02-03-2013, 10:11 AM
Measuring the Intelligence of a Human
[attachment=52368]
Abstract:
Testing and quantifying human intelligence is difficult at best. It is because, individuals
differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the
environment, to learn from experience, and to engage in various forms of reasoning, to
overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be
substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person’s intellectual performance will
vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. This paper shall
make an attempt to overview the criterion in measuring the human intelligence. Various
parameters that are taken into consideration in measuring the intelligence of a human are
presented in the paper.
Introduction
Intelligence can be defined as a general adaptability to new problems in life; ability to
engage in abstract thinking; adjustment to the environment; capacity for knowledge and
knowledge possessed; general capacity for independence, originality, and productiveness in
thinking; capacity to acquire capacity; apprehension of relevant relationships; ability to judge, to
understand, and to reason; and innate, general cognitive ability. Likewise, this ability is
expressed in many aspects of a person’s life. Intelligence draws on a variety of mental
processes, including memory, learning, perception, decision-making, thinking, and reasoning.
The subject of intelligence has been thought provoking to psychologists since the beginning of
psychology about a hundred years ago, and the way of measuring the intelligence quotient of a
person through the so-called IQ test has been a misguiding, but accepted, way of establishing
quality of life.
Testing and Quantifying Human Intelligence
There are certain kinds of tests which can be considered when we need to measure
the intelligence of a human being. Achievement tests, Aptitude Tests, Intelligent tests,
Objective Personality Tests, Test on Crisis Management abilities and Decision Making
capabilities can be considered in a broad view. Phrenology is the discredited theory that a
person’s character and intelligence can be measured by feeling the bumps and depressions on
the skull. To start with the purely anatomical view on intelligence, it is sure to say that the size
of the brain is a relevant factor, but it is not just a matter of the amount of neurons. The
complexity of the connections between these neurons and the size of the brain in relation to the
rest of the body must be taken in consideration as well. It is not correct to state that intelligence
shall solely depends on the size of the brain. From the comparative anatomy of brains in
various vertebrates, an elephant’s brain is larger in dimensions than a human being.But, an
elephant is not superior to human when its intelligence is the consideration.
Binet-Simon test
Alfred Binet, a prominent French psychologist, was the first to develop an intelligence
test that accurately predicted academic success. Binet and Simon assumed that all children
follow the same course of intellectual development but develop at different rates. In developing
their test, they noted which items were successfully completed by half of seven-year-olds,
which items by half of eight-year-olds, and so on. Through these observations they created the
concept of mental age.
The IQ Test
To compute IQ, we divide mental age by the actual, chronological age of the person
taking the test and then multiply by 100 to get rid of the decimal point. For example, if a 6-yearold
girl scored a mental age of 9, she would be assigned an IQ of 150 (9/6 × 100). If a 12-yearold
boy scored a mental age of 6, he would be given an IQ of 50 (6/12 × 100). The IQ score, as
originally computed, expressed a person’s mental age relative to his or her chronological age.
Although this formula works adequately for comparing children, it does not work well for adults
because intelligence levels off during adulthood. For example, a 40-year-old person who
scored the same as the average 20-year-old would have an IQ of only 50.
Modern Intelligence Tests
Each of these tests consists of a series of 10 or more subtests. Subtests are sections
of the main test in which all of the items are similar. Examples of subtests include vocabulary
(“Define happy”), similarities (“In what way are an apple and pear alike?”), digit span (repeating
digit strings of increasing length from memory), information (“Who was the first president of the
United States?”), object assembly (putting together puzzles), mazes (tracing a path through a
maze), and simple arithmetic problems.
Achievement and Aptitude Tests
Achievement tests and aptitude tests are very similar to intelligence tests.
An achievement
test is designed to assess what a person has already learned, whereas an aptitude test is
designed to predict future performance or assess potential for learning. Usually the items on
achievement tests and aptitude tests relate to a specific area of knowledge, such as
mathematics or vocabulary. Examples of achievement and aptitude tests that are widely used
include the SAT, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), the California Achievement Test, the Law
School Admissions Test (LSAT), and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
Conclusion:
By considering all the Intelligence Measurement Test and the factors that affect
intelligence, it is not an easy task to measure the intelligence of a human being accurately. It
might become still difficult in the future to accomplish the task of measuring human intelligence
because of the diversified topics people are learning day-by-day in today’s world. Their
intellectual and creative prowess is getting augmented every moment. In this scenario, a
computer can be used as a metaphor for the mind to understand human intelligence and
studying how ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE programs relate to human information processing.
These new approaches are extremely promising to their contributions and our expectations, but
the results we obtain from them in accomplishing the task of measuring human intelligence to
accuracy have yet to be determined.
