Intelligence - Notes
Child Development & Pedagogy
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Intelligence
Meaning
Intelligence is the capacity to acquire and apply knowledge. Intelligence is the ability to benefit
from past experience, act purposefully, solve problems, and adapt to new situations.
Definition
According to Jean Piaget, “Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one’s surrounding”.
According to Thorndike, “Intelligence is the power of good responses from the point of view of
truth or fact”.
According to Wechsler, “Intelligence is the aggregate of the individual to act purposefully to
think rationally and to deal effectively with the environment”.
Nature of Intelligence
To understand the nature of intelligence we need to know the classification intelligence as
given by E.L. Thorndike and Garret:
1. Concrete Intelligence – It is the ability of an individual to comprehend actual situations
and to react to them adequately. Concrete intelligence is evident in various activities of
daily life. This type of intelligence is applicable when the individual is handling concrete
objects or medicines. Engineers, mechanics, and architects have this type of intelligence.
2. Abstract Intelligence – It is the ability to respond to words, numbers, and symbols.
Abstract intelligence is required in ordinary academic subjects in school. This is acquired
after an intensive study of books and literature. Good teachers, lawyers, doctors,
philosophers, etc. have this type of intelligence.
Characteristics of Intelligence:
The main features of Intelligence are the following:
Intelligence is an innate natural endowment of the child.
It helps the child in maximum learning in a minimum period of time.
The child is able to foresee the future and plan accordingly.
The child is able to take advantage of his previous experiences.
The child faces the future with compliance.
He develops a sense of discrimination between right and wrong.
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The developmental period of intelligence is from birth to adolescence.
There is a minor difference in the development of intelligence between boys and girls.
There are individual differences with regard to intelligence between boys and girls.
Intelligence is mostly determined by heredity but a suitable environment is necessary to
improve it.
Factors influencing Intelligence
Nature- It refers to the genetic factors that we have inherited from our parents, such as height
or skin color.
Nurture- It refers to all those environmental factors that can impact us, such as the rearing
process, family, socioeconomic conditions, social support, cultural factors, and anything that
does not come from within the person.
The debate over the relative importance of hereditary Vs. environmental factors is one of the
oldest yet unresolved debates.
People who believe that our intelligence is purely controlled by our hereditary factors are
known as nativists.
Those who support this view, regard differences in human behaviors as a result of
different ‘genetic makeup’. Supporters of the other end of this debate spectrum are
known as environmentalists or empiricists.
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Advocates of this view believe that people differ from each at the level of intelligence due
to their experiences or environmental conditions. One of the well-known and prominent
supporters of this view is John Locke. He equated the human mind to tabula rasa-a blank
slate, which gradually fills with our life experience.
However, the contemporary view on this debate suggests that defending any extreme
side would be a catastrophe in explaining human behavior and individual differences.
Recently, many studies have suggested that both genetic and environmental factors play
a vital role in shaping intelligence.
For example, height as a physical trait has been found to be influenced by both genetic
and environmental factors.
If the parents of a child are tall, and if she/he may have inherited these genes for tall
height then whether the child will be tall or not, depends on received nourishment. If the
child has not received proper nourishment then her/his genes of tall height would not
manifest and she/he will remain shorter than her/his parents.
There are researchers that conclude that the role of the environment is small in shaping
one’s intelligence.
The Flynn effect (James Flynn, 1987) suggests the importance of the environment on IQ.
Culture is a critical part of one’s environment.
Flynn effect is described as massive IQ gains, nearly three points per decade. In the US,
the average IQ increased by about 22 points between 1932 and 2002. The Flynn effect has
not been studied in India. Though, some limited IQ data point toward low IQ scores in
India. Thus, environmental factors like malnutrition, disease, and illiteracy have led to
lower average intelligence scores among the general population and this prevents
people from reaching their genetic potential in IQ.
Theories of Intelligence
Different researchers have proposed a variety of theories to explain the nature of intelligence.
Here are some of the major theories of intelligence that have emerged during the last 100
years.
Spearman’s Two-Factor Theory (1904)
British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863–1945) described a concept he referred to general
Intelligence or the g factor. After using a technique known as factor analysis to examine some
mental aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar.
