What is intelligence? Intellect is one of the most studied areas in the history of psychology (Hood, et al.). The Oxford American Dictionary defines the mind as mental abilities, the power of learning and understanding. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Alfred Binet developed a series of measures by which he could identify children in need of special educational programs, using the concept that intelligence is a common ability to evaluate, understand well and reason well (1916). He showed that mental processes grow and increase as the child grows up. Francis Galton and Herbert Spencer used the Latin word for intelligence to denote individual differences in ability (Drummond, 2000). Cattell and others examined Darwin’s theory of individual differences. Wechsler (1958) defined the intellect as “the aggregate or global ability of an individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and effectively to cope with his environment” (p.7). When examining intelligence tests, it is important to note the definition of the author’s intelligence, as tests measure different conceptual ideas of intelligence.
Just as there are many definitions of intelligence, there are many models that try to capture many aspects of intelligence. Spearman (1927), using factor analysis of test results, identified two factors — the general ability (g) and the ability (s) of a particular subject. Thurstone (1938) identified seven factors:
1. The ability of numbers: quickly and quickly perform basic mathematical processes
2. Verbal ability: to understand ideas expressed in the form of a word
3. Fluency in English: Speak and write fluently.
4. Memory: recognize and recall information such as numbers, letters and words
5. Reasoning: derive rules and solve problems inductively
6. Spatial ability: visualize form relationships in three dimensions
7. Perception: to quickly perceive things, such as visual details, similarities and differences between photographed objects.
Cattell (1963) identified liquid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence refers to the intelligence used in tasks that require adaptation and change in new situations. Heredity plays a role in fluid intelligence. Crystallized intelligence refers to those areas that are studied, for example, in school, and relate to the environment.
IQ is the most commonly used dimension of intelligence. IQ is the ratio of the child’s psychological age (by testing) divided by the child’s chronological age multiplied by 100. This initial definition of IQ has a number of problems with age limits (for example, answers to all the right questions about the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale give less than 20 years), thereby making the usefulness of this scale for preteens (Hood & Johnson). Another problem with this measurement is that the general public came to the conclusion that IQ is fixed and unchanged, somewhat similar to eye color, and not a specific score on a specific test at a specific time. The resulting standard IQ score replaced the IQ factor to circumvent some of these problems.
Recommendations:
Binet, A., & Simon, T. (1916). The development of intelligence in children (ES Kite, Trans.). Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.
Drummond, RJ (2000). Evaluation procedures for consultants and professional assistance. (4th ed.). Upper River Saddle, New Jersey: Merrill / Prentice Hall.
Hood, AB, & Johnson, RW (1997). Evaluation in counseling, (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: American Consulting Association.
Spearman, C. (1927). Human abilities. London: Macmillan.
Wechsler, D. (1958). Measurement of adult intelligence. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.
