Intelligence is simple. Someone who is smart is someone who has great intelligences. Smart parents have smart kids. The perceived notion is that intelligent people are more successful in life. People that have high IQ's are people that are associated with being smart. These statements are somewhat accurate about intelligences but most people do not have a clear picture of how intelligence is measured. The average person to measure intelligences generally looks at good grades, high SAT scores and a high IQ score but there is more. Ask the average person what IQ stands for and you will probably getting some funny answers. So within our society how does a person really know if good grades and high IQ means you are intelligent? To most it just seems right because that's all people know, so it is accepted. There are limitations of the IQ test which I will discuss and discuss how intelligence is measured.
Intelligences is how a person can process information and put it to good use. For example, Fox has a television show called "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader." The show has adult contestants answering grade school questions with the aid of a few fifth graders as needed. At first glance, one would think that this is almost too easy and most people would be able to win the million dollar grand prize by answering a few elementary school questions, but in the few months the show has been aired not one person has won the grand prize. The contestants have ranged from Ivy League graduates, high school teachers, scientist, and other college graduates with successful careers. The few fifth graders on the show seem to always know all the answers so in lie the big question. Are the fifth graders smarter than the contestants? Not necessarily. The fifth graders are smarter when it comes to elementary school questions because that is what they have been learning. This example shows that intelligences measurements are subjective. The contestants might have won the grand prize if they were given time to study elementary school questions before going on the show.
The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Raven's Progressive Matrices, and Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children are other types of test used for intelligences in place of an IQ test. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test is an intelligence test designed primarily to measure a subject's receptive vocabulary for Standard American English. Raven's Progressive Matrices is another type of test that is designed to measure a person's ability to form perceptual relations. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children was developed to evaluate preschoolers, minority groups, and children with learning disabilities. It is used to provide educational planning and placement, neurological assessment, and research.
Achievement test are another way to measure intelligence. These types of test measure how well a student does in their specific subject by grade level? The SAT and ACT two other types of achievement tests that measure how well a student will do in their first year of college. These are examples of educational intelligence testing.
Intelligence Quotient better known, as IQ is the most popular way intelligence is measured. In 1905, Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the first IQ test to identify children who might have difficulty in school. IQ testing is a method used by psychologists to measure what is generally considered intelligence. The most common intelligence test given to children is the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, also called the WISC-III. The test consists of two scales, verbal and performance. The verbal scale measures language expression, comprehension, listening, and the ability to apply these skills to solving problems. The examiner gives the questions orally, and the child gives a spoken response. The performance scale assesses nonverbal problem solving, perceptual organization, speed, and visual-motor proficiency. Included are tasks like puzzles, analysis of pictures, imitating designs with blocks, and copying. Children under three cannot accurately be measured since they are still acquiring verbal skills. IQ's are scored with the "quotient" referring to Binet's definition of IQ as (Mental Age) divided by (Chronological Age) or M.A./C.A. IQ test can sense a person's book smart but there is more to being smart. IQ test do not measure a person's artistic or musical skill. Helen Bee writes, "Traditional IQ tests do not measure a whole host of skills that are highly significant for getting along in the world. IQ tests were originally designed to measure only the specific range of skills that are needed for success in school. They do this reasonable well. But these tests do not tell us how well a particular person may perform other cognitive tasks requiring skills such as creativity, insight, 'street smarts," or ability to read social cues." (Bee 105)
There are those who say eating smart will make you smart. Dr. Alan Logan focuses on the five foods for the brain. "These foods will include complex carbohydrates, fish and seafood, blueberries, curry, and green tea. These foods mentioned were proven to boost people's brainpower as revealed in various studies. Moreover, for a healthy brain, menus should include whole-grain cereal with blueberries for breakfast, steamed vegetables, sushi, and green tea for lunch, and a curry for dinner." (Logan 2007)
Intelligence has an affect on the brain. Classes of words, pictures and other such categories of information, which involve complex cognitive processing on a repeated basis activate the brain. Activation sets into motion our long-term memory, and our memory processes treat both true and false memory events the same regardless of the validity of what is being remembered. More tests will be developed over time to get a real understanding about intelligence. The brain creates and imposes structure on the information available from our experiences. Just as there is an ongoing debate about whether the brain is equal to our behavior there is the question of our intelligence equal to our learning experiences. How much of our intelligence is genetically given to how much is learned and us? This brings me to the topic of street smart. Part of being street smart is based on living lessons throughout our life. If that is true then how come kids at such a young age can have the survival instincts? Someone with street smarts is intelligent, has good common sense, and knows how to handle unfortunate situations. They let their instinctal forces drive their behavior and mannerisms and are comfortable navigating through undesirable sistuations. Remember, Two of the most succesful men in the world Steve Jobs nor Michael Dell had a college degree, yet both were beyond prosperous. In the aspect of using what is learned in the working world, you will need a combination of Street smart and book smart to succeed, however street smarts have proven to be of greater significance. The street smart person can think contextually by using logic they have experienced in real life senarios. I have tried to learn the basic concepts of the human anatomy, however I can honestly say the only way I unstood the body parts was to use my own personal references to comprehend them. Back to the question about Testing and intelligence, were those succesfull ones without a college degree all over the world just lucky or does many other variables play a part in intelligence ? This debate will go on forever.