[attachment=52368]
Abstract:
Testing and quantifying human intelligence is difficult at best. It is because, individuals
differ from one another in their ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the
environment, to learn from experience, and to engage in various forms of reasoning, to
overcome obstacles by taking thought. Although these individual differences can be
substantial, they are never entirely consistent: a given person’s intellectual performance will
vary on different occasions, in different domains, as judged by different criteria. This paper shall
make an attempt to overview the criterion in measuring the human intelligence. Various
parameters that are taken into consideration in measuring the intelligence of a human are
presented in the paper.
Introduction
Intelligence can be defined as a general adaptability to new problems in life; ability to
engage in abstract thinking; adjustment to the environment; capacity for knowledge and
knowledge possessed; general capacity for independence, originality, and productiveness in
thinking; capacity to acquire capacity; apprehension of relevant relationships; ability to judge, to
understand, and to reason; and innate, general cognitive ability. Likewise, this ability is
expressed in many aspects of a person’s life. Intelligence draws on a variety of mental
processes, including memory, learning, perception, decision-making, thinking, and reasoning.
The subject of intelligence has been thought provoking to psychologists since the beginning of
psychology about a hundred years ago, and the way of measuring the intelligence quotient of a
person through the so-called IQ test has been a misguiding, but accepted, way of establishing
quality of life.
Testing and Quantifying Human Intelligence
There are certain kinds of tests which can be considered when we need to measure
the intelligence of a human being. Achievement tests, Aptitude Tests, Intelligent tests,
Objective Personality Tests, Test on Crisis Management abilities and Decision Making
capabilities can be considered in a broad view. Phrenology is the discredited theory that a
person’s character and intelligence can be measured by feeling the bumps and depressions on
the skull. To start with the purely anatomical view on intelligence, it is sure to say that the size
of the brain is a relevant factor, but it is not just a matter of the amount of neurons. The
complexity of the connections between these neurons and the size of the brain in relation to the
rest of the body must be taken in consideration as well. It is not correct to state that intelligence
shall solely depends on the size of the brain. From the comparative anatomy of brains in
various vertebrates, an elephant’s brain is larger in dimensions than a human being.But, an
elephant is not superior to human when its intelligence is the consideration.
Binet-Simon test
Alfred Binet, a prominent French psychologist, was the first to develop an intelligence
test that accurately predicted academic success. Binet and Simon assumed that all children
follow the same course of intellectual development but develop at different rates. In developing
their test, they noted which items were successfully completed by half of seven-year-olds,
which items by half of eight-year-olds, and so on. Through these observations they created the
concept of mental age.
The IQ Test
To compute IQ, we divide mental age by the actual, chronological age of the person
taking the test and then multiply by 100 to get rid of the decimal point. For example, if a 6-yearold
girl scored a mental age of 9, she would be assigned an IQ of 150 (9/6 × 100). If a 12-yearold
boy scored a mental age of 6, he would be given an IQ of 50 (6/12 × 100). The IQ score, as
originally computed, expressed a person’s mental age relative to his or her chronological age.
Although this formula works adequately for comparing children, it does not work well for adults
because intelligence levels off during adulthood. For example, a 40-year-old person who
scored the same as the average 20-year-old would have an IQ of only 50.
Modern Intelligence Tests
Each of these tests consists of a series of 10 or more subtests. Subtests are sections
of the main test in which all of the items are similar. Examples of subtests include vocabulary
(“Define happy”), similarities (“In what way are an apple and pear alike?”), digit span (repeating
digit strings of increasing length from memory), information (“Who was the first president of the
United States?”), object assembly (putting together puzzles), mazes (tracing a path through a
maze), and simple arithmetic problems.
Achievement and Aptitude Tests
Achievement tests and aptitude tests are very similar to intelligence tests.
An achievement
test is designed to assess what a person has already learned, whereas an aptitude test is
designed to predict future performance or assess potential for learning. Usually the items on
achievement tests and aptitude tests relate to a specific area of knowledge, such as
mathematics or vocabulary. Examples of achievement and aptitude tests that are widely used
include the SAT, the Graduate Record Exam (GRE), the California Achievement Test, the Law
School Admissions Test (LSAT), and the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT).
Conclusion:
By considering all the Intelligence Measurement Test and the factors that affect
intelligence, it is not an easy task to measure the intelligence of a human being accurately. It
might become still difficult in the future to accomplish the task of measuring human intelligence
because of the diversified topics people are learning day-by-day in today’s world. Their
intellectual and creative prowess is getting augmented every moment. In this scenario, a
computer can be used as a metaphor for the mind to understand human intelligence and
studying how ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE programs relate to human information processing.
These new approaches are extremely promising to their contributions and our expectations, but
the results we obtain from them in accomplishing the task of measuring human intelligence to
accuracy have yet to be determined.