Intelligence is the capability to adapt or transfer previous knowledge and experiences flexibly to accomplish new task (Mcdevitt & Ormrod). Humans apply their intellectual’s abilities in many different ways academically and socially based on their culture’s standards. Every culture has their own concept of intelligence; and children generally develop the skills they need to survive in their own culture. Even though intelligence is a very abstract concept and varies in every culture; there are different studies that have developed ways of measuring human’s intelligence. In continuation there will be a brief description of five different Theatrical perspectives.
Spearman’s g
This theory was proposed by the British psychology Charles Spearman. He suggests that intelligence include both a single, pervasive reasoning ability that is used on a wide variety (general factor) and a number of narrow abilities involve in executing particular task (specific factor).
Cattell-Horn-Carroll Theory of Cognitive Abilities
Extending Spearman’s theory Cattle found substantiation for two distinctly different factors of general intelligence which he named fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence.
• Fluid intelligence: is the capability to acquire knowledge rapidly and in that way adapt effectively to new situations.
• Crystallized intelligence: is the knowledge and skills they have accumulated from their experiences, schooling and culture.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
American psychologist Howard Gardner proposed that people have at least eight different abilities; what he called the theory of multiple intelligences. He differentiates intelligence into various specific categories, rather than seeing it a single general ability. Base on his theory people can be very skilled in one area and at the same time have average abilities in other areas.
Types of Intelligence:
• Spatial
• Linguistic
• Logical-mathematical
• Bodily-kinesthetic
• Musical
• Interpersonal
• Interpersonal
• Naturalistic
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory
Robert Sternberg proposed that people may be more or less intelligent in three different domains:
• Analytical intelligence involves analyzing, evaluating, or contrasting different kinds of information.
• Creative Intelligence involves imagination, invention, and synthesis of ideas within the context of new situations.
• Practical Intelligence stands for applying knowledge and different skills effectively to manipulate and interact with regular problems and social situations.
Distributed Intelligence
This theory states that young children show a better development of their intelligence when they have the support of their physical, social, and cultural environment.
Measuring Intelligence
Psychologists have been trying to measure intelligence for over a century even though it has been difficult to come to a conclusion on what intelligence is. Alfred Binet was the first psychologist who developed a test of intelligence. With his test he found that students who performed poorly on his test would most likely perform poorly in classroom settings as well. Today we continue to assess a child’s intelligence and to predict a child’s academic achievement, and/or to see if a child may have special educational needs with intelligence tests very similar to those of Alfred Binet’s.
Examples of three widely used intelligence tests are:
Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. This test measures verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed. It is used on children ages 6 to 16. The result of the 15 subtests combined is known as the Full Scale IQ.
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales. This test is also commonly used with children as young as 2, children, and adults. In this test the subject may be asked to define vocabulary words, even interpret proverbs. Some may be asked to remember a sequence of objects, or identify absurdities they may see in pictures. In the end, this test gives an overall IQ score.
Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test. This is a nonverbal test in contrast to the two previous tests. The reason for this is because some measures of intelligence do not require language at all. It can be used on children through adolescents ages 5 to 17. This test involves memory or reasoning regarding visual stimuli. Its instruction are given completely through gestures, pantomime, and modeling. A child will then supply answers by pointing and moving objects around, thus making this test easier to use for children who have hearing impairments or language-related learning disabilities. This test may also be used for children who use English as a second language.
What are IQ scores? IQ scores are determined by comparing a person’s performance on the test with the performance of others in the same age-group. (Mcdevitt, Ormrod p 284) A score near 100 shows average performance and a score of 100 indicates above-average performance.
Validity and reliability of general Intelligence Tests. A variety of approaches are used by researchers in or der to determine the validity of intelligence tests. The scores children receive on the WISC-IV, Stanford-Binet, and UNIT is highly reliable in these respects. (Mcdevitt, Ormrod p 285)
There are many more types of tests which are given to further assess a child’s cognitive abilities. Some of these tests are such as: specific ability tests, dynamic assessment tests.
Effects of Heredity and Environment on Intelligence
When we see similarities in families when it comes to IQ scores and such, it is not easy to know if these similarities are the result of shared genes or the environments which siblings of family members were exposed to and share. Even though it is not an easy task to determine which might influence intelligence more, we know due to a significant body of research that both environment and heredity combined influence intelligence.
Some of the convincing evidence of nature may be found in twin studies. Monozygotic (identical) twins start with one fertilized egg which eventually splits, the genetic makeup is equal. On the other hand, dizygotic twins come to be conceived as two separate eggs therefore only sharing 50% of their genes and leaving the other being unique to each twin. Research has found correlations for monozygotic twins being much higher versus the correlations for dizygotic twins.
Heredity is also tested in comparing adopted children with the adoptive parents as opposed to the biological parents. The adopted children show dramatic similarities to their biological parents. Also, children who are related such as siblings tend to resemble one another more in regards to intellectuality than to those who are not related biologically yet under same adoptive parent for example.
Of course, this does not fully mean that children are predestined to have intelligence levels similar or exact to that of their biological parents. The effects of environment can make a big difference in the intelligence of a child as numerous sources of evidence have shown.
Effects of early nutrition: Malnutrition before a child’s birth or during their early years can and will limit neurological development and has shown to have long-term impact on their cognitive development and intelligence. It is critical to provide a child with a medically approved diet in order to promote and enhance their cognitive abilities. A child’s pediatrician would be able to inform a parent as to what the appropriate foods for each stage of their life should be for optimal health and development.
Effects of toxic substances: A variety of these being alcohol, drugs, lead, and radiation could greatly interfere and/or damage a child’s cognitive development and later IQ scores.
