Definition of intelligence
Intelligence is a general capability concerning a person's mental processes. A person is said to be more intelligent than another if he can comprehend, learn, and recall more quickly and in greater measure, and if he has a greater capacity to think and reason. No consensus exists among experts on the definition of intelligence, nor on its composition.
Some measures of intelligence have been devised, and are customarily used, but they are not universally accepted. However, with all the defects that these measures may have (particularly a bias toward a given place and time of application), they are the best research tool available at this time. Intelligence measurements are unavoidably relative, i.e., we cannot give an absolute measure of intelligence as we can give of mass or speed. All we can do is to state that a person is more or less intelligent with respect to a certain comparison group and a certain definition of intelligence.
Originally, intelligence was conceived of as an innate capability that differentiated men from animals, and a genius from an average person. However, it is now realized that, although limited by genetic factors, intelligence is fostered or hindered by environmental factors. It also has been shown that it is not a single faculty of the mind, but a collection of mental skills the efficiency of which may vary within the same person. Thus we can talk of the verbal, spatial, memorizing, and reasoning skills of an individual, and compare them separately with those of another individual.
Intelligence develops over the life of the person; the development of children's mental skills was studied by Jean Piaget, who exposed the power and limitations of the thinking process of children at various ages.
The earliest tests of intelligence were the test of Binet and Simon (France, 1908), and its American adaptation made by Terman (Stanford, 1916). Binet devised his test to predict the performance of French schoolboys, but clearly stated that its results were not a measure of intelligence. Terman, on the other hand, was intent on measuring intelligence, and he adapted Binet's test to take into account the peculiarities of the American school system and the Californian schoolboys.
The Stanford-Binet test is administered orally and individually to children. Of similar characteristics are the Wechsler scales, that have variations which are intended for adults and for children. A different type of test is group tests, which consist in printed questions that are given to a group of people simultaneously. Group tests were first used by the U.S. Army in 1917.
The intelligence of a person evolves over long periods of time. Test results are not reliable until about age 5, and from about age 12 they give a reasonable indication of the adult's intelligence. Nonetheless, intelligence test scores should not be used as predictors of school achievement, which depends as much on intelligence as it does on interest, home support, and instruction's quality. Life success is even more dependable on matters such as personality, opportunity, and special skills.
Intelligence tests have been severely criticized as not reflecting an inborn capability, but factors such as the individual's upbringing, social background, or education. On these grounds, tests can be viewed as discriminatory against lower-social-class or minority-group children. Research has shown that this may be the case, as test design relies on assumptions that may not be universally applicable. Nevertheless, an innate ability is evidently detected by intelligence tests.
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