1. Please parse Wechsler’s definition of intelligence and tell me what exactly did Wechsler mean? 2. How did he come to understand intelligence as he did? “Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with his environment” (Wechsler, 1939 p. 3). Wechsler explains that it is global because it characterizes the individual’s behavior as a whole, it is aggregate because it is composed of elements or abilities which are qualitatively differentiable. Wechsler further explains that intelligence is not just a sum of these abilities. Intelligent behavior is a result of the interaction of these abilities. Intelligent behavior can be determined by other factors than intellectual abilities, such as drive and incentive. An excess of any given ability may add relatively little to the effectiveness of a behavior as a whole. Wechsler differentiates between intelligence and intellectual abilities. ‘Although intelligence is no mere sum of intellectual abilities, the only way we can evaluate it quantitatively is by the measurement of the various aspects of these abilities’.(Wechsler, Wechsler conceptualization of intelligence had been influenced by Spearman who pioneered the concept of g as global intelligence. Although Spearman was reluctant to call g global intelligence, Wechsler pointed out that g does equal intelligence because it measured intellectual tasks exclusively. Spearman’s g factor was the
As scientists continue to their research, fundamental questions about intelligence are brought to the surface.
In “A Rounded Version: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences”, Howard Gardner illustrates how there are a variety of intelligences. Gardner starts off with an example how IQ tests may predict achievement in school but may not predict achievement in life. After finding out certain parts of the brain are responsible for certain functions, such as “Broca’s Area” which is responsible for sentence production, Gardner proposes the existence of multiple intelligences. Multiple studies later led him to propose seven distinct intelligences; Musical, bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. Each intelligence has certain classifications. According to Gardner’s classifications, I realized my intelligences are bodily-kinesthetic, logical-mathematical, and intrapersonal.
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.
Carol S. Dweck uses intelligence as a form of measurement that measures how heavy of a workload someone can receive and understand, and how it can be expanded through effort. In an essay that was
Gottfredson, (1997) stated that intelligence is ‘a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.
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.
One of the main purposes of the eugenics movement was to attempt to control the level of intelligence in the human race. This is not completely possible, however, as all genes are linked to other genes, and intelligence is affected by many more than just the one gene (Agar, 2006). In contrast to Galton’s theory, intelligence is not actually completely hereditary. Between 47 and 58% of intelligence lies in DNA, and the rest is based on environmental factors (Steen, 1996). Many types of intelligence tests have been created to measure the level of intelligence in humans. Defining intelligence in itself is a difficult task, as there are
=> triadic relationship of intelligence: social intelligence, material intelligence, and intelligence concerning the intelligence of other individuals
There is a relationship between intelligence and culture because intelligence is culturally shaped and defined and some cultures support and identify it as very vital in the context of social and ecological aspects. In the early years, there was a bias towards intelligence tests because they used English language and culture. The formation of Wesler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Addition (WAIS,IV) in 2008 by David Wesler was meant to minimise the bias. According to Westen, Burton and Kowalski (2006), intelligence assists human beings to take control of their lives and it varies cross culturally because the power dynamics differ in each society and this leads to differences in behaviour and line of thinking. These authors describe intelligence as multifaceted, functional and can be defined by culture because it is universal and studying intelligence using different culture as a sample that can be used to question Western ideas about intelligence with some emphasis on the assessment of skills and abilities using culturally appropriate methods (Benson, 2003)
Fischhoff, B., & Chauvin, C. 2011. Intelligence analysis : behavioral and social scientific foundations. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Intelligence tests even in these days remain somewhat controversial, from its interpretations, to their classifications in scoring on bell curves. So is the magnitude of debate, that many professionals in assessments question the value of these tests. One aspect of much controversy is the use of a single or multiple scores to determine intelligence. Some general intelligence assessments only use a score, g. This apparently reflects the variance underlying shared in different series of tests performance. Nevertheless, recent theories have suggested that human intelligence can be better measured in terms of multiple types of intelligence rather than a single score. One of those theories is the gf-gc; this theory indicates that there are two types of intelligence: f = fluid and c = crystalized.
Dweck’s finding surprised me. What surprised me is that alternatively I myself have always learned or heard that intelligence or IQ is something we're born with with some environmental factors having some effect on it. Moreover, it’s good to know that some one else has a different viewpoint on that it is very possible for one's abilities to go beyond. Indeed, the whole concept of hard work or effort is something very important to point out. when it comes down to intelligence because one can have a high IQ, but without any hard work or effort one can't really accomplish anything. Above all, Intelligence can be a factor of many things but one thing for sure is that hard work or effort is a necessary quality to add.
Geerlings compares a person living in New York City to a person living in Sahara Africa and how what they need to survive and what their culture deems as intelligent are two completely different things. Another key point that is brought up is that intelligence is not a fixed concept, you can grow your intelligence. A video is shown during the lecture which states that our brain is made up of neuron highways which get larger as we consume and remember new information. It is proven that working on harder questions and topics which stress the brain out help develop and connect these highways together helping grow your intelligence. Overall DR Geerlings uses evidence to prove that intelligence is more so based
The first factor is the general intelligence or g, which refers to the mental capacity that influences performance on cognitive ability measures, and specific abilities or “s” which means that another component different than g, influences abilities on a particular task (notes, 10/24). In contrast to Spearman’s theory, I believe that specific abilities influence different things depending on the task, this being the reason why I think I can’t be good math but I can be good at other things. Another psychologist was Sternberg, who came up with the triarchic theory of intelligence, which include analytical intelligence, creative intelligence, and practical intelligence. I accept Sternberg’s explicit theory of intelligence, since I consider these three factors to be related. For example, in order for a test to efficiently assess your knowledge, you have to pull on your creative intelligence so you can combine the information you know and use them in different ways to solve problems. Since you are engaging with the information learned, you will be able to apply your practical intelligence to solve issues in everyday life (Arnett, 2016). Finally, Howard Gardner proposed the theory of multiple intelligences, which include eight types of intelligence, these are linguistic, musical, logical/mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal,
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