Intelligence can be defined as a means of acquiring knowledge and being able to apply it to various aspects in life. In the realm of psychology, the universal term is used interchangeably during research. According to Singh-Manoux et al. (2005), psychologists have had difficulty defining intelligence because they have constantly disagreed on its nature, with some in congruence on one construct and others drawn to the multiple factor theory. In contrast, it could also be because they never agreed on an operational definition of intelligence—meaning the variable to be measured, take for example, emotion. Most times, intelligence and emotion are “initially perceived as completely different elements” (Keidar & Yagoda, 2014). Although true, combining …show more content…
First off, Gardner believed individuals had different minds to solve diverse problems or progress in various domains, so he developed a theory that comprised seven distinct areas: linguistic skills, logical-mathematical skills, musical skills, intrapersonal/interpersonal skills, bodily-kinesthetic skills, and spatial skills (Ekinci, 2014) while Sternberg’s theory proposed that people could apply information-processing components of intelligence (i.e. componential, experiential, practical) to coping with tasks and situations (Sternberg et al., 2001). In comparison to other models of intelligence, excluding Gardner, Sternberg’s theory differed because it was more widely acclaimed in its effectiveness and had a “practical application, helping those to develop as a whole in their surroundings regardless of their lack of intelligence” (Sternberg, Grigorenko, & Jarvin, …show more content…
One issue he dealt with, beforehand, was looking at the admission of immigrants to identify any contagious diseases and/or deformities that would hinder them from earning a living in the United States. This formulated deeper into the identification of mental deficiency. Throughout the process, Knox teamed up with Goddard and his colleagues to see how they could improve the rate of detection. When implementing the Bell Curve later in 1914, he expressed great concern for the immigrants who were at the tail ends because he thought aside from completing the test, the emotional sense of the individual would prove them defective (Baynton, 2016). Furthermore, Knox’s procedure in facilitating IQ tests “began with simple tests of orientation and common knowledge, continuing with more complex tests of practical reasoning, and concluding with a revised version of his examination protocol using performance tests” (Richardson, 2003). The significance of these events was engulfed in racism and discrimination. Acceptance, equality, and fairness were never displayed at all. In addition, it illustrated how fear was a prominent emotion immigrants felt when passing through the New York harbor, but it didn’t have to necessarily be just the population on Ellis Island though. The same was done for soldiers who had fought in
Howard Gardner’s theory contains eight main multiple intelligence. As the years have progressed there have taken one out and is left with the main seven. These seven are: Linguistic, Mathematical, Spatial, bodily, Musical, Interpersonal, and Intrapersonal. These are found in everyone; however, each person will excel in one or two. Once teachers can determine what intelligence the students will exceed on and teach to their strengths the student will learn much more.
Everyone thinks intelligence is being smart and it is inherited, but what if it was being able to play music or a sport? Each person is embodied with intelligence, but it might not be the intelligence that you see in school by form of tests. If you can’t see these intelligences by tests; then how do you know if you have an intelligence? Howard Gardner is the man who came up with the idea of multiple intelligences and he describes intelligence as ‘the ability to create an effective product or offer service that is valued in a culture.’ We see these intelligences then through the abilities and products that we have and produce. Many people doubt that there is more than one form of intelligence, but I believe and know that there are many kinds and I can see them all around me.
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.
Charles Spearman's model of intelligence and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligence theory are two of the most widely used theories of intelligence. In order to understand how similar the two theories are we must first understand their differences. These two men differed in opinion on how IQ and intelligence should be measured, and they differed in opinion on what made a person "smart". In order to examine these things they first had to understand the human brain and how it works. They had to examine the human study habits and rituals, along with the human test taking habits.
In the early 80s, the concept of social intelligence resurfaces under the theory of multiple intelligences presented by Howard Gardner in which interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligences were included. Interpersonal intelligence was defined as having the ability to understand the feelings of others, whereas intrapersonal intelligence focuses on understanding one’s own emotions (Cartwri...
Intelligence can be defined in many different ways since there are a variety of individual differences. Intelligence to me is the ability to reason and respond quickly yet accurately in all aspects of life, such as physically, emotionally, and mentally. Anyone can define intelligence because it is an open-ended word that has much room for interpretation. Thus my paper is an attempt to find the meaning of human intelligence. There are a couple of scientists who have tried to come up with theories of what makes a human being intelligent.
Howard Gardner used to define intelligence as “the ability to solve problems or to create products that are valued within one or more cultural settings” (Gardner 33). The modern day human being would most likely include the words “smart” and “dumb” in their definition of intelligence. Gardner questioned the belief of only one intelligence so he created his own theory that involved seven different discoveries. He didn’t want to call these discoveries “skills” or “talents” or gifts” because those all suggested a drawback so he decided on the word “intelligence,” creating his theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner 33). Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences including, linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, intrapersonal and interpersonal, has many implications for modern education and culture.
It is often difficult to remember that intelligence is purely a social construct, and as such is limited to operational definitions. Binet & Simon (1905, as cited in Mackintosh) defined it purely in terms of mental ability: "the ability to judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well." Wechsler (1944, as cited in Mackintosh) added behavioral factors: "the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with the environment." Sternberg (1985) synthesizes the previous definitions, defining intelligence as "the mental capacity of emitting contextually appropriate behavior at those regions in the experiential continuum that involve response to novelty or automatization of information processing as a function of metacomponents, performance components, and knowledge acquisition components." Gardner (1993) took the definition to a societal level, as "the ability or skill to solve problems or to fashion products which...
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 ...
Verbal Intelligence; Non-verbal Intelligence; Concrete Reasoning; and Abstract Reasoning are several of the mental abilities that have been identified by psychologists (Santrock, 2013). Spearman’s thoughts were that intelligence is general cognitive ability that can be numerically expressed and measured.
Dictionaries add still more definitions: Funk & Wagnall’s defines intelligence as “The faculty of perceiving and comprehending meaning; mental quickness; active intellect; understanding” , while Webster’s defines it as “the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations; the skilled use of reason.” While some of these definitions are similar, none of them are exactly the same.
Since Galton’s initial interest in intelligence and its impact in survival, many psychologists have attempted to explain how exactly it works. These have ranged from multi-factor theorists, to hierarchal approaches to ideas of multiple intelligences.
Intelligence typically means the ability of how think and reason, obtain information and how we deal and adapt to situation. Many professionals recommended expanding the definition of intelligence to make it more accurate. In the article “The Human Brain,” written by Pearson, it explains that “new discoveries increase our knowledge of how the brain functions and how people learn.” Yet, all these years of studying intelligence tells us quite little about it. Some believe intelligence represents knowledge not wisdom. Furthermore, there have been many debates about what exactly intelligence is.
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.
Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard, introduced his theory of multiple intelligences in 1983. Multiple intelligence’s is a theory about the brain that says human beings are born with single intelligence that cannot be changed, and is measurable by a psychologist. Gardner believes that there are eight different intelligences in humans. The eight are verbal linguistic, visual spatial, bodily kinesthetic, mathematical logic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. Understanding these intelligence’s will help us to design our classroom and curriculum in a way that will appeal to all of our students. We might also be able to curve discipline problems by reaching a student in a different way. One that will make more sense to them and more enjoyable. We can include all of the intelligences in lessons to accommodate all of the students’ different learning styles at once. By reaching each students intelligence we can assume that a student will perform better which, could mean students retaining more important information. A students learning style can also help lead them into a more appropriate career direction. As a teacher you can also learn your own personal learning style or intelligence to help improve the way you learn and teach.