Intelligence (trait)

Intelligence is usually said to involve mental capabilities such as the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and language, and learn. Although nonscientists generally regard the concept of intelligence as having much broader scope, in psychology, the study of intelligence generally regards this behavioral trait as distinct from creativity, personality, character, or wisdom.

One or several types of intelligence?

Some experts accept the concept of a single dominant factor of intelligence, general mental ability or g, while others argue that intelligence consists of a set of relatively independent abilities (American Psychological Association task force report, Gottfredson 1998). A single factor is not guaranteed. Other psychological tests which do not measure cognitive ability, such as personality tests, generate multiple factors.

Related Topics:
Psychological tests - Personality tests

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Proponents of multiple-intelligence theories often claim that g is, at best, a measure of academic ability. Other types of intelligence, they claim, might be just as important outside of a school setting.

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Yale psychologist Robert J. Sternberg has proposed a Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences breaks intelligence down into at least eight different components: logical, linguistic, spatial, musical, kinesthetic, naturalist, intra-personal and inter-personal intelligences. Daniel Goleman and several other researchers have developed the concept of emotional intelligence and claim it is at least as important as more traditional sorts of intelligence. These theories grew from observations of human development and of brain injury victims who demonstrate an acute loss of a particular cognitive function -- e.g. the ability to think numerically, or the ability to understand written language -- without showing any loss in other cognitive areas.

Related Topics:
Triarchic Theory of Intelligence - Howard Gardner - Theory of multiple intelligences - Emotional intelligence

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In response, g theorists have pointed out that gs predictive validity has been repeatedly demonstrated, for example in predicting important non-academic outcomes such as job performance (see IQ), while no multiple-intelligences theory has shown comparable validity. Meanwhile, they argue, the relevance, and even the existence, of multiple intelligences have not been borne out when actually tested (Hunt 2001).

Related Topics:
Predictive validity - IQ

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The fundamental argument for a general factor is that test scores on a wide range of seemingly unrelated cognitive ability tests (such as sentence completion, arithmetic, and memorization) are positively correlated: people who score highly on one test tend to score highly on all of them, and g thus emerges in a factor analysis. This suggests that the tests are not unrelated, but that they all tap a common factor. This correlation could exist for other reasons, however -- for example, our educational methods might depend on some very narrow range of cognitive functions, and thus strongly develop fundamentally unrelated abilities in people who excel within that narrow range. This remains an open debate in cognitive psychology.

Related Topics:
Correlated - Factor analysis

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According to Jeff Hawkins, the brain's cortex implements a memory prediction system to form the basis of intelligence.

Related Topics:
Jeff Hawkins - Cortex - Memory prediction system

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