While intelligence is one of the most talked about subjects in psychology,

there is no standard definition of what exactly constitutes intelligence.

Some researchers have suggested that intelligence is a single, general
ability. Others believe that intelligence encompasses a range of aptitudes,
skills, and talents.

What Is Intelligence?

Intelligence has been a controversial topic throughout psychology's history.

Despite the substantial interest in the subject, there is still considerable
disagreement about what components makeup intelligence. In addition to
questions of exactly how to define intelligence, the debate continues today
about whether accurate measurements are even possible.

At various points throughout recent history, researchers have proposed

some different definitions of intelligence. While these definitions can vary
considerably from one theorist to the next, current conceptualizations tend
to suggest that intelligence is the ability to:

 Learn from experience: The acquisition, retention, and use of

knowledge is an important component of intelligence.
 Recognize problems: To put knowledge to use, people must be able
to identify possible problems in the environment that need to be
addressed.
 Solve problems: People must then be able to take what they have
learned to come up with a useful solution to a problem they have
noticed in the world around them.

Intelligence involves some different mental abilities including logic,

reasoning, problem-solving, and planning. While the subject of intelligence
is one of the largest and most heavily researched, it is also one of the
topics that generate the greatest controversy.

While psychologists often disagree about the definition and causes of

intelligence, research on intelligence plays a significant role in many areas.
These areas include decisions regarding how much funding should be
given to educational programs, the use of testing to screen job applicants,
and the use of testing to identify children who need additional academic
help.

Brief History of Intelligence

The term "intelligence quotient," or IQ, was first coined in the early 20th
century by a German psychologist named William Stern.
Psychologist Alfred Binet developed the very first intelligence tests to help
the French government identify schoolchildren who needed extra academic
assistance. Binet was the first to introduce the concept of mental age or a
set of abilities that children of a certain age possess.2

Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that
has led to developing many other tests of skill and aptitude. However,
it continues to spur debate and controversy over the use of such testing,
cultural biases that may be involved, influences on intelligence, and even
the very way we define intelligence.

Theories of Intelligence

Different researchers have proposed a variety of theories to explain the

nature of intelligence. Here are some of the major theories of intelligence
that have emerged during the last 100 years.

General Intelligence

British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863–1945) described a concept

he referred to as general intelligence or the g factor. After using a
technique known as factor analysis to examine some mental aptitude tests,
Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar.

People who performed well on one cognitive test tended to perform well on
other tests, while those who scored badly on one test tended to score badly
on others. He concluded that intelligence is a general cognitive ability that
can be measured and numerically expressed.

Primary Mental Abilities

Psychologist Louis L.Thurstone (1887–1955) offered a differing theory of

intelligence. Instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability,
Thurstone's theory focused on seven different primary mental abilities.

 Associative memory: The ability to memorize and recall

 Numerical ability: The ability to solve arithmetic problems
 Perceptual speed: The ability to see differences and similarities
among objects
 Reasoning: The ability to find rules
 Spatial visualization: The ability to visualize relationships
 Verbal comprehension: The ability to define and understand words
 Word fluency: The ability to produce words rapidly

Theory of Multiple Intelligences

One of the more recent ideas to emerge is Howard Gardner's theory of

multiple intelligences. Gardner proposed that the traditional idea of
intelligence, based on IQ testing, did not fully and accurately depict a
person's abilities. His theory proposed eight different intelligences based on
skills and abilities that are valued in different cultures:

 Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence: The ability to control your body

movements and to handle objects skillfully
 Interpersonal intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond
appropriately to the moods, motivations, and desires of others
 Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in
tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes
 Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ability to think conceptually
and abstractly, and the capacity to discern logically or numerical
patterns
 Musical intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm,
pitch, and timbre
 Naturalistic intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize
animals, plants, and other objects in nature
 Verbal-linguistic intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and
sensitivity to the sounds, meanings, and rhythms of words
 Visual-spatial intelligence: The capacity to think in images and
pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as "mental activity

directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection, and shaping of real-
world environments relevant to one's life."

