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Defining Intelligence
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It explains everything important about intelligence and what it is as a summary.
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Bazil Lala22-10122
Forman Christian College University
Course Code: Psyc 360
Course Title: Psychology Measurement and Testing
One can find a hard time defining intelligence. It may seem easy since the term is very
commonly used however its true meaning is difficult to summarize. However and overall idea is
that it is the ability of people to select or adapt to their environment, ability to judge,
comprehend, reason, socialize, understand things other than human beings and to think
rationally.
How we know that it really exists is through psychometric tests which result in a test score that
enables to recognize ‘general intelligence’ and also ‘specific abilities’ that people have.
It seems like we have it all sorted out when it comes to intelligence but one aspect that a lot of
theorists do not agree upon is whether intelligence is a multidimensional construct or not.
According to one theorist, Howard Gardner, intelligence is multi-dimensional. He believes that
at birth people do not have all the intelligence they will possess till death. In fact he believes it
might add on or even decrease. He also proposed that there is not just one single type of
intelligence, commonly known as ‘general intelligence’. Instead he brought forward a list of
eight different types of intelligences that people can
possess; Linguistic, Logical/Mathematical, Spatial, Bodily
Kinesthetic, Musical, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, and Naturalist.
Gardner noted that the linguistic and logical-mathematical are most valued and competed for in
school which is why people tend to think these are the only two intelligences that exist.
However, Gardner sees that we miss out on other types that we may use outside of school during
socializing or during a hobby. He also identified a few other types of intelligences that exist but
were not fit to be added to the list of his previously mentioned eight types; spiritual intelligence,
existential intelligence, and moral intelligence
For him, an individual might be strong in one type and weaker in another hence we cannot
clearly label someone as intelligent or not intelligent. But we can use a range to measure the
strength of the intelligence but that would have to be done separately for each type.
Though there are has been criticism on Gardner’s theories that has come from psychologists and
educators both. They believe Gardner has defined intelligence as something too broad and only
identified a list of eight talents, traits or abilities but they fail to consider them as intelligences.
Yet, his theories are still being kept in mind by educators while teaching students effectively
pertaining to the type of intelligence that is stronger in the students.
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