How do we measure intelligence, and is it any good?

Nowadays I think about the brain and how it works a lot.

How we think and understand information.

How we plan for the future.

How we respond to risky situations.

How we process our emotions.

But what does it mean to have a good brain? To be smart? To be intelligent?

Thinking back to my time as an assistant psychologist, where I would administer many psychometric tests to clients, including the IQ test (Intelligence quotient) reminded me of this essay I wrote as a Psychology student.

"With reference to theories of intelligence critically debate the strengths and limitations of intelligence quotient"

Oof, pretty wordy! But also mighty interesting!

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is a standardised score obtained by completing one, or a combination of, tests which attempt to measure relative intelligence (Oommen, 2014). Some of the more common tests are the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Raven’s progressive matrices (Oommen, 2014), which are often used in combination when assessing IQ.

The notion of intelligence is multifaceted and there are many contradictory theories attempting to offer an explanation (Pal et al., 2004). Consequently there is no singular agreed upon definition of intelligence, and there is no way to explicitly measure a person’s intelligence (Sternberg et al., 2005)  

Therefore, exactly what is being measured with an IQ test and how closely this correlates with intelligence remains hotly debated.

In the following months I will critically analyse the strengths and limitations of applying the intelligence quotient. Firstly, I will analyse what exactly the standardized tests are measuring. Then the relative strengths will be explored, referencing different theories of intelligence followed by its limitations.

Join me next month to find out more!