Intelligence

Intelligence is defined as a mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations One way to test your intelligence is by taking an intelligence test which is a method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes, and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores

Sternberg’s Three Intelligences Analytical Intelligence: this deals with your intelligence to solve problems – more academic focused Creative Intelligence: reaction to situations and generating ideas Practical Intelligence: is required for everyday tasks – managerial skills, delegating tasks, preforming responsibilities

Creativity Creativity is defined as the ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

Five Components of Creativity Expertise: a well-developed base of knowledge, furnishes the ideas, images, and phrases we use as mental building blocks – the more blocks we have the more we can combine them to create more things Imaginative thinking skills: provide the ability to see things in novel ways, to reorganize patterns, and to make connections. A venturesome personality: seeks new experiences, tolerates ambiguity and risk and perseveres in overcoming obstacles. Intrinsic Motivation: is being driven by interest, satisfaction, and challenge rather than external pressures A creative environment: sparks, supports, and refines creative ideas

Emotional Intelligence Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.

Testing Intelligence Mental Age: a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Alfred Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8 Achievement tests: a test designed to assess what a person has learned Aptitude test: a test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn

Intelligence Disorders Mental retardation: a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty adapting to the demands of life; varies from mild to profound Down syndrome: a condition of retardation and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

Extreme Intelligence There are cases of children scoring perfect scores on the ACT and SAT at a young age Only 3-5% of children are gifted Gifted children may be gifted in one skill but not in others

Various Studies Studies show that adoption enhances the intelligence scores of mistreated or neglected children. Fraternal twins, who are genetically no more alike than other siblings, but are treated more alike because they are the same age – tend to score more alike than other siblings A person’s environment can effect their test scores

Gender Differences Females are typically better spellers, better in verbal fluency, better at remembering and locating objects, more sensitive to touch, taste and odor, and better emotion detectors. Females display an edge in math computation, but males score better in math problem solving. Males are better with problem solving due to interests like video games, and chess.