People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on other tests, while
those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly on others. He concluded that
intelligence is a general cognitive ability that can be measured and numerically expressed.
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Primary Mental Abilities
Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887–1955) offered a differing theory of intelligence. Instead
of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone’s theory focused on seven
different primary mental abilities.
Associative memory: The ability to memorize and recall
Numerical ability: The ability to solve arithmetic problems
Perceptual speed: The ability to see differences and similarities among objects
Reasoning: The ability to find rules
Spatial visualization: The ability to visualize relationships
Verbal comprehension: The ability to define and understand words
Word fluency: The ability to produce words rapidly
Theory of Multiple Intelligences
One of the more recent ideas to emerge is Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences. Gardner proposed that the traditional idea of intelligence, based on IQ testing,
did not fully and accurately depict a person’s abilities. His theory proposed Eight multiple
Intelligences based on skills and abilities that are valued in different cultures:
Bodily-kinesthetics intelligence: The ability to control your body movements and to
handle objects skilfully
Interpersonal intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the
moods, motivations, and desires of others
Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings,
values, beliefs, and thinking processes
Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and
the capacity to discern logically or numerical patterns
Musical intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch, and timbre
Naturalistic intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize animals, plants, and
other objects in nature
Verbal-linguistic intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds,
meanings, and rhythms of words
Visual-spatial intelligence: The capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize
accurately and abstractly.
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Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as “mental activity directed toward
purposive adaptation to, selection, and shaping of real-world environments relevant to one’s
life.”
While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a single, general ability,
he suggested that some of Gardner’s types of intelligence are better viewed as individual
talents. Sternberg proposed what he referred to as “successful intelligence,” which involves
three different factors:
Analytical intelligence: Your ability to evaluate information and solve problems
Creative intelligence: Your ability to come up with new ideas
Practical intelligence: Your ability to adapt to a changing environment
Intelligence Test
Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon were attributed with the first attempt to measure
intelligence scientifically.
In 1905, they developed the first intelligence test known as Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale.
Later in 1908, they coined the term Mental Age (MA) to measure the intellectual ability of
a person in comparison to his or her fellow age group, and Chronological Age (CA) refers
to a person’s biological age.
According to Binet, if a child has MA more than her/his CA, then she/he will be classified
as bright. If the child scores two MA years below her/his CA, then she/he should be
identified with an intellectual disability.
In1912, William Stern suggested the concept called Intelligent Quotient (IQ). It referred to
a score derived by dividing MA by CA and multiplying the result by 100.
IQ = (MA/CA) X 100
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So, if MA equals CA, then IQ will be 100.
If MA is less than CA, IQ will be less than 100.
The father of the Intelligence test is Alfred Binet.
Types Of Intelligence Test-
There are a number of different intelligence tests in existence and their content can vary
considerably.Some are used with adults, but many are specifically designed to be
administered to children.
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Uses of Intelligence Test
Personnel Selection
It’s a matter of common experience that people differ in the degree of competencies,
abilities, and interests. Success in a job depends on the fact whether the person applying
for a job possesses the qualities required in undertaking a particular job.
In this way the process of selection becomes one of matching the characteristics of the
applicants with job requirements. Intelligence is considered something basic to success
in all kinds of jobs.
As a result in most of the procedures of personnel selection assessment of intelligence
constitutes an important component. With the help of intelligence tests applicants’
intelligence levels are assessed and the results are used by the employer in the process
of decision-making about the applicants.
Diagnosis of mental Handicap
People differ in their intellectual abilities, Those who have a very low level of intelligence
are known as mentally handicapped. Such a person experience difficulty in adjusting to
the demands of their external environment.
They need special care and training. In fact, many of them can not communicate or
express their needs and have difficulty even taking care of themselves. Intelligence test
along with certain other indicators is commonly used to estimate the degree of mental
handicap.
Guidance and Counseling
A career in vocational guidance is assuming an important role in the context of education. With
the expansion and diversification in our country’s educational scenario, the selection of a
course and career is becoming a tough task for students, teachers, and parents. In this
context, psychologists use intelligence tests to assess the capability of people and use this
information in deciding about the choice of career options.
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