While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a

single, general ability, he suggested that some of Gardner's types of
intelligence are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed
what he referred to as "successful intelligence," which involves three
different factors:

 Analytical intelligence: Your ability to evaluate information and

solve problems
 Creative intelligence: Your ability to come up with new ideas
 Practical intelligence: Your ability to adapt to a changing
environment

In the study of the human mind, intellect refers to and identifies the ability
of the mind to reach correct conclusions about what is true and what
is false, and about how to solve problems. The term intellect derives from
the Ancient Greek philosophy term nous, which translates to the
Latin intellectus (from intelligere, “to understand”) and into the French and
English languages as intelligence. Discussion of the intellect is in two areas
of knowledge, wherein the terms intellect and intelligence are related terms.

 In philosophy, especially in classical and medieval philosophy the

intellect (nous) is an important subject connected to the question: How
do humans know things? Especially during late antiquity and the Middle
Ages, the intellect was proposed as a concept that could reconcile
philosophical and scientific understandings of Nature,
with monotheistic religious understandings, by making the intellect a link
between each human soul, and the divine intellect of the cosmos.
During the Latin Middle Ages the distinction developed whereby the
term intelligence referred to the incorporeal beings that governed the
celestial sphere; see: passive intellect and active intellect.[2]
 In modern psychology and in neuroscience, the
terms intelligence and intellect describe mental abilities that allow
people to understand; the distinction is that intellect relates to facts,
whereas intelligence relates to feelings.[3]

Intellect and intelligence

Intellect is the branch of intelligence that reflects the logical and
the rational aspects of the human mind, which,
lacking emotional engagement with a psychological problem, usually is
considered as limited to facts and raw knowledge;[4] In addition to the
functions of linear logic and patterns of formal logic the intellect also
processes the non-linear functions of fuzzy logic and dialectical logic.
Intellect and intelligence are contrasted by etymology; derived from the
Latin present active participle intelligere, the term intelligence denotes “to
gather in between”, whereas the term intellect derived from the past
participle of intelligere denotes “what has been gathered”. Therefore,
intelligence relates to the creation of new categories of understanding,
based upon similarities and differences, while intellect relates to
understanding existing categories.

Development of intellect
Personal experience is crucial to the development of intellect, because in
resolving the problems of life a person can attain enlightenment, the full,
intellectual comprehension of a situation, and so improve his and
her behavior in order to act reasonably and appropriately in society. The
development of the intellect occurs consequent to the person's emotional
dissatisfaction that arises from the negative outcome of a given situation in
life; mental development occurs from the search for solutions to the
problems of life. Only experience can provide genuine and
thoughtful understanding of reality, which consequently contributes to the
person's intellectual development.
The Structure of Intellect (SI) model organizes intellectual functions in three
dimensions: (i) Operations, (ii) Contents, and (iii) Products. (Joy Paul
Guilford, 1955)
Intellectual understanding is built upon creating a conceptual model of
reality through perception and the reflective processes of cognition. The
process of finding solutions to the problems of life enriches the human
memory with the attributes of reality. The full potential of the intellect is
achieved when a person acquires an accurate understanding of the real
world, which is mirrored in the mind. The mature intellect is identified by the
capability of emotional “self-management”, the psychological state wherein
a person can encounter, face, and resolve problems as they arise in the
course of life, thereby being capable of personal change, and also capable
of altering his or her reality into a desirable life situation, thus success
and failure depend upon the person possessing a mature intellect.
Structure of intellect
In 1955, the psychologist Joy Paul Guilford (1897–1987) proposed a
Structural Intellect (SI) model in three dimensions: (i) Operations, (ii)
Contents, and (iii) Products. Each parameter contains specific, discrete
elements that are individually measured as autonomous units of the human
mind. Intellectual operations are represented by cognition and memory,
production (by divergent thinking and convergent thinking), and evaluation.
Contents are figurative and symbolic, semantic and behavioral. Products
are in units, classes, and relations, systems, transformations, and
implications.
Joy Paul Guilford (March 7, 1897 – November 26, 1987) was an
American psychologist best remembered for his psychometric study of
human intelligence, including the distinction
between convergent and divergent production.
Developing the views of L. L. Thurstone, Guilford rejected Charles
Spearman's view that intelligence could be characterized in a single
numerical parameter. He proposed that three dimensions were necessary
for accurate description: operations, content, and products. A Review of
General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Guilford as the 27th
most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Structure of Intellect theory

