N.Wells
Posts: 1836 Joined: Oct. 2005
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Quote (GaryGaulin @ Aug. 31 2016,21:19) | Quote (N.Wells @ Aug. 31 2016,20:52) | Unlike you, psychologists do have an operational definition of intelligence, |
After searching for this operational definition on the internet I found it be an obscure and possibly obsolete opinion.
This is how Psychology Today answers the question "What Is Intelligence?": Quote | Reading a road map upside-down and generating synonyms for the word "brilliant" are two very different skills. But each is a measurable indicator of general intelligence, a construct that includes problem solving abilities, spatial manipulation and language acquisition. Scientists generally agree that intelligence can be captured by psychometric tests. But the study of intelligence is dogged by questions of just how much IQ contributes to an individual's success and well-being, how genes and environment interact to generate smarts and why the average IQ score rose throughout the world during the twentieth century. |
www.psychologytoday.com/basics/intelligence |
Yes, IQ scores (and particularly Spearman's general fator g) provide a reproducible, verifiable, operational definition of intelligence, and yes, since being devised in 1916 and despite huge amounts of work by many very smart people, IQ scores have remained problematic for the reasons mentioned - the factors that create it are insufficiently understood, how it correlates with success in life is at minimum complicated, and why IQ scores have risen worldwide over the last couple of generations is also unclear. IQ scores are derived from some extremely sophisticated statistics (factor analysis), test out as having high statistical validity, and they do correlate with such things as mortality, morbidity, parental IQ, and parental social status, exposure to toxins and problems during gestation, school grades, job performance, choice of profession, and so forth.
As I said earlier, "Unlike you, psychologists do have an operational definition of intelligence, so notwithstanding all of the difficulties in getting a solid handle on intelligence, it is at least possible for different people to have a discussion while being confident that they are all talking about the same thing."
Wikipedia has a pretty good treatment ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.......uotient ), Quote | in Cattell - Horn - Carroll theory, a hierarchy of factors is used; g is at the top. Under it are ten broad abilities that in turn are subdivided into seventy narrow abilities. The broad abilities are:
Fluid intelligence (Gf) includes the broad ability to reason, form concepts, and solve problems using unfamiliar information or novel procedures. Crystallized intelligence (Gc) includes the breadth and depth of a person's acquired knowledge, the ability to communicate one's knowledge, and the ability to reason using previously learned experiences or procedures. Quantitative reasoning (Gq) is the ability to comprehend quantitative concepts and relationships and to manipulate numerical symbols. Reading and writing ability (Grw) includes basic reading and writing skills. Short-term memory (Gsm) is the ability to apprehend and hold information in immediate awareness, and then use it within a few seconds. Long-term storage and retrieval (Glr) is the ability to store information and fluently retrieve it later in the process of thinking. Visual processing (Gv) is the ability to perceive, analyze, synthesize, and think with visual patterns, including the ability to store and recall visual representations. Auditory processing (Ga) is the ability to analyze, synthesize, and discriminate auditory stimuli, including the ability to process and discriminate speech sounds that may be presented under distorted conditions. Processing speed (Gs) is the ability to perform automatic cognitive tasks, particularly when measured under pressure to maintain focused attention. Decision/reaction time/speed (Gt) reflects the immediacy with which an individual can react to stimuli or a task (typically measured in seconds or fractions of seconds; it is not to be confused with Gs, which typically is measured in intervals of 2–3 minutes).
Modern tests do not necessarily measure all of these broad abilities. For example, Gq and Grw may be seen as measures of school achievement and not IQ. Gt may be difficult to measure without special equipment. g was earlier often subdivided into only Gf and Gc, which were thought to correspond to the nonverbal or performance subtests and verbal subtests in earlier versions of the popular Wechsler IQ test. More recent research has shown the situation to be more complex. Modern comprehensive IQ tests do not stop at reporting a single IQ score. Although they still give an overall score, they now also give scores for many of these more restricted abilities, identifying particular strengths and weaknesses of an individual. |
Stephen J. Gould has a good and very readable, if now somewhat dated, discussion of some of the problems with IQ measurements and what they mean in "The Mismeasure of Man", and there are lots of more detailed references at the end of the Wikipedia article.
There is a huge, vast, complex literature here, with many discoveries and lots of controversies, all of which indicates that you rushed in to a complex topic with very little knowledge of the complications of the field. Your pronouncements on intelligence have been ludicrous.
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