The Pros And Cons Of Intelligence

Intelligence is defined as the capacity for learning, reasoning, understanding, and similar forms of mental activity (Myers, David G). For being an easy concept to understand, it’s actually very difficult to thoroughly examine with confidence. Intelligence tests have been studied for decades. A few of the hurdles for these tests are reliability and effectiveness on producing a genuine result. It has been transformed into a scientific process. A key scientific process is asking questions to find out information. The questions I will represent are as followed: Is intelligence hereditary, is it testable, and are the results sufficient. According to many research papers, intelligence is “largely hereditary” (Hunt, Earl). This statement originated
from observing studies of what psychologists call, “intelligence gaps” throughout different ethnicities. In addition, “studies have found a larger intelligence quotient (IQ) in identical twins than fraternal twins” (Hunt). This has opened up many oppouritunites for behavioral psychologists (study biological psychology) to research in genetics. In one study adopted children are given intelligence tests and are later compared to their biological parent’s results. More times than not, the children share similar levels of intelligence (Hunt). It is now generally believed that intelligence is affected by hereditary (The Hutchinson Dictionary of Ideas). Examining if intelligence can be tested, we must look back in time a hundred and ten years ago. In 1905, the French psychologist known as Alfred Binet (1857-1911) devised the first intelligence test in 1905 (“intelligence test”). The IQ was originally a very broad formula; as a result, more tests were created afterwards. The original formula was a person’s mental age divided by their chronological age and then multiplied by one hundred (The Hutchinson). This formula was then applied to two million men in 1917 during World War I. Another test that was later used was called the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS). The test evaluated a person's vocabulary, short-term memory, arithmetical ability, world knowledge and several other specific skills (Hunt). This cognitive abilities test was similar to school and college abilities tests. Although many significant ways to test intelligence have been created, they must still be evaluated for finding ways to improve the overall quality and reliability of those tests. First there must be a way to compare many different tests results and still have productive data. This is how standardization was born. The process of standardization distributes scores and therefore, be examined. A New Zealand scientist named James Flynn observed a phenomenon that he titled “Flynn Effect” which states that IQ steadily rises around twenty points every new generation (Ceci). With the new found information, scientists can ask further questions on why that is. Most point to better nutrition, more schooling, better-educated parents and more complex environments due to technology (Ceci). Segueing back to the intelligence quotient, scientists had to ask the basic questions if we should trust this number that supposedly measures a person’s intelligence