According to Guilford's Structure of Intellect (SI) theory (1955), an
individual's performance on intelligence tests can be traced back to the
underlying mental abilities or factors of intelligence. SI theory comprises up
to 180 different intellectual abilities organized along three dimensions:
operations, content, and products.
The Structure of Intellect Theory advanced by Guilford was applied by Mary
N. Meeker for educational purposes.
Operations dimension
SI includes six operations or general intellectual processes:

1. Cognition - The ability to understand, comprehend, discover, and

become aware of information
2. Memory recording - The ability to encode information
3. Memory retention - The ability to recall information
4. Divergent production - The ability to generate multiple solutions to a
problem; creativity
5. Convergent production - The ability to deduce a single solution to a
problem; rule-following or problem-solving
6. Evaluation - The ability to judge whether or not information is
accurate, consistent, or valid
Content dimension
SI includes four broad areas of information to which the human intellect
applies the six operations:

1. Figural - Concrete, real world information, tangible objects, things in

the environment - It includes A. visual: information perceived through
sight, B. auditory: information perceived through hearing, and
C. kinesthetic: information perceived through one's own physical
actions
2. Symbolic - Information perceived as symbols or signs that stand for
something else, e.g., Arabic numerals, the letters of an alphabet, or
musical and scientific notations
3. Semantic - Concerned with verbal meaning and ideas - Generally
considered to be abstract in nature.
4. Behavioral - Information perceived as acts of people (This dimension
was not fully researched in Guilford's project. It remains theoretical
and is generally not included in the final model that he proposed for
describing human intelligence.)
Product dimension
As the name suggests, this dimension contains results of applying
particular operations to specific contents. The SI model includes six
products in increasing complexity:

1. Units - Single items of knowledge

2. Classes - Sets of units sharing common attributes
 3. Relations - Units linked as opposites or in associations, sequences,
or analogies
4. Systems - Multiple relations interrelated to comprise structures or
networks
5. Transformations - Changes, perspectives, conversions, or mutations
to knowledge
6. Implications - Predictions, inferences, consequences,
or anticipations of knowledge
Therefore, according to Guilford there are 5 x 6 x 6 = 180 intellectual
abilities or factors (his research only confirmed about three behavioral
abilities, so it is generally not included in the model). Each ability stands for
a particular operation in a particular content area and results in a specific
product, such as Comprehension of Figural Units or Evaluation of Semantic
Implications.
Guilford's original model was composed of 120 components (when the
behavioral component is included) because he had not separated Figural
Content into separate Auditory and Visual contents, nor had he separated
Memory into Memory Recording and Memory Retention. When he
separated Figural into Auditory and Visual contents, his model increased to
5 x 5 x 6 = 150 categories. When Guilford separated the memory functions,
his model finally increased to 180 factors.[4]

Criticism
Various researchers have criticized the statistical techniques used by
Guilford. According to Jensen (1998), Guilford's contention that a g-factor
was untenable was influenced by his observation that cognitive tests of
U.S. Air Force personnel did not show correlations significantly different
from zero. According to one reanalysis, this resulted from artifacts and
methodological errors. Applying more robust methodologies, the
correlations in Guilford's data sets are positive. In another reanalysis,
randomly generated models were found to be as well supported as
Guilford's own theory.
Guilford's Structure of Intellect model of human abilities has few supporters
today. Carroll (1993) summarized the view of later researchers:
"Guilford's SOI model must, therefore, be marked down as a
somewhat eccentric aberration in the history of intelligence models.
The fact that so much attention has been paid to it is disturbing to the
extent that textbooks and other treatments of it have given the
impression that the model is valid and widely accepted, when clearly
it is not."
Louis Leon Thurstone (29 May 1887 – 30 September 1955) was
a U.S. pioneer in the fields of psychometrics and psychophysics. He
conceived the approach to measurement known as the law of comparative
judgment, and is well known for his contributions to factor analysis.
A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked
Thurstone as the 88th most cited psychologist of the 20th century, tied
with John Garcia, James J. Gibson, David Rumelhart, Margaret Floy
Washburn, and Robert S. Woodworth.

