Intelligence: intellect, understanding; quickness of understanding, sagacity; rational being. This is a typical dictionary definition. Intelligence is purported to be the ability for high degrees of comprehension and for heightened reasoning.
Psychologists generally define intelligence as that which intelligence tests measure. And IQ tests usually contain items deemed sufficient to measure abilities in comprehension, general information, memory, clerical speed, hand dexterity and such other skills and talents believed to be factors of intelligence.
And ordinary men have ways of allegedly identifying intelligent individuals or behaviors --a manner of skirting the issue, perhaps because defining intelligence has always been found to be much more difficult than recognizing it. The size of the head has been said to be telling of intellectual superiority. A similar notion is that the more intelligent a person, the bigger the brain. A bigger mass of brain must require a bigger skull, and a bigger skull results to a larger head. Another contention is that intelligent people have convex foreheads. The basis : the seat of intelligence is the cerebral cortex, and hence the more massive this is, the more convex the forehead, since this is where the front of the cortex is. For many ability to memorize and rattle off prayers, poems and arithmetic operations is indicative of higher intelligence. Parents usually exhibit such children, knowing that such performances will reap praises for their precious ones --and for themselves too perhaps, because intelligence is commonly accepted to be genetically passed on. In schools, high academic performance is equated to heightened intellectual abilities. Then also, English speaking members of non-English speaking races are believed to be intellectually superior.
And just how is intelligence had ? Hereditary according to some. Others claim it somehow emerges sometime in life. Still others think that it is had through diligent study. The coup de grace: intelligence is a divine grant, a gift from the Supreme Being and to a select group of mortals.
Intelligence Quotient
Ratio of a person's intelligence to average normal intelligence of persons of the same age. The widely used formula for IQ is :: mental age divided by chronological age, times 100 (to eliminate the decimal point). This was devised by Alfred Binet (1857-1911), a French psychologist. Mental age is determined after a psychological test on intelligence ; the score of an examinee is compared to the age scores in a norm. Intelligence tests have pre-established norms of average normal intelligence for the various ages. These were constructed after administration of the tests to samples of age populations.
A 20 year old respondent who fares as well as those of his age level in the pre-established standard, is credited a mental age of 20. Thus his IQ will be 100 (within average range). If on the other hand, a 20 year old performs as much as the average 30 year old, he is credited a mental age of 30, and his IQ will be 150 (within above average range). And should the 20 year old perform as well only as the average 15 year old in the standard, he will have an IQ of 75 (within below average range).
Observations And Objections
Intelligence has not been accurately defined, if it has ever been understood at all. The difficulty in defining it rests also in the fact that intelligent behaviors are observable in lower animals. For apparently animals can understand --that is, if intelligence is the ability to comprehend only. A distinction must thus be provided. Intelligence : quickness of understanding. But as this meaning draws the demarcation line between human beings and lower animals, it poses another problem. What of men who are relatively slow in comprehension ? The solution : classify human intelligence --above average, average and below average.
And human intelligence has been found to be much more than just understanding. Again, the definition must be modifier, and such areas as reasoning, analysis and conceptualization considered. Today, interest is focused on the inclusion of imaginativeness. The imaginative-productive men of our time are regarded as the most intelligent. Regardless of IQ perhaps. They are called the geniuses. Einstein and Edison have earned their names ; they were dull and inept during their childhood. But the imaginativeness of men are not all geared toward positive performances only. Many who excel in military science and tactics, in government and business, rather than contribute to mankind, cause misery.
Definitely, intelligence cannot be a matter of memorization only. Parrots can be more amusing than children. Fluency in English neither. There are many creative non-English speaking people too. And intelligence being a gift from God ? This is depicting the All Just as playing favorites. This is a selfish and self-serving assertion. For why would one and one's brood be a chosen lot ? And proclaiming this as a mystery which should neither be questioned nor reasoned with, serves only to confuse, not to explain or aid mankind in the search for logical concepts and truths.
