What is Intelligence - Assignment Example

What is Intelligence?" According to Sternberg, "human intelligence is the mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts and use knowledge to manipulate ones environment.." (Human Intelligence).No two individuals on the planet are exactly the same, even the identical twins differ in their abilities to perceive things, understand the situation and adapt efficiently. Depending upon the individual psychology, intellectual performance vary on various situations.

Environment, upbringing, socialization, interaction, communication, access to the resources aids in the developmental and the social psychology. Every individual is born with a certain level of intelligence. Although one cannot deny that parental intelligence is transmitted to the child but environment does influence to a greater extent in nurturing the abilities of the individual. These abilities are further enhanced by the opportunities provided to the individual to enhance their skills in an appropriate direction.

Over the centuries various psychoanalysis have been performed, theories have been formulated; encompassing cognitive, evolutionary, behavioral theory to understand the psychology of the human brain. The biological, chemical and the genetic factors responsible for influencing psychological traits have been studied to highlight the significance of biology and family atmosphere in building the behavioral and psychological traits. Traits such as determinism, positivism, materialism, reductionism, empiricism aids in the developing psychology and enhances the intellectual abilities of the individual.

Thus, every individual is born with certain level of intelligence while the environment sharpens the skills and abilities of the individual with which he/ she is born (The History and Bases of Psychology). We can measure the intelligence by means of various psychometric approaches encompassing intelligence test, where IQ or the intelligent quotient of the individual is calculated. The value ranges between 70 and 130. It divides the mental age by a chronological age (Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns ).

To understand the multiple forms of intelligence, theories have been proposed encompassing Gardners Theory and Stenbergs theory. School performance is normally considered as an important parameter to mark the level of intelligence where the learning ability of the individual is considered and its wise application to gain social status and income is counted as the significance or a symbol of intelligence (Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns). ReferencesHuman Intelligence. Available at http://www.

britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289766/human-intelligence. [Accessed on 1st February 2012].Intelligence: Knowns and Unknowns. Available at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/iku.html. [Accessed on 1st February 2012].The History and Bases of Psychology. Available athttp://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/class/Psy301/Salinas/01History.htm. [Accessed on 1st February 2012].