Factor analysis and work on intelligence

Thurstone was responsible for the standardized mean and standard
deviation of IQ scores used today, as opposed to the Intelligence
Test system originally used by Alfred Binet. He is also known for the
development of the Thurstone scale.
Thurstone's work in factor analysis led him to formulate a model of
intelligence centered on "Primary Mental Abilities" (PMAs), which were
independent group factors of intelligence that different individuals
possessed in varying degrees. He opposed the notion of a singular general
intelligence that factored into the scores of all psychometric tests and was
expressed as a mental age. In 1935 Thurstone, together with EL
Thorndike and JP Guilford, founded the journal Psychometrika and also the
Psychometric Society, going on to become the society's first president in
1936. Thurstone's contributions to methods of factor analysis have proved
valuable in establishing and verifying later psychometric factor structures,
and have influenced the hierarchical models of intelligence in use in
intelligence tests such as WAIS and the modern Stanford-Binet IQ test.
The seven primary mental abilities in Thurstone's model were verbal
comprehension, word fluency, number facility, spatial
visualization, associative memory, perceptual speed, and reasoning.

Intelligence: Definition, Theories and Testing

What Is Intelligence?
It might seem useless to define such a simple word. After all, we have all
heard this word hundreds of times and probably have a general
understanding of its meaning. However, the concept of intelligence has
been a widely debated topic among members of the psychology community
for decades.
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: higher level abilities (such as
abstract reasoning, mental representation, problem solving, and decision
making), the ability to learn, emotional knowledge, creativity, and
adaptation to meet the demands of the environment effectively.
Psychologist Robert Sternberg defined intelligence as "the mental abilities
necessary for adaptation to, as well as shaping and selection of, any
environmental context.

A Brief History of Intelligence

The study of human intelligence dates back to the late 1800s when Sir
Francis Galton (the cousin of Charles Darwin) became one of the first
people to study intelligence.
Galton was interested in the concept of a gifted individual, so he created a
lab to measure reaction times and other physical characteristics to test his
hypothesis that intelligence is a general mental ability that is a produce of
biological evolution (hello, Darwin!).
Galton theorized that because quickness and other physical attributes were
evolutionarily advantageous, they would also provide a good indication of
general mental ability (Jensen, 1982).
Thus, Galton operationalized intelligence as reaction time.
Operationalization is an important process in research that involves
defining an unmeasurable phenomenon (such as intelligence) in
measurable terms (such as reaction time), allowing the concept to be
studied empirically (Crowthre-Heyck, 2005).
Galton’s study of intelligence in the laboratory setting and his theorization
of the heritab\ility of intelligence paved the way for decades of future
research and debate in this field.
Theories of Intelligence
Some researchers argue that intelligence is a general ability, whereas
others make the assertion that intelligence comprises specific skills and
talents. Psychologists contend that intelligence is genetic, or inherited, and
others claim that it is largely influenced by the surrounding environment.
As a result, psychologists have developed several contrasting theories of
intelligence as well as individual tests that attempt to measure this very
concept.
Spearman’s General Intelligence (g)
General intelligence, also known as g factor, refers to a general mental
ability that, according to Spearman, underlies multiple specific skills,
including verbal, spatial, numerical and mechanical.
Charles Spearman, an English psychologist, established the two-factor
theory of intelligence back in 1904 (Spearman, 1904). To arrive at this
theory, Spearman used a technique known as factor analysis.
Factor analysis is a procedure through which the correlation of related
variables are evaluated to find an underlying factor that explains this
correlation.
In the case of intelligence, Spearman noticed that those who did well in one
area of intelligence tests (for example, mathematics), also did well in other
areas (such as distinguishing pitch; Kalat, 2014).
In other words, there was a strong correlation between performing well in
math and music, and Spearman then attributed this relationship to a central
factor, that of general intelligence (g).
Spearman concluded that there is a single g-factor which represents an
individual’s general intelligence across multiple abilities, and that a second
factor, s, refers to an individual’s specific ability in one particular area
(Spearman, as cited in Thomson, 1947).

Together, these two main factors compose Spearman’s two-factor theory.

Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
Thurstone (1938) challenged the concept of a g-factor. After analyzing data
from 56 different tests of mental abilities, he identified a number of primary
mental abilities that comprise intelligence, as opposed to one general
factor.
The seven primary mental abilities in Thurstone's model are verbal
comprehension, verbal fluency, number facility, spatial visualization,
perceptual speed, memory, and inductive reasoning (Thurstone, as cited in
Sternberg, 2003).

Mental Abililty Description

Word Fluency Ability to use words quickly and fluency in

performing such tasks as rhyming, solving
 Mental Abililty Description

anagrams, and doing crossword puzzles.

