You’ve probably wondered (although maybe not out loud) why it is you’re so smart. What makes us intelligent and how do we measure it? And most importantly, what exactly are we measuring?
Research on the nature of intelligence took off in the late 19th century thanks to Charles Darwin’s half cousin, Sir Francis Galton. In his book, Hereditary Genius, Galton traced the number of successful individuals across generations in a variety of family trees, and concluded that genius must run in families. Incidentally, he included his own family tree in the analysis and labelled himself in the genius category.
Later research by Charles Spearman in 1904 concluded that performance on one cognitive task is correlated with performance on a variety of other cognitive tasks. In other words, if you’re good at one thing, you’ll tend to be good at everything. This idea has been the inspiration for decades of intelligence research still used today.
However, the most popular way to measure intelligence is the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, otherwise known as the IQ test. First created in 1916, this test is updated regularly and is intended to measure intellectual potential rather than current knowledge. It doesn’t measure how much you know, but rather how well you can think on your feet when you’re given novel problems to solve.
Research shows that IQ scores are moderately correlated with school grades, and more strongly correlated with the number of years of school completed. That said, this relationship is most probably bidirectional. High IQ can lead to academic success, but schooling also positively affects IQ.
While IQ tests were originally created to predict school performance, the public conception has misrepresented these tests as measures of general mental ability. In particular, critics have claimed that the tests don’t tap into social competence, practical problem solving, creativity, or artistic talent.
In one study by Robert Sternberg, participants were asked to list examples of intelligent behaviour. The analysis showed that popular conceptions of intelligence fell into three general categories: verbal intelligence, practical intelligence, and social intelligence. Sternberg noted that despite the public notion of intelligence encompassing a number of different skills, IQ tests only assess verbal intelligence. Sternberg has gone on to develop a triarchic theory of human intelligence which includes contextual, experiential, and componential subtheories.
The contextual element of the theory claims that intelligence is a culturally defined concept. In other words, what is considered intelligent behaviour depends on the context in which you are behaving. The experiential subtheory aims to clarify the relationship between experience and intelligence. There are two components to this relationship: how well can you deal with novel situations, and how well do you perform on familiar tasks? Finally, the componential subtheory claims that intelligence is made up of three components: meta-knowledge, performance, and knowledge-acquisition.
Another issue that arises from studies of intelligence is the question of what makes a child gifted. In general, government and school board policies select children for gifted programs based solely on their IQ scores. In so doing, they ignore important considerations like creativity and leadership.
One impressive study on giftedness in children started in 1921 and was led by psychologist Lewis Terman. The study followed 1,500 children with IQ scores averaging 150, and is ongoing today—making it the longest running study in psychology to date. Terman found that his group of gifted children tended to be above average in height, weight, strength, emotional adjustment, and mental health. These children also grew up to be very successful: by their middle age, they had produced 92 books, 235 patents, and 2,200 scientific articles. Other studies have found that high-IQ children tend to be above average in social and emotional development.
However, additional research has shown that high-IQ children do not all become successful in later life, and many successful adults were not gifted as children.
Following the lead of cognitive research, many scientists have proposed that to measure general intelligence in children and adults, we must use a wide variety of tasks. In other words, there are different kinds of skills included under the overall intelligence umbrella.
A great deal of research has focused on emotional intelligence, which is the ability to perceive and express emotion, incorporate emotion in thought, reason with emotion, and regulate emotions.
Harvard professor Howard Gardner is famous for his theory of multiple intelligences, which include linguistic, spatial, logic-mathematical, bodily kinesthetic, musical, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence. Gardner claims that each domain of intelligence has a unique biological basis and course of development. What’s more, individuals vary in their levels of different intelligences, but a lengthy education is needed to transform potential into mature ability.
This research is good news to those of us who are wondering what our tuition is really going to. As it turns out, more school really can make us smarter.