Effects of home environment: A stimulating home environment is very important in the development of a child’s cognitive processes. It is often seen in correlational studies that families of higher social economic status are associated with higher IQ scores in children. Many of the reasons may be they may interact frequently with their children and can make reading materials more accessible for their children, and may also encourage the development of new skills in their child, and even use much more complex sentence structures when in conversation with their child. Even though this is not always the case it is common because families of higher SES may not have the same situational pressures that a family with children living in poverty may have.
Effects of early intervention: High quality child care and preschool programs often lead to advantages in a child’s IQ and other cognitive and academic benefits. Children raised in impoverished homes often do not have the luxury of being able to participate in such financially costly programs. There is still hope in such circumstances. There are many publicly funded preschool programs such as the Head Start program which often enroll many economically disadvantaged children in the community giving them a fair chance. Early intervention has proven to be most effective in fostering intellectual development when it is tailored to children’s existing abilities and interests (Mcdevitt, Ormrod p 290).
Effects of formal schooling: Just by having a child attend school increases their IQ. This is also seen in children who attend school regularly. Children who have had delays in schooling for reasons beyond their families control may lose points in their IQ scores for every year of delay. It has also been proven that a child’s IQ scores diminishes throughout the summer months in which it would be advisable for a child to continue some form of academic tutoring to keep their minds active.
Evidence in twin and adoption studies: Twin studies reveal evidence for environmental effects. Researchers have found an average correlation of .85 for monozygotic twins reared together and an average correlation of .74 for monozygotic twins reared apart (Mcdevitt, Ormrod p290).
Clearly it has been difficult for researchers to determine how much influence nature and nurture may have on a child’s cognitive development. What is clear is that the effects of heredity and environment both combine to influence the child’s cognitive development. The following points have been made by Theorists about how nature and nurture interact as they affect intellectual development:
--Heredity establishes a range rather than a precise figure. Heredity cannot dictate what a child’s IQ score will be, however, it can give a range.
--Genetic expression is influenced by environmental conditions.
--Especially as they get older, children choose their environments and experiences. A child is likely to pick his/her environmental conditions which match their inherited abilities—this phenomenon is known as niche-picking.
Developmental Trends in IQ Scores
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As children grow they become more” intelligent”. They know more about their world, are able to think abstractly and solve problems effectively. Nonetheless, IQ scores are based on how well children perform in comparison with others in their age range and not by how they developed over time. IQ scores do not increase with age but do change in two ways over the course of a child’s development.
Group Differences in Intelligence
Gender, socioeconomic, ethnic and racial differences are studied when finding differenced in intelligence test performance. Nonetheless, researchers have identified that differences among individual children do not fully generalize to differences among groups. Even though, we have learned that differences in genes contribute to variations in children’s intelligences, you cannot assume that any group differences are likewise based in heredity.
However, intelligence has some implications in its theories and research. Some of the suggestions for teachers and parents to understand the development of intelligence and its concerns are:
- Maintain a healthy skepticism about the accuracy of IQ scores
- Support early intervention programs in the community
- Cultivate children’s intellectual abilities throughout school years
- Be open-minded about ways in which intelligence shows itself
- Capitalize on children’s strengths and abilities when teaching new skills
- Consider specific cognitive abilities that classroom lessons require
- Promote more “intelligent” cognitive strategies
- Give children the support they need to think more intelligently
On the other hand, sometimes intelligence makes us face exceptionalities. In the intelligence spectrum, there is giftedness and intellectual disability.
Giftedness is defined as an unusually high ability in one or more areas, to the point where children require special educational services to help them meet their full potential.
When trying to describe giftedness more precisely, schools tend to disagree. Some think that a minimum IQ score of 125-130 is required to be considered gifted. Some think that other factors such as creativity, motivation and everyday accomplishments should also weigh in to decide whether a child is gifted or not.
Gifted children tend to process information more quickly and remember it more easily, have more advanced reasoning and metacognitive skills and use more effective, learning and problem-solving strategies. Others have exceptional drive to learn, seek out new challenges, make own discoveries and master tasks with little instruction. They tend to set high standards, have high self-esteem, good social skills and high emotional adjustment.
Gifted children tend to process information more quickly and remember it more easily, have more advanced reasoning and metacognitive skills and use more effective, learning and problem-solving strategies. Others have exceptional drive to learn, seek out new challenges, make own discoveries and master tasks with little instruction. They tend to set high standards, have high self-esteem, good social skills and high emotional adjustment.
On the lower end of the intelligence spectrum, we find intellectual disability. This simply means a disability marked by significantly below-average general intelligence and deficits in adaptive behavior. Both characteristics must be present in order to diagnose a child with this disability, also known as mental retardation.
- Below-average intelligence is represented by IQ scores of 65-70. They learn slowly and perform poorly in comparison to classmates, and have poor achievement across academic subject areas.
- Deficits in adaptive behavior include practical intelligence and social intelligence. Children with intellectual disability, have hard times managing ordinary activities in daily life and exhibit inappropriate conduct in social situations. They tend to engage in behaviors that match individuals younger than them.
Intellectual disabled children tend to show impairments in many aspects of processing information; they have trouble generalizing knowledge, engage in activities seen in younger children. These disabilities are often caused by abnormal genetic conditions, but some are due to malnutrition, substance abuse during pregnancy, oxygen deprivation or environmental toxics.
However, children with high or low intelligence maximize their cognitive development when instruction is geared to their specific strengths and weaknesses.
However, children with high or low intelligence maximize their cognitive development when instruction is geared to their specific strengths and weaknesses.
