The True Meaning of Intelligence Essays

Intelligence is a hard concept to define. The Oxford dictionary defined intelligence as “the ability to acquire knowledge and skills”. This loosely defined topic has caused great debate in psychological studies. People argue whether intelligence is measured as one general ability or a variety of abilities including aptitudes, skills, and talents. Others may debate over whether a single topic of intelligence actually exists. As a result of this controversy, researchers have proposed definitions of their own called theories. This has created a variety of ___ theories to be evaluated.

In conclusion, I must say that intelligence can certainly be considered a broad word. It is a word that has varying definitions depending on the source from which the definition comes. The reason for this seems to be because people

What is intelligence and how can we tell a person is intelligent? It a questions that’s asked everyday by many by so few actually know the correct answer on intelligence. In order to understand intelligence we would have to look at how it is operationally defined. The term for intelligence is broad spectrum but it can be narrowed down to better understand. For simple and broad term, intelligence can be defined as many factors that play in into a person’s life throughout their life span. Some of these factors include to reason logically, pay attention, be intuitive and even deal and adjust to adverse situations (Cohen, Sweedlik & Sturman, 2013). Most of us probably believe that intelligence is how smart a person is but as you can see above, there is more to intelligence than just “smartness”. Now you may wonder how we can test for intelligence and can we determine if that test is valid.

Words hold such power and meaning that tend to evolve throughout the years. As I set out to read on the “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” by Howard Gardner I seem to question the meaning of Intelligence. Although I have never pondered a single word more feverishly as I have in the last couple weeks it has been quite an endeavor. According to Merriam-Webster (2014), “Intelligence: the ability to learn or understand things or to deal with new or difficult situations.” Howard Gardner first publishes his own view of intelligence in his book Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983).

What is human intelligence? This topic is always controversial and has been debated for over 2 centuries. For example, in 1921,the American psychologists Lewis M. Terman and Edward L. Thorndike debated about the the definition of intelligence, Terman stressing the ability to think abstractly and Thorndike emphasising learning and the ability to give good responses to questions. So we can see that, there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes “intelligence” and different investigators emphasise different aspects of intelligence in their definitions.(Robert J,1)

Intelligence is the general capacity of a person to adjust consciously his thinking to a new requirement. It is the combination of general and specific abilities that a person possesses in coping with the problem of his everyday living. Also according to studies the non-cognitive aspects of intelligence is also important for adaptation and success that

Intelligence has been defined in many different ways including, but not limited to, abstract thought, understanding, self-awareness, communication, reasoning,

There are many definitions for the term intelligence several of these are as follows: A term usually referring to a general mental capability to reason, solve problems, think abstractly, learn and understand new material, and profit from past experience. Intelligence can be measured by many different kinds of tasks. Likewise, this ability is expressed in many aspects of a person’s life. Intelligence draws on a variety of mental processes, including memory, learning, perception, decision-making, thinking, and reasoning. ("Intelligence," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006); (1) the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations reason; the skilled use of reason (2) the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one 's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (as tests). (Merriam-Webster.com)

Intelligence has been identified in many different ways throughout history and varies between different cultures. The current idea of intelligence consists of intangible properties that include, but are not limited to, knowledge-based thinking, apprehending, adaptive purposeful striving, fluid-analytic reasoning, mental playfulness, and idiosyncratic learning (Krishnamurthy, 2015).

Intelligence. We all have heard of this word. Do we really know what intelligence is? One can grab a dictionary, look up intelligence and it will say that intelligence means “the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills”, but it also it all

Intelligence is defined as general cognitive problem-solving skills. A mental ability involved in reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, calculating, learning quickly… etc. A number of psychologists have argued that intelligence can be quantified, primarily through testing. In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon devised a system for testing intelligence, with scoring based on average mental levels for various age groups. .I.Q(intelligence quotient) in general, is an assessment of your ability to think and reason. IQ score is a standardized way of comparing this ability with the majority of people the same age as you are. A score of 100 means that compared to these people in your general age group that you have basically an average intelligence. Psychologists say those scoring in a range of 95 to 105 are of a normal intelligence or have an average IQ. There have been many critiques about the use of IQ tests mainly on the uncertainty of the IQ score due to the external factors that are not accounted for in measuring IQ scores. This essay will be addressing To what extent do scholars suggest the IQ tests to be an accurate way to measure a person’s intelligence level? An example is the chapter critique of the bell curve from the book “The Mismeasure of Man” by Stephen Jay Gould.

Gardner, intelligence is 1) The ability to create an effective product or offer a service that is valued in a

The word ‘Intelligence’ is derived from the Latin verb intelligere, which means to perceive, understand, or to distinguish. The study of the nature of intelligence can be interpreted as the study of the observation and understanding the external circumstances and mode of behavior according to the particular situation.

Psychologists have long debated how to best conceptualize and measure intelligence. Many different neuroscientists and psychologists alike have discovered many different types of intelligence- including academic, emotional, fluid, specific, analytical, creative, and intelligence (Omichinski). Other researchers have proposed even more types of intelligences - psychologist L. L. Thurstone proposed that there were seven clusters of “primary mental abilities”, which make up of word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory (Sternberg). Although each type of intelligence serves its own unique importance, it is imperative that they should not be looked at and judged individually when measuring and evaluating one's intelligence. Traditional IQ tests strictly measure reasoning and problem-solving abilities, therefore neglecting other equally significant areas of a the brain (Grewal & Salovey). This calls into question whether or not IQ tests, and other traditional forms of “intelligence” measurements are the most cumulative and accurate way to measure each aspect of a person’s intellect. Intelligence, in actuality, is both the ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations, and the act of understanding. Based on these definitions, there is not a single intelligence that dominates over another; they all work together in unison in order to

Everyone has their own unique ability to understand complex ideas and use reasoning to solve a problem. These capabilities are what we typically associate with intelligence. However, intelligence cannot easily be defined by a single IQ number on a scale or even by saying someone is “smart” or “dumb” in a certain area of knowledge such as math or science. Each and every person is unique in their own respect and there are a multitude of facets that contribute to the way we measure and assess an individual’s abilities to understand or adapt to a given situation.