Verbal Ability to understand the meaning of words,

Comprehension concepts, and ideas.

Numerical Ability to use numbers to quickly computer answers

Ability to problems.

Spatial Ability to visualize and manipulate patters and forms

Visualization in space.

Perceptual Ability to grasp perceptual details quickly and

Speed accurately and to determine similarities and
differences between stimuli.

Memory Ability to recall information such as lists or words,

mathematical formulas, and definitions.

Inductive Ability to derive general rules and principles from

Reasoning presented information.

Although Thurstone did not reject Spearman’s idea of general intelligence

altogether, he instead theorized that intelligence consists of both general
ability and a number of specific abilities, paving the way for future research
that examined the different forms of intelligence.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
Following the work of Thurstone, American psychologist Howard Gardner
built off the idea that there are multiple forms of intelligence.
He proposed that there is no single intelligence, but rather distinct,
independent multiple intelligences exist, each representing unique skills
and talents relevant to a certain category.
Gardner (1983, 1987) initially proposed seven multiple intelligences:
linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic,
interpersonal, and intrapersonal, and he has since added naturalist
intelligence.

Gardner holds that most activities (such as dancing) will involve a

combination of these multiple intelligences (such as spatial and bodily-
kinesthetic intelligences). He also suggests that these multiple intelligences
can help us understand concepts beyond intelligence, such as creativity
and leadership.
And although this theory has widely captured the attention of the
psychology community and greater public, it does have its faults.
There have been few empirical studies that actually test this theory, and
this theory does not account for other types of intelligence beyond the ones
Gardner lists (Sternberg, 2003).
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Just two years later, in 1985, Robert Sternberg proposed a three-category
theory of intelligence, integrating components that were lacking in
Gardner’s theory. This theory is based on the definition of intelligence as
the ability to achieve success based on your personal standards and your
sociocultural context.
According to the triarchic theory, intelligence has three aspects: analytical,
creative, and practical (Sternberg, 1985).
Analytical intelligence, also referred to as componential intelligence,
refers to intelligence that is applied to analyze or evaluate problems and
arrive at solutions. This is what a traditional IQ test measure.
Creative intelligence is the ability to go beyond what is given to create
novel and interesting ideas. This type of intelligence involves imagination,
innovation and problem-solving.
Practical intelligence is the ability that individuals use to solve problems
faced in daily life, when a person finds the best fit between themselves and
the demands of the environment. Adapting to the demands environment
involves either utilizing knowledge gained from experience to purposefully
change oneself to suit the environment (adaptation), changing the
environment to suit oneself (shaping), or finding a new environment in
which to work (selection).

Other Types of Intelligence

After examining the popular competing theories of intelligence, it becomes
clear that there are many different forms of this seemingly simple concept.
On one hand, Spearman claims that intelligence is generalizable across
many different areas of life, and on the other hand, psychologists such as
Thurstone, Gardener, and Sternberg hold that intelligence is like a tree with
many different branches, each representing a specific form of intelligence.
To make matters even more interesting, let’s throw a few more types of
intelligence into the mix!
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is the “ability to monitor one’s own and other
people’s emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label
them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and
behaviour” (Salovey and Mayer, 1990).
Emotional intelligence is important in our everyday lives, seeing as we
experience one emotion or another nearly every second of our lives. You
may not associate emotions and intelligence with one another, but in
reality, they are very related.
Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize the meanings of
emotions and to reason and problem-solve on the basis of them (Mayer,
Caruso, & Salovey, 1999). The four key components of emotional
Intelligence are (i) self-awareness, (ii) self-management, (iii) social
awareness, and (iv) relationship management.
In other words, if you are high in emotional intelligence, you can accurately
perceive emotions in yourself and others (such as reading facial
expressions), use emotions to help facilitate thinking, understand the
meaning behind your emotions (why are you feeling this way?), and know
how to manage your emotions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990).
Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence
Raymond Cattell (1963) first proposed the concepts of fluid and crystallized
intelligence and further developed the theory with John Horn.
Fluid intelligence is the ability to problem solve in novel situations without
referencing prior knowledge, but rather through the use of logic and
abstract thinking. Fluid intelligence can be applied to any novel problem
because no specific prior knowledge is required (Cattell, 1963). As you
grow older fluid increases and then starts to decrease in the late 20s.
Crystallized intelligence refers to the use of previously-acquired
knowledge, such as specific facts learned in school or specific motor skills
or muscle memory (Cattell, 1963). As you grow older and accumulate
knowledge, crystallized intelligence increases.
The Cattell-Horn (1966) theory of fluid and crystallized intelligence
suggests that intelligence is composed of a number of different abilities that
interact and work together to produce overall individual intelligence
For example, if you are taking a hard math test, you rely on your
crystallized intelligence to process the numbers and meaning of the
questions, but you may use fluid intelligence to work through the novel
problem and arrive at the correct solution. It is also possible that fluid
intelligence can become crystallized intelligence.
The novel solutions you create when relying on fluid intelligence can, over
time, develop into crystallized intelligence after they are incorporated into
long-term memory.
This illustrates some of the ways in which different forms of intelligence
overlap and interact with one another, revealing its dynamic nature.

