Intelligence| 3 types of intelligence

Intelligence (Intelligence| 3 types of intelligence) is defined as mental capability that involves the ability to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend complex ideas, to learn quickly, and to learn from experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill, or test-taking smartness. One of the most important single variables that affect schooling is intelligence. Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. Success in school and colleges and in one’s own profession, social adjustment, possession of general information, etc. is all associated with the concept of “intelligence.” The word ‘intelligence’ is derived from the Latin verb ‘intellegere,’ which means ‘understanding.

In simple words, intelligence is nothing but thinking skills and the ability to adapt to and to learn from life’s everyday experiences. Thus we see the nature of intelligence as the ability for adjustment to environment, the ability to perceive relationships between various objects and methods, the ability to solve problems, the ability to think independently, the ability to learn the maximum in the minimum period of time, and the ability to benefit from one’s own experience and the experience of others. Therefore, intelligence is an inborn ability of an individual; the distribution of intelligence is not equal among all human beings. There is a wide individual difference that exists among individuals with regard to intelligence.

Definitions of intelligence

• “Intelligence is a general capacity of an individual consciously to adjust his thinking to new requirements.” – W. Stern
• “Intelligence is the innate capacity to adapt relatively to new situations.” – C. Burt.
• “To judge well, to comprehend well, to reason well—these are the essential activities of intelligence.” – A Binet.
• “Intelligence is the power of recognition and learning.” – F. Galton.
• “Intelligence is the capacity to carry on abstract thinking.” – L. Terman
• “Intelligence is the power of a good response from the point of view of truth or fact.” E. Thorndike

“Intelligence is the capacity to improve upon innate tendency in the light of
previous experience.” – W. McDougall

“Intelligence” consists of the following four elements—

• Use of past experiences.
• Adjustment to new situations.
• To understand the situations.
• To view the situations with a broad vision.

Types of intelligence

To understand the nature of intelligence, we need to know the classification intelligence
as given by E.L. Thorndike and Garret:

Concrete Intelligence

It is the ability of an individual to comprehend actual situations and to react to them adequately. The concrete intelligence is evident from various activities of daily life. This type of intelligence is applicable when the individual is handling concrete objects. Engineers, mechanics, and architects have this type of intelligence.

Abstract Intelligence

It is the ability to respond to words, numbers, and symbols. Abstract intelligence is required in the ordinary academic subjects in the school. This is acquired after an intensive study of books and literature. Good teachers, lawyers, doctors, philosophers, etc., have this type of intelligence.

Social Intelligence

It means the ability of an individual to react to social situations of daily life. Adequate adjustment in social situations is the index of social intelligence. Persons having this type of intelligence know the art of winning friends and influencing them. Leaders, ministers, members of diplomatic sources, and social workers have it.

Characteristics of Intelligence

The main features of intelligence are the following:

• Intelligence is an innate natural endowment of the child.
• It helps the child in maximum learning in a minimum period of time.
• The child is able to foresee the future and plan accordingly.
• The child is able to take advantage of his previous experiences.
• The child faces the future with compliance.
• He develops a sense of discrimination between right and wrong.
• The developmental period of intelligence is from birth to adolescence.
• There is a minor difference in the development of intelligence between boys and girls.
• There are individual differences with regard to the intelligence between boys and girls.
• Intelligence is mostly determined by heredity, but a suitable environment is necessary to improve it.

Development of Intelligence

It is generally agreed upon by almost all psychologists that intelligence increases up to adolescence and declines in old age. According to Pinter, the development of intelligence takes place at a rapid space up to the age of 14 years, and then it stops at any stage in between the ages of 14 and 22 years. In the opinion of Terman, students and adults reach the limit of their intelligence growth at the age of 16 years. According to Binet, this limit is reached at the age of 15 years.

According to Otis, intelligence grows up to the age of 18 years. The researchers of Thorndike
reveal that the power to learn in a person develops up to the age of 22 years and this power
continues to work up to the age of 45 years. According to some psychologists, the intelligence of dull children grows only up to the age of 14 years and that of normal ones up to the age of 16 years. In the case of children of the genius category, it continues to grow up to the age of twenty years. However, the definite age till when intelligence grows has not been determined. This problem remains today as it was earlier.

Measurement of intelligence

The intelligence of any individual can be measured through the intelligence tests. Psychologists have been given many types of intelligence tests, with the help of which intelligence can be easily measured. But the measurement of intelligence is not possible in the same way as we measure a piece of cloth or the temperature of our body. Psychologists have devised many such tests for them.

The reasons due to which intelligence cannot be measured exactly like physical objects are
as follows:

Nature of the thing we want to measure—intelligence is not a thing. It is only an idea, an abstraction. Therefore, its measurement is not possible like the measurement of a piece of cloth, wood or land, etc.

Nature of the instrument or the scale by which intelligence is measured—in measuring a piece of cloth we use scales made up of absolute units. For measuring the temperature of the body, we use thermometers having degrees as units of measurement. In such measurement, we use scales made up of absolute units, and the instruments give somewhat reliable and valid results. But in the case of intelligence measurement, we don’t have such scales. Here, as Griffith observes, the standard of measurement is the group of performance.

Concept of Mental Age (M.A.) and Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.)

Mental age (M.A.): The term “mental age” was first used by Binet. Its concept can be clarified
with the help of the following example. Suppose there is a test comprising 100 questions (like Janotta’s test), and the majority of the subjects, whose age is 14 years 5 months, successfully answer 58 questions; then an individual who earns a score of 58, regardless of his chronological age, will be said to have a mental age of 14 years 5 months.

Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.): This term was initiated by the German psychologist William Stern and put into wide practice by Terman. It appeared to Stern that if a child was 6 years old (chronologically) but could do what 8-year-olds normally do, he would be 8/6, or 1.33, as bright as the average. And in this way, he made the ratio M.A./C.A., a measure of the rate of mental development of an individual. The ratio was given the name of Intelligence Quotient (I.Q.). To do away with the decimal point, the ratio was again multiplied by 100, and thus the formula to calculate I.Q. is

Mental Age (M.A.)
I.Q. = ———————————— x 100 (as used in Standard Binet Scale)
Chronological Age (C.A.)

Or

Attained or actual score
I.Q. = ———————————— x 100 (as used by Weschler)
Expected mean score for Age

Classification of I.Q.

By making use of the formula of I.Q. by Stern, Terman tried to classify the individuals into certain specific categories on the basis of the data collected through the administration of his intelligence tests for terming them average, below average, and above average, as given below:

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