intelligence

Intelligence

General mental ability due to the integrative and adaptive functions of the brain that permit complex, unstereotyped, purposive responses to novel or changing situations, involving discrimination, generalization, learning, concept formation, inference, mental manipulation of memories, images, words and abstract symbols, eduction of relations and correlates, reasoning, and problem solving.

Intelligence tests are diverse collections of tasks (or items), graded in difficulty. The person's performance on each item can be objectively scored (for example, pass or fail); the total number of items passed is called the raw score. Raw scores are converted to some form of scaled scores which can be given a statistical interpretation.

The first practical intelligence test for children, devised in 1905 by the French psychologist Alfred Binet, converted raw scores to a scale of “mental age,” defined as the raw score obtained by the average of all children of a given age. Mental age (MA) divided by chronological age (CA) yields the well known intelligence quotient or IQ. When multipled by 100 (to get rid of the decimal), the average IQ at every age is therefore 100, with a standard deviation of approximately 15 or 16. Because raw scores on mental tests increase linearly with age only up to about 16 years, the conversion of raw scores to a mental-age scale beyond age 16 must resort to statistical artifices. Because of this problem and the difficulty of constructing mental-age scales which preserve exactly the same standard deviation of IQs at every age, all modern tests have abandoned the mental-age concept and the calculation of IQ from the ratio of MA to CA. Nowadays the IQ is simply a standardized score with a population mean of 100 and a standard deviation (σ) of 15 at every age from early childhood into adulthood. The middle 50%, considered “average,” fall between IQs of 90 and 110. IQs below 70 generally indicate “mental retardation,” and above 130, “giftedness.”

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Bioscience. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

intelligence

a person's intellectual ability or potential for rational thought and behaviour. The nature and measurement of intelligence is one of the most controversial topics in the social sciences. The central debate concerns what we mean by the concept of intelligence. Early theories assumed a quite narrow range of cognitive abilities such as abstract reasoning, comprehension and memory, though they differed in the emphasis placed on the existence of a general factor of intelligence, common across all skills (e.g. Spearman), versus a number of distinct primary mental abilities (e.g. Thurstone). More recent views tend to broaden the concept to include such skills as practical problem-solving, social skills and creativity.

A second debate centres on the extent to which intelligence is inherited biologically or acquired as a result of environmental experience and socialization (see NATURE -NURTURE DEBATE). Many methods have been devised to research this issue, including the study of identical twins and adopted children, but the relative contributions of heredity and environment remain unclear.

Models of the nature of intelligence have important implications for educational processes. One influential model finds expression in cognitive developmental theories which emphasize the importance of the interaction between inherited potential and environmental experience; This approach is exemplified in the work of PIAGET (1932) and Bruner (1968), both of whom identified qualitatively different stages of mental development and learning. These theorists have exerted considerable influence on the structure of educational provision in recent decades.

Collins Dictionary of Sociology, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2000

intelligence

[in′tel·ə·jəns]

(communications)

Data, information, or messages that are to be transmitted.

(psychology)

The intellect or astuteness of the mind.

Ability to recognize and understand qualities and attributes of the physical world and of humankind.

Ability to solve problems and engage in abstract thought processes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Intelligence

See also Wisdom.

Intemperance (See DRUNKENNESS.)

Intimidation (See BULLYING.)

Intoxication (See DRUNKENNESS.)

Alexander the Great

looses the Gordian knot by cutting it with his sword. [Gk. Legend: Brewer Dictionary, 409]

IQ

(intelligence quotient) controversial measurement of intelligence by formula which compares mental age with chronological age. [Western Education.: EB, V : 376]

Mensa International

organization whose members have IQs in the top two percent of the general population. [Am. Pop. Culture: EB, VI: 793]

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

test used to measure IQ; designed to be used primarily with children. [Am. Education: EB, IX: 521]

Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

intelligence

(1) From the human perspective, the effectiveness with which a person can analyze a situation or solve a problem.

(2) Information derived for some purpose. See DOD intelligence glossary.

(3) From the computer perspective, intelligence is having processing capability. In this context, every electronic device with a microprocessor is "intelligent." See smart and AI.

A Twist of Terminology

Because every device with a CPU chip is said to have "intelligence," this coffee maker is intelligent, but the robot that roams the aisles of the supermarket on its own looking for spills and stopping when a person walks by only has "artificial" intelligence.

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