Written by: Su Lai Yati and Audrey Chu
Are you actually intelligent?
Short answer: yes! Intelligence is a multifaceted concept, and each of us possess components of intelligence. This article is an exploration the different ways people perceive intelligence and the medical research behind intelligence.
Intelligence to defined as the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations. However, most people tend to see intelligence as a black and white concept, assuming that those who are “book-smart” are more intelligent than those who are “street-smart.”
Intelligence quotient (IQ) tests first came about in 1905 and was developed by Alfred Binet. This test was created to aid those in France’s school system by identifying those who were capable to go throughout school with no aid and those who may need some additional help. Binet’s intentions were solely to help all schoolchildren in France to be successful in their academic journey, but the IQ testing soon became a numerical value that people defined others by.
The categorization of people based on their IQ scores brought forth a plethora of ethical issues. Francis Galton, an anthropologist, suggested inhibiting the fertility of people based on their IQ. Groups that were purported to be inferior were inhibited of their own fertility, while those purported to ‘superior’ intelligence traits were promoted. His aim was to create an idea of something similar to selective adaptation, only with humans according to their ‘intelligence’.
Intelligence, as previously mentioned, is multifaceted and there exist many theories and ideas as to what these factors are. Howard Gardner, an American psychologist, devised these 8 categories of intelligence:
Linguistics
Mathematical abilities
Musical
Interpersonal
Intrapersonal
Spatial abilities
Bodily & kinesthetic
Naturalist
In the early 20th century, Charles Spearman proposed the idea of “general intelligence.” He claimedthat an individual who excels in one aspect of intelligence (e.g mathematics) is more likely to excel in other areas of intelligence (e.g musical abilities). He considered this to be the ‘g-factor’.
Today, experts have conducted countless studies to try to prove this phenomenon, but at the end of the day, intelligence isn’t something that can be quantified. It’s a concept that all of us possess.
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