interpersonal skills was Martin Luther King. He was a clever man, however, it was not his IQ score that made him such a popular figure with the public, but his ability to read people, how they felt, and what their intentions
When a person utters the word “intelligence,” people tend to think of a genius like Albert Einstein developing some obscure equation that the great majority of the population will never understand. The problem with the definition of intelligence is that people relate intelligence to words like “genius” which require intelligence but do not have the same definition as intelligence. Often, people try to use related words to define intelligence, but these words are unable to define intelligence since many are only different levels of intelligence. While many definitions try to encompass the meaning of intelligence and various definitions describe a small part of intelligence, no definition completely explains intelligence, because intelligence is a concept that is understood only after realizing that intelligence is based on three basic concepts: logic, growth, and emotion. Although many people believe that humans are the only creatures capable of intelligence, other animals exhibit intelligence and are capable of further demonstrate the complex concept of intelligence.
Over twenty years ago Mayer & Salovey (1993) introduced the concept of Emotional Intelligence (EQ). Since then psychologists and researchers have debated the distinction between EQ and Social Intelligence (SQ) and general intelligence as a whole (IQ). Many critics of EQ believe that it is better defined as a ‘competence’ rather than an intelligence (Salovey & Mayer, 1993). Others, suggest that it is merely an extension of SQ, and cannot stand alone as a type of intelligence (Matthews, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2002). Some researchers reject the idea of multiple intelligences, instead asserting that general intelligence encompasses a wide range of abilities and talents, and therefore these ‘multiple’ intelligences are facets of our general intelligence