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What Is Intelligence
What Is Intelligence
Intelligence definition essay
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Intelligence: Are you smart enough to know about it? Intelligence, a simple yet complex term, present in everyday, layman vocabulary and argued by the foremost minds of psychology. Intelligence is currently defined as capacity for goal directed, adapted behaviour (Myers, 2014). The definition has gone multiple revisions because we have changed our very understanding of intelligence, initially used to describe academic brilliance and rote memorization, the current definition encompasses more fields such as street smarts, word play, interpersonal interactions and abstract reasoning. Perhaps the most interesting factor of all is how intelligence changes from culture to culture; a good farmer is a genius in an agricultural society and a dullard …show more content…
Flynn made a surprising discovery; his research indicated that IQ scores have been on a continuous rise since the beginning of the 20th century, or more precisely increasing at a rate of .3 points a year or 3 points a decade. (Folger. 2012) This steady increase in IQ scores has been termed as the Flynn effect and there are a few interesting theories explaining it. Higher IQ scores have been recorded based on data from the standardized test WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children), surprisingly the increase in IQ isn’t a general rise but rather a higher score in two subtests that focus on abstract reasoning, and thus an increase in abstract logic is cited as a reason for the Flynn effect. (Folger, 2012) Another possible explanation is the modern world we live in, in our technological age we have machines that need high levels of logic to operate and interact with, furthermore, these machines have a high rate of information processing and as a result of which created a need for people that can compute faster, and they will in turn, build faster machines, setting up a feedback loop that steadily increases intelligence. (Folger, …show more content…
Firstly, Rodger says improved childhood nutrition, secondly, universal education, thirdly, smaller families, and lastly the influence of educated mothers on they’re children. (Folger, 2012) Another reason support the rise in intelligence would be the way our culture looks at formal education. Until the start of the twentieth century, most Americans had only about seven years of schooling; today findings indicate that over half of adults have at least some tertiary education. (Folger, 2012) these findings are further reasons for an increase in intelligence. Moreover the change of occupations from agricultural based ones to technical and managerial jobs has created a more intellectual society, which has led to an increase in logic abilities and as a result of which increased intelligence test scores. (Folger,
...est high school students in America” (Gladwell 82). It was shocking to learn that all the Nobel Prize in Medicine winners did not all come from the most prestigious schools. Also, in the third chapter I notices some aspects that were highly relatable to me. My life relates to subjects included in chapter three because I am a student. It is interesting and helpful to learn that one does not need the highest IQ to succeed in today’s world. This is how I relate to chapter three. The third chapter in Outlier by Malcolm Gladwell had striking information that stated that IQs do not always determine who will be successful, and I can relate to the information in the chapter because I am student who has thought about my IQ before.
In order to explain this idea, Gladwell introduce Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer, who were born with high IQ but have different achievements. I agree with Gladwell’s idea, “the relationship between success and IQ works only up to a point.”(79). Because Gladwell first uses Lewis Terman’s study to support his idea, “By the time Terman was finished, he had sorted through the records of some 250,000 elementary and high school students”. (74) This data has amount of numbers, which makes this result universal and reliable. However, nor were these Termites any Nobel Prize winners. Gladwell illustrates his idea that successful people are not only having high IQ by using Terman’s study successfully. In addition, Gladwell uses Liam Hudson’s discovery of basketball players to tell readers “A basketball player only has to be tall enough—and the same is true of intelligence.”(80) To my point of view, Gladwell’s idea is reliable is because he uses well-known scientists’ studies and a lot of data to support his ideas. The example of the relationship between basketball players and height is easy to make readers understandable. However, from the other factor of being successful, Gladwell only uses Chris Langan and Robert Oppenheimer to support his idea. In my opinion, these two people are minority and extreme example. What is still lacking here is a grasp of universality. Not all the smart people from rich family will have a good achievement. They were less common in being successful. Gladwell’s claim lacks credibility because in my research, they are a lot of successful people are from poor
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.
The book IQ and the Wealth of Nations by Dr. Richard Lynn and Dr. Tatu Vanhanen, argues the possible stances for the correlation between the gross domestic product and intelligence scores. Based off of a total of 81 countries, these two authors had been able to calculate the correlation between the gross domestic product and intelligence quotient. In 1950 to 1990, they had reported their observations, that the national IQ correlates with gross domestic product per capita at 0.82. During this time range, the economic growth rate had been 0.64. Comparing this to a positive correlation, the correlation between the GDP and intelligence is a fairly high correlation.
...ciety it sometimes takes more than traditional "intelligence" to excel. Athletes are a prime example of well paid admired individuals who are not usually the smartest people in the world. You no longer have to score well on your SAT's or IQ tests to be a successful person. To get into an Ivy League school today you not only have to score well to average on your graduation test to be accepted, you must also take part in extra curricular activities and have a good GPA. Intelligence today is not solely based upon what you know but what abilities and unique talents you possess. While Spearman's theory was ground breaking it is no longer relevant today because you may be terrible at one thing like taking tests but you may also be great at another thing like dancing or writing music. Both of these things require some degree of intelligence in order to perform them properly.