Intelligence Testing
Binet-Simon Scale
During the early 1900s, the French government enlisted the help of
psychologist Alfred Binet to understand which children were going to be
slower learners and thus require more assistance in the classroom (Binet et
al., 1912).
As a result, he and his colleague, Theodore Simon, began to develop a
specific set of questions that focused on areas such as memory and
problem-solving skills.
They tested these questions on groups of students aged three to twelve to
help standardize the measure (Binet et al., 1912). Binet realized that some
children were able to answer advanced questions that their older peers
were able to answer.
As a result, he created the concept of a mental age, or how well an
individual performs intellectually relative to the average performance at that
age (Cherry, 2020).
Ultimately, Binet finalized the scale, known as the Binet-Simon scale, that
became the basis for the intelligence tests still used today.
The Binet-Simon scale of 1905 comprised 30 items designed to measure
judgment, comprehension, and reasoning which Binet deemed the key
characteristics of intelligence.
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale
When the Binet-Simon scale made its way over to the United States,
Stanford psychologist Lewis Terman adapted the test for American
students, and published the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale in 1916
(Cherry, 2020).
The Stanford-Binet Scale is a contemporary assessment which measures
intelligence according to five features of cognitive ability, including fluid
reasoning, knowledge, quantitative reasoning, visual-spatial processing
and working memory. Both verbal and nonverbal responses are measured.
This test used a single number, referred to as the intelligence quotient (IQ)
to indicate an individual’s score.
The average score for the test is 100, and any score from 90 to 109 is
considered to be in the average intelligence range. Score from 110 to 119
are considered to be High Average. Superior scores range from 120 to 129
and anything over 130 is considered Very Superior.
To calculate IQ, the student’s mental age is divided by his or her actual (or
chronological) age, and this result is multiplied by 100. If your mental age is
equal to your chronological age, you will have an IQ of 100, or average. If,
however, your mental age is, say, 12, but your chronological age is only 10,
you will have an above-average IQ of 120.
WISC and WAIS
Just as theories of intelligence build off one another, intelligence tests do
too. After Terman created Stanford-Binet test, American psychologist David
Wechsler developed a new tool due to his dissatisfaction with the
limitations of the Stanford-Binet test (Cherry, 2020).
Just like Thurstone, Gardner, and Sternberg, Wechsler believed that
intelligence involved many different mental abilities and felt that the
Stanford-Binet scale too closely reflected the idea of one general
intelligence.
Because of this, Wechsler created the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for
Children (WISC) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) in 1955,
with the most up-to-date version being the WAIS-IV (Cherry, 2020).
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC), developed by
David Wechsler, is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and
cognitive ability in children between the ages of 6 and 16. It is currently in
its fourth edition (WISC-V) released in 2014 by Pearson.

