Advantages And Disadvantages Of Intelligence

When one speaks of intelligence or how bright another person is, the often quoted figure is the IQ or intelligence quotient. It is the most often used standard of how smart a person is. This paper shall look at what intelligence tests measure, how the IQ tests measure intelligence and interrogate their history. It shall then apply the tests to school policy and hence evaluate their validity.

What is intelligence exactly? Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills or “the ability to learn and understand things to

     Since the development of the intelligence quotient, schools in every part of the world have been using the IQ test to categorize millions of students into three groups. These three groups, which are the gifted, the average, and the retarded, are falsifications that perpetuate in our world culture and cause many gifted students to be deemed retarded and vice a versa. Why then is the IQ test so heavily relied on in our school systems? For schools the answer is simple, an I.Q. test is a reliable predictor of a students later performance in academics. This answer is relatively true, but where the I.Q. test falls extremely short is with testing the multiple

Intelligent quotient test is defined as a test that has been formulated and it is often used to measure human intelligence. There are many different types of IQ tests that are used to determine the level of intelligence between different test subjects. IQ testing has a wide range of application and in different specialized professions. Human resource managers have applied IQ testing as part of the tests administer during interviewing process. However, IQ testing has a wide application in research field where they are used to measure different traits across cultures or races. IQ testing has attracted many controversies, most of which support the assertion that IQ testing is indeed biased. This essay will present arguments in support of this standpoint.

On the contrary, those people who scored low on one kinds of ability test, were more likely to score badly on others as well. Meanwhile, Spearman also concluded that intelligence is a cognitive ability which could be measured and expressed numerically.

In the article, the author highlights differing views on the nature of intelligence. He states that in Asian cultures intelligence is something that they must acquire or work to achieve; whereas, western cultures view it as something one is born with. Neither of these views is necessarily incorrect however, I believe the best outlook lies somewhere in between. People are born with natural gifts and skills. Therefore, certain subjects come very easily to them. Nevertheless, it is possible for one to increase his skill by applying himself.

The definition of intelligence has strongly been debated over for many centuries, and many individuals have their arguments for what it is. So what is really the true meaning of intelligence? Some, such as college professor of psychology, Carol S. Dweck, strongly believes that intelligence is something achieved through large amounts effort and having optimistic mindsets as inferred in her article, “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids”. However, on the other hand, successful author of best selling novel “Steve Jobs”, Walter Isaacson, claims that intelligence is an abstract idea that is derived from ingenuity and applying creativity to life and other material concepts. With almost completely opposite sets of beliefs, it is likely that Dweck will not agree with Isaacson’s nation of intelligence being derived from natural intuition rather than raw intelligence.

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.

Intelligence as defined by the Cambridge dictionary is the ability to learn, understand, and make judgments or have opinions that are based on reason.1 There is much debate and controversy on this subject and psychologists do not all agree upon a standard definition. Yet, one of the very first definitions of intelligence was developed by the psychologists responsible for the development of the first intelligence test, Binet and Simon (1905) who argued that the essence of intelligence is: ‘to judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well’.2 Another sample definition was provided later by Heim, in 1970, who argued that ‘intelligent activity consists in grasping the essentials in a situation and responding appropriately to them’.3 There are also arguments surrounding how many different types of intelligence there are, as well as the intelligence theories of psychology. However elusive, we can ascertain that all psychologists have universally agreed upon general intelligence (g), an expression devised by the English psychologist Charles Spearman and defined as ‘a mental attribute called on for virtually any task’.4 This essay will inform the reader of the different methods proposed and used by psychologists to assess ability and discuss their evaluations.

Intelligence tests are inaccurate to measures true ability of a person because genes affect how a person responds to their surroundings, the tests cannot measure the person biological makeup or his true potential for being “smart”.

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)

After doing the IQ test, the most relevant concept was from the book, because the IQ test was mainly about solving math problems, graphics problems, and some riddles, so, therefore, it matched with the book’s concept. Something relevant to say about the IQ test is that there were some items of fluid and crystallized intelligence.

Once a person has an idea of what intelligence is and what it means, a final thought one might consider is what influences are responsible for the different types of intellect. Two possible influences are genetics and the environment in which one lives, with genetics being the strongest influence (Santrock, 2009, pg. 302). Most researchers agree that a person’s genetics and environment interact with one another to influence the outcome of that person’s intelligence (Santrock, 2009, pg. 302). Genetic influences should be pretty obvious, so there should be no need to explain it; a person’s environment on the other hand, can involve several factors. An environment can consist of elements such as a person’s school, home, friendships, family relationships, and workplaces. All of these components factor in to influence a person’s intelligence.

Firstly, we already know what intelligence is, however, in psychology, intelligence is difficult to define, as it is seen differently by everyone. There are different kinds of intelligence, such as academic, creative and emotional. There are also several theories and research studies which have explored whether intelligence is inherited or how it should and can be measured. The five main intelligence theories that are used are Spearman’s Two Factor Theory (1904,1927), Thurstone’s Theory of Primary Mental Abilities (1938), Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983), Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory (1985) and Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Theory (1998).

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