Ones physical appearance, IQ Test, and social limitations could be controlled in people generally such as t Charles Darwin's development of natural selection. Through time, this perspective has introduced America and the World in a moral fight to create the best population of humanity. The development of the Intelligence Test (IQ exam) played a large part of Eugenic history. “As on might speculate, it was this large group of ‘higher functioning’ feeble-minded persons who were said to pose the most threat to the community” (O'Brien and Bundy, p.158). Although, the Intelligence Test was developed in France, United States quickly adapted to this strategy to determine and point out the “unfit” in society. The more this test was being used the more people they found out were unfit and procreating in the
Intelligence, Genes and Success; ed by Devlin B. et al ( Springer-Verlag New York, Inc 1997)
Law Enforcement intelligence is a development of military and national security intelligence. Over the years, this type of intelligence will go through many names but as of today it is known as Intelligence –led policing. Intelligence- led policing’s main focus is on key criminal activities. This paper will discuss community policing, problem-oriented policing, and CompStat, as they relate to intelligence-led policing.
The IQ test is an arcane yet widely-accepted method for attempting to quantify the intelligence of human beings. It uses a series of pattern, arithmetic, or vocabulary-centred questions to produce a result in a numerical score. These scores indicate the level of ‘intelligence’ demonstrated with a score of 100 regarded as displaying average intelligence – 70 or below indicating developmental delays, while a score of 130 and above is considered as especially bright. Contrary to popular belief, the 100 score is most definitely not a constant result, IQ tests are frequently adjusted to reflect their time, and the average is always set at 100. This means if an individual takes an IQ test in the present moment and scores a 100 but later takes a test designed a couple of decades earlier they will most certainly score well above 100. The legitimacy of the IQ test has been the subject of intense debate within the scientific community for some time. Those who oppose its use argue its limitations in calculating real intelligence and the incline to which the tests are bias in terms of educational and cultural standpoint. This essay will discuss early uses of the I.Q test and where it now stands on the educational platform as an ‘accurate’ measure of intelligence.
According to the book “You May Ask Yourself” by Dalton Conley, Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson have conducted a research about education during the 1960’s. The researchers went to an elementary school and provided the elementary school students an intelligent quotient test. They then picked one fifth at random, of those students that took the test, and told their teachers that they were “bright” students. They did not look at the results of the exams but just picked them at random. The students took the intelligent quotient test at the end of the school year again. The results of the second intelligent test for the one fifth of the students that were chosen at random before was higher both then their first test
...test and ace it. Therefore, with this alone, the tests cannot accurately measure a person’s intelligence. If a person is really confident about themselves, their intelligence, and their test taking ability they will do much better than someone who lacks those confidences. Income levels and education quality also affect test scores. Students who come from low income situations do worse on tests than students who come from upper income levels (10). These students are not as driven, encouraged, or engaged as those of a higher income. They also do not have as good of a quality of education. Charter schools have higher test scores than public schools (10). The higher scoring schools have better resources to raise scores because they have more money (10). Higher quality education gives students a higher intelligence, not standardized tests (6).
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligence focuses more on how numerical expressions of human intelligence are not a full and accurate depiction of people’s abilities (McFarlane, 2011). He includes and describes eight intelligences that are based on skills and abilities that are valued within different cultures. The eight intelligences include visual-spatial (e.g. sailor navigating with no navigational systems), verbal-linguistic (e.g. poets, writers, orators, and communicators), bodily-kinesthetic (e.g. dancers, athletes, surgeons, craftspeople), logical-mathematical (e.g. mathematicians and logicians), interpersonal(e.g. salespeople, teachers, clinicians, politicians, and religious leaders), musical (e.g. musicians and
On the ‘nature’ side of the debate is the psychometric approach, considered to be the most dominant in the study of intelligence, which “inspired the most research and attracted the most attention” (Neisser et al. 1996, p. 77). It argues that there is one general (‘g’) factor which accounts for intelligence. In the 1880s, Francis Galton conducted many tests (measuring reaction times to cognitive tasks), (Boundless 2013), in order to scientifically measure intelligence. These tests were linked to the eugenic breeding programme, which aimed to eliminate biologically inferior people from society. Galton believed that as intelligence was inherited, social class or position were significant indicators of intelligence. If an individual was of high social standing, they would be more intelligent than those of a lower position. However he failed to show any consistency across the tests for this hypothesis, weakening his theory that social class correlated with intelligence. Nevertheless, his creation of the intelligence test led many to continue to develop...
The ongoing debate on whether nature or nurture is responsible for intelligence seems to be a never-ending argument. There will probably be no definite answer to this argument any time soon, but answers such as Dr. Bigot's prove how intolerant of other opinions people can be. To say intelligence is entirely based on genetics, or one's environment, for that matter, is utterly extremist. An interaction of both nature and nurture is responsible for intelligence.
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 intelligence is a concept that is understood only after realizing that intelligence is based on three basic concepts: logic, growth, and emotion. Although many people believe that humans are the only creatures capable of intelligence, other animals exhibit intelligence and are capable of further demonstrate the complex concept of intelligence.