Above Image: WISC-IV Sample Test Question

The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), is an IQ test designed to
measure cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents, including verbal
comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing
speed.
The latest version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) was
standardized on 2,200 healthy people between the ages of 16 and 90 years
(Brooks et al., 2011).
The standardization of a test involves giving it to a large number of people
at different ages in order to compute the average score on the test at each
age level
The overall IQ score combines the test takers’ performance in all four
categories (Cherry, 2020). And rather than calculating this number based
on mental and chronological age, the WAIS compares the individual’s
score to the average score at that level, as calculated by the
standardization process.
The Flynn Effect
It is important to regularly standardize an intelligence test because the
overall level of intelligence in a population may change over time.
This phenomenon is known as the Flynn effect (named after its discoverer,
New Zealand researcher James Flynn) which refers to the observation that
scores on intelligence tests worldwide increase from decade to decade
(Flynn, 1984).
Aptitude vs. Achievement Tests
Other tests, such as aptitude and achievement tests, are designed to
measure intellectual capability. Achievement tests measure what content a
student has already learned (such as a unit test in history or a final math
exam), whereas an aptitude test measures a student’s potential or ability to
learn (Anastasi, 1984).
Although this may sound similar to an IQ test, aptitude tests typically
measure abilities in very specific areas.

Criticism of Intelligence Testing

Criticisms have ranged from the claim that IQ tests are biased in favor of
white, middle-class people. Negative stereotypes about a person’s
ethnicity, gender, or age may cause the person to suffer stereotype threat,
a burden of doubt about his or her own abilities, which can create anxiety
that result in lower scores.
Reliability and Construct Validity
Although you may be wondering if you take an intelligence test multiple
times will you improve your score and whether these tests even measure
intelligence in the first place, research provides reassurance that these
tests are both very reliable and have high construct validity.
Reliability simply means that they are consistent over time. In other words,
if you take a test at two different points in time, there will be very little
change in performance or, in the case of intelligence tests, IQ score.
Although this isn’t a perfect science and your score might slightly fluctuate
when taking the same test on different occasions or different tests at the
same age, IQ tests demonstrate relatively high reliability (Tuma &
Appelbaum, 1980).
Additionally, intelligence tests also reveal strong construct validity, meaning
that they are, in fact, measuring intelligence rather than something else.
Researchers have spent hours on end developing, standardizing, and
adapting these tests to best fit into the current times. But that is also not to
say that these tests are completely flawless.
Research documents errors with the specific scoring of tests, interpretation
of the multiple scores (since typically an individual will receive an overall IQ
score accompanied by several category-specific scores), and some studies
question the actual validity, reliability, and utility for individual clinical use of
these tests (Canivez, 2013).
Additionally, intelligence scores are created to reflect different theories of
intelligence, so the interpretations may be heavily based on the theory
upon which the test is based (Canivez, 2013).
Cultural Specificity
There are issues with intelligence tests beyond looking at them in a
vacuum. These tests were created by western psychologists who created
such tools to measure euro-centric values.
But it is important to recognize that the majority of the world’s population
does not reside in Europe or North America, and as a result, the cultural
specificity of these tests is crucial.
Different cultures hold different values and even have different perceptions
of intelligence, so is it fair to have one universal marker of this increasingly
complex concept?
For example, a 1992 study found that Kenyan parents defined intelligence
as the ability to do without being told what needed to be done around the
homestead (Harkness et al., 1992), and, given the American and European
emphasis on speed, some Ugandans define intelligent people as being
slow in thought and action (Wober, 1974).
Together, these examples illustrate the flexibility of defining intelligence,
making it even more challenging to capture this concept in a single test, let
alone a single number. And even within the U.S. do perceptions of
intelligence differ.
An example is in San Jose, California, where Latino, Asian, and Anglo
parents had varying definitions of intelligence. The teachers’
understanding of intelligence was more similar to that of the Asian and
Anglo communities, and this similarity actually predicted the child’s
performance in school (Okagaki & Sternberg, 1993).
That is, students whose families had more similar understandings of
intelligence were doing better in the classroom.
Intelligence takes many forms, ranging from country to country and culture
to culture. Although IQ tests might have high reliability and validity,
understanding the role of culture is as, if not more, important in forming the
bigger picture of an individual’s intelligence.
IQ tests may accurately measure academic intelligence, but more research
must be done to discern whether they truly measure practical intelligence,
or even just general intelligence in all cultures.
Social and Environmental Factors
Another important part of the puzzle to consider is the social and
environmental context in which an individual lives and the IQ test-related
biases that develop as a result.
These might help explain why some individuals have lower scores than
others. For example, the threat of social exclusion can greatly decrease the
expression of intelligence.
A 2002 study gave participants an IQ test and a personality inventory, and
some were randomly chosen to receive feedback from the inventory
indicating that they were “the sort of people who would end up alone in life”
(Baumeister et al., 2002).
After a second test, those who were told they would be loveless and
friendless in the future answered significantly fewer questions than they did
on the earlier test.
And these findings can translate into the real world where not only the
threat of social exclusion can decrease the expression of intelligence but
also a perceived threat to physical safety.
In other words, a child’s poor academic performance can be attributed to
the disadvantaged, potentially unsafe, communities in which they grow up.
Stereotype Threat
Stereotype threat is a phenomenon in which people feel at risk of
conforming to stereotypes about their social group. Negative stereotypes
can also create anxiety that result in lower scores.
In one study, Black and White college students were given part of the
verbal section from the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), but in the
stereotype threat condition, they told students the test diagnosed
intellectual ability, thus potentially making the stereotype that Blacks are
less intelligent than Whites salient.
The results of this study revealed that in the stereotype threat condition,
Blacks performed worse than Whites, but in the no stereotype threat
condition, Blacks and Whites performed equally well (Steele & Aronson,
1995).
And even just recording your race can also result in worsened
performance. Stereotype threat is a real threat and can be detrimental to an
individual’s performance on these tests.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
Stereotype threat is closely related to the concept of a self-fulfilling
prophecy in which an individual’s expectations about another person can
result in the other person acting in ways that conform to that very
expectation.
In one experiment, students in a California elementary school were given
an IQ test after which their teachers were given the names of students who
would become "intellectual bloomers" that year based on the results of the
test (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968).
At the end of the study, the students were tested again with the same IQ
test, and those who were labeled as “intellectual bloomers” had significant
increases in their scores.
This illustrates that teachers may subconsciously behave in ways that
encourage the success of certain students, thus influencing their
achievement (Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968), and provides another example
of small variables that can play a role in an individual’s intelligence score
and the development of their intelligence.
This is all to say that it is important to consider the less visible factors that
play a role in determining someone’s intelligence. While an IQ score has
many benefits in measuring intelligence, it is critical to consider that just
because someone has a lower score, does not necessarily mean they are
lower in intelligence.
There are many factors that can worsen performance on these tests, and
the tests themselves might not even be accurately measuring the very
concept they are intended to.

