Preview

Psychology

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1056 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Psychology
Intelligence as a measure of distance

It is almost impossible to measure intelligence accurately and I will support this notion by stating logical and proven facts about the human mind and how they differ based on culture, understanding and environments.

Intelligence is measured as an estimation based on other criteria, hence the analogy “ as a measure of distance”

For example Region to region differ in understanding and identify intelligence based on either intellectual strength or physical strength depending on their cultural background, skill relevance and understanding.

IQ testing including Raven's progressive matrices test attempt to overcome biases in testing, therefore overlooking Culture and experience. Culture, experience and intellectual reasoning are deeply intertwined (Richardson, 1998; Sternberg et al,. 2001) and i'm sure anyone would agree that we were all raised differently based on the facts mentioned.

For the sole reason that intelligence is embedded in social and cultural context, certain features are more familiar to certain social groups in certain areas and therefore creates an unfair evaluation.

For Example, Parts of the world survive on being street smart and uphold that status based on what is classified relevant and useful in that specific area or from a certain kind of people who later on spread out into the world and might end up living amongst others who follow a different measurement of intelligence and progress in their world educationally therefore measuring intelligence through intellect. Without considering these facts, we underpin the idea that mental strength, just like physical strength can be measured independent of one's background or life circumstances and what counts as intellectual 'strength' is universal.

In 1869 “Francis Galton” through his book 'Hereditary Genius' raised interest in the study of mental abilities as they have to do with hereditary and eugenics. Identifying the inaccuracy in measuring intelligence,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    He further states that IQ tests do not test for pure innate ability, but rather cultural learning and that “because of those undoubted effects of childhood environment and learned knowledge” (Diamond 20) genetic intellectual superiority could not be proven.…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Intelligence, depending on who is defining the word, is a word that has a variety of definitions. The definitions can vary from problem solving, education, to logic and communication. However, this paper will entail four different definitions of different time period and or cultures. The four definitions commonalities and differences will be discussed. This paper will compare and contrast the four definitions. The differences and similarities will be discussed. Furthermore, a conclusion about the nature of constructs such as intelligence will be provided. The four definitions…

    • 796 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nt1310 Unit 1 Term Paper

    • 4989 Words
    • 20 Pages

    For decades, a lot of emphases have been put on certain aspects of intelligence such as logical reasoning, math skills, spatial skills, understanding analogies, verbal skills, etc. Researchers were puzzled that while IQ could predict to a significant degree of academic performance and to some degree, professional and personal success, there was something missing in the…

    • 4989 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    What is intelligence? How can it be defined, when it seems to be an individualistic characteristic? These are just a couple of questions in the debate over intelligence. The biggest misconception about intelligence is that it can be measured through an IQ test. While IQ tests are valuable pieces of information to have, they can’t specifically measure intelligence solely. Adam Hampshire, a PhD, psychologist, at the Brain and Mind Institute Natural Sciences Centre, London, Ontario, Canada says, “There are multiple types of intelligence, and It is time to move on to using a more comprehensive set of tests that can measure separate scores for each type of intelligence” (Mann, 2012). His belief is that tests that measure these different types of intelligence should be used in making the determination of intelligence, because in one area of the brain and individual may show intelligence, but in another they may not, so the confusion becomes, are they intelligent or not (Mann, 2012)?…

    • 1293 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    drawings and photographs (Anastasi & Urbina, 1996). Even within the same culture, different groups could have different attitudes, values, and motivation, and this could affect their performance on intelligence tests. Items that ask why buildings should be made of brick are biased against children who have little or no experience with brick houses. Questions about railroads, furnaces, seasons of the year, distance between cities, and so on can be biased against groups who have less experiences than others with these…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Get Smart

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This activity will explore the concept of intelligence and some of the methods of measuring intelligence.…

    • 310 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Into The Unknown Analysis

    • 1592 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In Warwick’s “Into the Unknown,” he introduces the hypersphere model and goes into details on how one’s intelligence can be portrayed in “a wide range of axes (210).” First, he refers back the argument that he previously mentions, which demonstrates his acknowledgement on how it is improbable to achieve an objective IQ test when nearly everything becomes subjective in human’s standard. Then, he redirects his audiences’ attention by showing his ambitions on overturning this dilemma and suggesting researchers to measure the performance on every facility and make further analysis on how they closely relate to each other. He continues to build upon his groundwork by listing other possible instruments of intelligence, including “a score for math, a score for music, a score for art, motorcycle maintenance” to showcase his understanding in realizing each individual has their own strengths and weakness on different facilities (210). In “The Sociological Imagination,” Flynn complements Warwick’s framework by promoting the Gardner’s theory on intelligence. He lists the seven categories of intelligence and raises awareness on how they can be integrate and assimilate to our living. Flynn postulates, “Perhaps we have overlooked the fact that a Mozart integrates a wide variety…

