Theories of Intelligence

Intelligence testing article analysis
Human intelligence is the mental value composed of the abilities to learn from experiences throughout one’s life and adapts to new circumstances, comprehends, and accepts intellectual theories, and utilizes that knowledge to manipulate one’s own environment. Societal expectations have emotional influence on a person’s perception of human intelligence. For example, when someone can think quickly, it is connected to fluid intelligence, which is similar to critical thinking, a person has the capacity to form concepts, think abstractly, and utilize knowledge to new circumstances.

This paper is will discuss two different theories of intelligence from two different psychologists so that there can be an understanding of the different views in society. Gardner’s theory of intelligence

The first Theory comes from Howard Gardner. His theory of multiple intelligences is quite popular and is widely utilized. Gardner, who was inspired by the writings of Jean Piaget has suggested a theory of multiple intelligences. He initially recognized seven elements of intelligence (Gardner, 1983).

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He discusses that these intelligences are somewhat distinct from each other and that each person has a certain level of each of these seven intelligences. When a student enters University of Phoenix, there is a class that is required and in this class, they issue an assignment that the individual takes to discover what type of learner they are. Out of the different types of styles there were Kinesthetic, which is more hands on; Interpersonal, which is the ability to sense others feelings and show empathy such as a psychologist; Intrapersonal, which is usually someone who is self-assured and self-aware of themselves; Linguistic, which is someone who can communicate clearly through verbal or written emotions;

Logical-mathematical, which is someone who has the capacity to handle complicated logical arguments, this person would work well under most pressures; Musical, which is someone who utilizes his or her creativity and could learn, perform, and compose musically; Naturalists are people who have the capacity to comprehend different species, identify patterns in nature, and categorize natural objects like a biologist would and last Spatial, which is the capacity to know where one’s self is relative to fixed locations such as navigators, the ability to accomplish tasks requiring three-dimensional visualization and placement of your hands or other parts of your body.

Recently, Gardner has added an eighth intelligence to his list (Educational Leadership, 1997). Sternberg’s theory of Intelligence

According to the Oregon technology in education council (2010), Sternberg (1988, 1997) focuses on just three main components: Practical intelligence, which is the capacity to thrive in informal and formal educational settings; adjusting to and influencing one's surroundings; street smarts. Experiential intelligence, which is the capacity to cope with unusual situations so they are easily handled in the future; critical thinking. Componential intelligence, which is the capacity to process information successfully. This includes metacognitive, executive, performance, and knowledge-acquisition elements that help to direct cognitive processes. (The Oregon Technology in Education Council, 2010)

Intelligence testing
According to Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A. (2010) Intelligence is inseparable from cognition, diversified processes by which the individual acquires and applies knowledge. (Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A., 2010). It usually includes processes such as recognition, categorization, thinking, and memory. Altogether, cognitive development is neither totally culturally relative nor completely uniform everywhere. (Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A., 2010) Today numerous assessments show variances in intelligence scores between large cultural groups. For example, in the United States, Asian Americans tend to score the highest, followed by European Americans, Hispanics, and last African Americans.

Therefore, typically, African American schoolchildren score 10–15 percent lower on a standardized intelligence test than white schoolchildren. (Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A., 2010). The assessment of intelligence and cognition is in a fluid rather than crystalized state (Daniel, 1997). The recent appearance of numerous batteries, new and revised, has not seemed to interfere with the psychologists’ dependence on more outdated instruments. The more popular tests are the multilevel batteries, which covers more of a wider range of age groups and cultural groups.

References
Oregon Technology in Education Council. (2010). Retrieved from http://otec.uoregon.edu/index.htm
Shiraev, E. B. & Levy, D. A. (2010). Cross-cultural psychology: Critical thinking and  contemporary applications (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson/Allyn Bacon. Sparrow, Sara S., Davis, Stephanie M. (2000). Recent advances in the assessment of intelligence  and cognition, 41(1), 117-131. Retrieved from
http://www.psy.vanderbilt.edu/courses/hon182/overview_of_intelligence_testing.pdf