Extremes of Intelligence
IQ scores are generally normally distributed (Moore et al., 2013). That is,
roughly 95% of the population has IQ scores between 70 and 130. But
what about the other 5%?
Individuals who fall outside this range represent the extremes of
intelligence.
Those who have an IQ above 130 are considered to be gifted (Lally &
French, 2018), such as Christopher Langan, an American horse rancher,
who has an IQ score around 200 (Gladwell, 2008).
Those individuals who have scores below 70 do so because of an
intellectual disability, marked by substantial developmental delays,
including motor, cognitive, and speech delays (De Light, 2012).
Some of the time, these disabilities are the product of genetic mutations.
Down syndrome, for example, resulting from extra genetic material from or
a complete extra copy of the 21st chromosome, is a common genetic
cause of an intellectual disability (Breslin, 2014). As such, many individuals
with down syndrome have below average IQ scores (Breslin, 2014).
Savant syndrome is another example of an extreme of intelligence. Despite
having significant mental disabilities, these individuals demonstrate certain
abilities in some fields that are far above average, such as incredible
memorization, rapid mathematical or calendar calculation ability, or
advanced musical talent (Treffert, 2009).
The fact that these individuals who may be lacking in certain areas such as
social interaction and communication make up for it in other remarkable
areas, further illustrates the complexity of intelligence and what this
concept means today, as well as how we must consider all individuals
when determining how to perceive, measure, and recognize intelligence in
our society.

Intelligence Today Today, intelligence is generally understood as the

ability to understand and adapt to the environment by using inherited
abilities and learned knowledge.
Many new intelligence tests have arisen, such as the University of
California Matrix Reasoning Task (Pahor et al., 2019), that can be taken
online and in very little time, and new methods of scoring these tests have
been developed too (Sansone et al., 2014).
Admission into university and graduate schools rely on specific aptitude
and achievement tests, such as the SAT, ACT, and the LSAT – these tests
have become a huge part of our lives.
Humans are incredibly intelligent beings and we rely on our intellectual
abilities every day. Although intelligence can be defined and measured in
countless ways, our overall intelligence as a species makes us incredibly
unique and has allowed us to thrive for generations on end.