    • 1592 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Flynn Effect, first observed by James Flynn in 1981, is the steady year on year increase in IQ scores on intelligence tests, noting a greater rise in fluid (non-verbal) intelligence than crystallised (verbal) intelligence. There are numerous studies providing evidence for this effect leading to the question; are generations getting more intelligent? There is no universal definition of intelligence, leading many researchers to try and discover common themes around the world. Yang & Sternberg (1997b) found similarities in ideas of intelligence between Western and Eastern cultures but ultimately, along with other researchers such as Baral & Das (2004), concluded that there are great differences between conceptions of intelligence around the world. Due to this, there have been many different methods used to measure intelligence over the years, from Binet & Simon’s (1911) intelligence test, to Gardner’s (1983) multiple intelligence theory. One of the more accepted and universally used methods designed to test intelligence is the intelligence quotient (IQ) test, developed by William Stern in 1912, an idea used by many other intelligence researchers.…

    • 3070 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Psychology

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages

    5)What would be the pros and cons to the idea of administering intelligence tests to all students?…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1983 a professor of education at Harvard University, Dr. Howard Gardner, developed the theory of multiple intelligences. This theory states that there are eight different ways in which a person is intelligent. These different forms of intelligence are as follows: linguistic, or word smart; logical-mathematic, or reasoning/numbers smart; spatial, or picture smart; bodily-kinesthetic, or body smart; musical, or music smart; intrapersonal, or self-smart; and naturalist, or nature smart (“Multiple Intelligences” para. 1-2). It is not difficult to pinpoint which of these intelligences standardized testing primarily measures. For students who are not linguistically or mathematically gifted, the tests do not accurately show the students’…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Standardized Testing

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The task of trying to quantify a person's intelligence has been a goal of psychologists since before the beginning of this century. The Binet-Simon scales were first proposed in 1905 in Paris, France and various sorts of tests have been evolving ever since. One of the important questions that always comes up regarding these tools is what are the tests really measuring? Are they measuring a person's intelligence? Their ability to perform well on standardized tests?…

    • 712 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overall, standardized testing may or may not fuel unfair prejudice in high school, college, and at work. Nevertheless, psychologist Alfred Binet “warned against efforts to attach greater meaning” to intelligence test results. He felt that an educational test scale is too subjective to measure the ability to perform specific tasks. In other words, standardized testing should not be used to predict the academic or professional career of candidates and should be eliminated to avoid unfair prejudice in assessing…

    • 450 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Social Construction

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In other words, the “cultural knowledge” used to create a given test, may be lopsided.…

    • 362 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    1.Traditionally, people have defined (and standardized tests have assessed) someone who is intelligent as an individual who can solve problems, use logic to answer questions, and think critically. But psychologist Howard Gardner has a much broader definition of intelligence. Compare the traditional idea about intelligence with Gardner's. Are there advantages to the traditional format of intelligence testing? How can Gardner’s ideas change the way we assess the strengths and weaknesses of people?…

    • 890 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Ulric Neisser, PhD, Chair; Emory University (August 7, 1995) Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns, [online], Available: http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/iku.html Laura Clark (8th February 2009) British teenagers have lower IQ scores than a generation ago, new study reveals, [online], Available: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1139062/Britishteenagers-lower-IQ-scores-generation-ago-new-study-reveals.html Katie Young (2005) What 's so bad about Standardized Testing? Available e-mail: youngka7@msu.edu Tambs K., Sundet J.M., Magnus P, Berg K. "Genetic and environmental contributions to the covariance between occupational status, educational attainment, and IQ: a study of twins”. Flynn, J.R. (1999). Searching for Justice: The discovery of IQ gains over time. Gottfredson, L.S. (1998). The general intelligence factor. Vietcoding (8th July 2010) Thống kê tình hình Internet Việt Nam tháng 7 năm 2010, [online], Available: http://vietcoding.com/thong-ke-tinh-hinh-internet-viet-nam-thang-7-nam-2010/…

    • 1874 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays