Intelligence: A Scientific Construct

Bibliography Brainmetrix.com. “Intelligence definition.” Brain Metrix. 2007. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Breyer, Melissa, and 25 p. Which of the 8 kinds of intelligence do you have? MNN - Mother Nature Network, 13 Jan. 2016. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. Gariépy, Jean-François. What is intelligence ? 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. “Human intelligence | psychology.” Encyclopædia Britannica. N.p.: Encyclopædia Britannica, 7 May 2015. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Inc, Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster’s School Dictionary. Springfield, MA: Merriam Webster,U.S., 9 Apr. 2015. Print. Kaufman, Scott Barry. What do IQ tests test? Interview with psychologist W. Joel Schneider. Scientific American Blog Network, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2016. Mann, Denise. “Does IQ test really measure intelligence?” WebMD. WebMD, n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2016. McLennan community college university. “What is intelligence.ppt.” Mccu.org. n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. Miller, Max, et al. What is intelligence? Big Think, 2 Sept. 2010. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. Muehlhauser, Luke. “What is intelligence? - machine intelligence research institute.” Analysis. Machine Intelligence Research Institute, 19 June 2013. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. “The Difference Between Intelligence and Common Sense.” Quora. 20 Jan. 2015. Web. 20 Jan. 2016. “The Three types of intelligence you need for success.” Psychology Today, 7 Oct. 2013. Web. 20 Jan. 2016. Citations, Quotes & Annotations Brainmetrix.com. “Intelligence definition.” Brain Metrix. 2007. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. (Brainmetrix.com) "While

There are a slew of tests that attempt to measure how intelligent human beings are. They all measure different aspects and those factors will be covered here. One of the misconceptions is that the tests measure inborn intelligence. Few of the activities are designed for that purpose. They actually measure a person’s interaction with the environment and what they have learned from that interaction. The most common tested aspect is critical thinking. Instead of straightforward questions, intelligence tests offer questions with a twist. It is assumed that the most intelligent people will see obvious flaws in the obvious answers (Steinberg & Williams, 2015). Some intelligence tests also measure reflexes, both mental and physical. The assumption is quick reaction times reflect an active brain and in the line of thinking, a more intelligent person.

How is intelligence measured? How is it possible to just have one way to measure intelligence? Is there really only one way to measure every individual’s intelligence? According to psychologists Howard Gardner and Robert Sternberg there is. Gardner and Sternberg have developed two different theories to do so. Howard Gardner’s theory of intelligence is the way in which one carries out life goals. Gardner chose eight abilities that held to meet criteria: linguistic (speak and write well), logical-mathematical (use logical and mathematical skills to solve problems such as scientific quotations), spatial (think and reason about objects in three dimensional space), musical (preform, understand and enjoy music), bodily-kinesthetic (manipulate

Defining and testing for intelligence is a controversial issue and has been since the first intelligence test was created and administered. Many forms of intelligence and achievement tests exist and using a particular test is a matter of preference and depending on the areas of intelligence is desired to be measured. This paper will start by critiquing the major definitions of intelligence, and determine the best definition for each chosen intelligence and achievement instruments. It will also evaluate the reliability, validity, normative procedures, and biasness of each intelligence measurement. The measurements will be compared and contrasted while also considering the ethical implications of

Two broad mental abilities are crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence. Crystallized Intelligence involves accumulated knowledge and experience that all ties in with “wisdom”. Those who use this type of mental ability have good judgment and are experienced in social norms. This type of intelligence is measured on tests by vocabulary, general information, verbal comprehension and logical reasoning. Fluid intelligence is marked by the use of information processing skills. It involves the working memory, detection of relationships among visual stimuli, and the speed of analyzing information. This type of intelligence is measured on tests by spatial visualization, digit span, letter-number sequencing, and symbol search.

Many people often wonder what makes them who they are--what creates their identity. Part of a person’s identity is his or her ability to succeed in school, comprehend complex concepts, and invent creative ideas. This is intelligence--a complicated trait that involves and is affected by many different factors. A person’s intelligence is his or her general cognitive ability, including abstract reasoning, sensory reception, planning, problem solving, understanding, and the ability to learn (Plomin). Not only does intelligence involve these abilities, but it is also dependent upon a person’s willingness to act on his or her capabilities and function to his or her full potential. Intelligence can be measured by “Intelligence Quotient” tests, but because of the way these tests function, results are depended upon a person’s willingness--rather than ability--to perform the requested tasks. It is important today to recognize the various influences on intelligence so that a person can face the modern world knowing that his or her abilities are not solely the result of genes inherited from his or her parents but can be manipulated in several different ways. Intelligence is a complicated part of a person’s identity that begins to develop from the moment of conception and continues through that person’s life, being influenced by genetics, environment,

It wasn’t until the year 1920 that different types of intelligence were defined. It was proposed by a man named EL Thorndike, and he separated the different types of

There are two modules to assess cognitive function of household members: the module EK1 for children aged 7-14 years old and module EK2 for young adults aged 15-24 years old. Each module basically comprises two different types of test: a short form of the Raven’s Color Matrices (CPM) test assessing a non-verbal ability through pattern recognition and five math problems. While the first part is very identical for two groups, the math problems are more difficult for the older group. Although the CPM assessment is commonly used in medicine and psychology, it is known as the best objective measure of general intelligence of an individual. The questions on the big personality traits allow me to measure non-cognitive abilities of an individual.

