The concept of human intelligence remains, even today, the subject of controversy within science. Theorists and researchers do not fully agree on what it is and how it can be measured.
However, there is a certain consensus that intelligence is related to the ability to search for and use to our advantage the information we need to be able to solve the problems we face.
Let’s now look at five things you probably didn’t know about human intelligence.
1: Tests do not measure intelligence in absolute terms
Along the history, Many tests have been developed to measure the cognitive abilities inherent to intelligence. Two of these instruments are the Weschler Intelligence Test and the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Both have the particularity that they have extensive scientific literature that supports them and they also have a good correlation with each other. The latter means that whether we take one test or the other, both will show very similar results.
On the contrary, those tests that are often offered by current magazines or that circulate on Facebook or some websites to check how intelligent we are, have not been scientifically studied, and therefore have no value.
However, No test serves to measure our intelligence in absolute terms , but in relative terms. This means that what the result shows is how intelligent we are in relation to the rest of the population of our same age group; That is, it compares us with others and positions us within a hierarchical scale.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the English psychologist Charles Spearman proposed through an exhaustive factor analysis that people’s intellectual capacity is subject to what he called the G factor of intelligence.
According to his hypothesis, The G factor would represent a basic and specific component for general intelligence dependent on brain integrity and susceptible to being measured through tests.
More recent research has also found a correlation between Spearman’s G factor and the working memory index.
Working memory can be defined as the set of mental processes that allow us to temporarily manipulate the information we need for the correct performance of cognitive tasks such as reading, mathematical skills and even language comprehension. A classic example is when we go to the supermarket and decide to keep an approximate mental calculation of what we are spending as we add products to the shopping cart.
That is, the greater the number of items or information that a person can keep circulating in their working memory, the greater your intellectual capacity. This makes sense, since in order to effectively solve any problem, we will need to be able to contemplate and mentally manipulate the greatest number of variables that intervene in it.
3. There are scientists who propose that intelligence is not a one-dimensional concept
I am aware that this statement contradicts the previous point, but the truth is that the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposed by psychologist Howard Gardner basically maintains that someone who is intelligent in one sense may be a complete fool in another.
This researcher defends the idea that there is no specific thing called “intelligence”, and that on the contrary, the intelligence of people can manifest itself in many different ways.
Based on the definition we gave at the beginning, someone who makes a living expertly playing the piano or playing basketball cannot precisely be said to be not intelligent because he or she lacks mathematical abilities or is not very good at solving logical problems. .
“If someone like Lionel Messi earns millions thanks to his skill with the ball, the last thing we could say about him is that he is stupid,” Gardner could tell us without flinching.
This concept has gained a lot of popularity among people because it essentially proposes that everyone is potentially intelligent at something. However, there are scientists who criticize it, arguing that certain personal qualities cannot be considered synonymous with intelligence, but rather “areas” of good performance.
Some researchers have even come to the conclusion that at the base of the different disciplines that make up “multiple intelligences” is the G factor that we talked about previously, as a kind of foundation or hard core on which multiple intelligences are built. according to individual differences. That is, the G factor would in this case be the common denominator of the different types of intelligence that Gardner proposes.
4: Intelligence tends to be stable over time
We all know that when we practice a particular skill a lot, like playing chess or solving crossword puzzles, we will eventually we end up becoming experts in that particular skill. It is true that practice makes perfect, but we should not confuse being very good in a particular discipline with general intelligence.
Of course, the quantity and quality of information that we acquire throughout life will be what ultimately shapes our knowledge base. But regardless of how much we study, how many languages we learn, how many sports we practice, the G factor of intelligence tends to remain more or less unchanged whether we are 20 or 60 years old.
In other words, specific learning is restricted to its particular area of action. They are not extrapolated or generalized.
It is precisely this characteristic that makes some intelligence assessment instruments reliable, such as those we mentioned at the beginning.
5: There is no gene for intelligence
To the date No gene has been detected that is entirely responsible for human intelligence as we know it. And this makes sense, since intellectual capacity seems to be the result of many different processes that interact with each other, which in turn require the involvement of many genes.
Just as when we listen to a symphony we cannot affirm that the quality of the music that reaches our ears is the result of a particular instrument, it makes no sense to think that intelligence is the result of a single factor.
Nor can we separate intelligence from the culture in which we are immersed. We do not live isolated in a bell jar, but in a complex world configured by infinite variables. From birth, or even before, we are exposed to an environment that interacts and permanently shapes our genetic predisposition.