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the education system wanted to identify the students who were failing. In order to identify these students they commissioned Alfred Binet; a French physician. Binet was asked to devise a method which could differentiate between the students. Binet did this by developing an intelligence test (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2011:144). Previous intelligence tests had an emphasis on physical measures, sensory tasks and simple processes (ibid). In contrast, Binet’s intelligence test contained complex processes which examined the comprehensive abilities of the students (Garrison, 2009:73). Consequently, the results proved that the test was successful in determining the different types of intelligence among the students (ibid). The success of Binet’s intelligence test led to a long running debate regarding the precision in the definition of intelligence. There are two main opposing theories of intelligence. The first is the general intelligence school of thought. This school of thought believed that intelligence is derived from one general factor; also known as the ‘g’ factor. Secondly, the multiple intelligences school of thought believed that intelligence is made up of multiple factors and cannot be generalised with one factor. This essay will compare and contrast the above theories. Furthermore, it will discuss the implications for

What is intelligence and how can we tell a person is intelligent? It a questions that’s asked everyday by many by so few actually know the correct answer on intelligence. In order to understand intelligence we would have to look at how it is operationally defined. The term for intelligence is broad spectrum but it can be narrowed down to better understand. For simple and broad term, intelligence can be defined as many factors that play in into a person’s life throughout their life span. Some of these factors include to reason logically, pay attention, be intuitive and even deal and adjust to adverse situations (Cohen, Sweedlik & Sturman, 2013). Most of us probably believe that intelligence is how smart a person is but as you can see above, there is more to intelligence than just “smartness”. Now you may wonder how we can test for intelligence and can we determine if that test is valid.

"G" was proposed by the British psychologist Charles Spearman, and was based on a statistical technique he invented called factor analysis. Factor analysis determines the minimum number of underlying dimensions necessary to explain a pattern of correlations among measurements (3). He considered this theory as evidence for the idea of intelligence as a single entity that could be scientifically represented by a global measure. He noticed that various measures of performance tended to be highly correlated, indicating that performance was dictated by one general characteristic, hence g can be extracted from scores on any diverse battery of tests. Spearman was careful to state that g was merely a magnitude and not a factual representation of reality. Moreover, the universal

During the time the MI theory was stirring up controversy in regards to these new found intelligences, there were also a number of critics generating their own sentiments on this philosophy. Before Gardner presented his theory to the community the only intelligence testing prominently practiced was the “intellectual quotient” number or the “g factor” (Helding, 2009, pg. 195). According to Helding 2009 intelligence tests using g measured only two areas of human intellect which were linguistic/verbal and spatial/mathematical” (pg. 195). This common “g” or IQ could be retrieved from most cognitive tests regardless of content.

Hitherto, there was a general belief that there was only one type of intelligence that was measured through the IQ level. It was also deeply believed that intelligence was inherited and the cognitive scientists believed that the human mind-initially a 'tabula rasa' (empty) could be trained to learn almost anything provided the content was presented in the right manner and conditions (Mark K. Smith, 2008). This is a belief that has been proven to be lacking in content and empiricism by several researchers and behaviorists.

Intelligence testing has changed greatly throughout time. From the its original Binet-Simon version to its first revised Stanford-Binet version and later influencing the Wechsler scale, it has opened new doors to what intelligence is considered to be. Like everything else it has its good and bad aspects. Not only does it point out mental abilities but other skills we might have including our emotional skills. It’s so useful to obtain a basic concept of an individual’s abilities that even our military uses intelligence tests for recruitment.

In comparison to Individual Testing, Group Intelligence and Scholastic Aptitude tests are used more frequently within school settings as administration requires little training on the examiners part since directions are outlined clearly in their respective manuals. Such tests are cost efficient, requires simpler materials, evaluate students’ performance and include; Cognitive Abilities test (CogAT), Kahlmann-Anderson Test, Test of Cognitive Skills (TCS/2) and The Otis-Lennon School Ability Test, 8th edition (OLSAT8). The CogAT has a multilevel edition applicable for use with grades 3 through 12 and is comprised of three batteries for evaluating children’s verbal, quantitative and nonverbal abilities. The nonverbal category calls for geometric figures from tasks requiring classification, analogies or figure synthesis (Hood & Johnson, 2006). The Kuhlmann-Anderson Test on the contrary is consisted of seven different levels for kindergarten through grade 12 each having eight tests. It is considered one of the most popular group intelligence test for usage in schools is less relied upon language and produces verbal, nonverbal and total scores. The scores are then presented as confidence intervals and cognitive skills quotient.