Intelligence Quotient

Introduction

Intelligence may be narrowly defined as the capacity to acquire knowledge and understanding, and use it in different novel situations. It is this ability, or capacity, which enables the individual to deal with real situationsandprofitintellectuallyfromsensoryexperience. A test of intelligence is designed to formally study, under test conditions, the success of an individual in adapting to a specific situation. There are a number of different methods which purport to measure intelligence, the most famous of which is the IQ, or intelligence quotient test. In the formation of such tests many psychologists treat intelligence as a general ability operating as a common factor in a wide varietyofaptitudes. Whilst many IQ tests measure a variety of different types of ability such as verbal, mathematical, spatial and reasoning skills, there is now a second school of thought in which it is believed that the earlier definitionsof intelligencemaybetoosimplistic. It is now becoming increasingly recognised that there are many different types of intelligence and that a high measured IQ, although desirable, is not the only key to success in life. Other characteristics, such as outstanding artistic, creative or practical prowess, especially if combined with personal characteristics such as ambition, good temperament and compassion, could result in an outstanding level of success despite a low measured IQ. It is because of this that in recent years CQ (creative quotient) and EQ (emotional quotient), to name just two examples, have come to be regarded as equally important as, orevenmoreimportantthan, IQmeasurement.

Aspectsofintelligence 

Although it is difficult to define intelligence, indeed it appears to have no formal definition, there is, nevertheless, at least one particularly apposite definition:the capacity to learn and understand. Scores from standardised intelligence tests (IQ scores) are often used to define one’s intelligence level. It is, however, becoming increasingly accepted that they do not reveal the complete picture and only provide a snapshot of a person’s ability in the area under examination, so that, for example, someone who has scored highly on a verbal test can only be said to have a high verbal IQ and someone who has scored highly on a mathematical test can only be said to have a high numerical IQ. Obviously, therefore, the more different types of disciplines that are tested and examined, the more accurately the intelligence level of the individual can be assessed. 

Intelligence quotient (IQ) is an age-related measure of intelligence leveland is described as 100 timesthe mental age. The word ‘quotient’ means the result of dividing one quantity by another, and a definition ofintelligenceismentalabilityorquicknessofmind. Such tests are based on the belief that every person possesses a single general ability of mind. It is this which determines how efficiently each of us deals with situations as they arise, and how we profit intellectually fromourexperiences.Thisabilityofmindvariesinamountfromperson toperson,andiswhatintelligence(IQtests)attempttomeasure. Generally such tests consist of a graded series of tasks, each of which has been standardised with a large representative population of individuals.SuchaprocedureestablishestheaverageIQ as100. IQ tests are part of what is generally referred to as ‘psychometric testing’. Such test content may be addressed to almost any aspect of our intellectual or emotional make-up, including personality, attitude andintelligence. Psychometric tests are basically tools used for measuring the mind; the word ‘metric’ means measure and the word ‘psycho’ means mind. There are two types of psychometric test, which are usually used in tandem.Theseare aptitudetests,whichassessyourabilities,and personality questionnaires, whichassessyourcharacterandpersonality. In contrast to specific proficiencies, intelligence tests are standard examinations devised to measure human intelligence as distinct from attainments. There are several different types of intelligence test, for example, Cattell, Stanford^Binet and Wechsler, each having its own different scaleofintelligence. The Stanford^Binet is heavily weighted with questions involving verbal abilities and is widely used in the United States of America, and the Weschler scales consist of two separate verbal and performance sub-scales, eachwithitsownIQrating.

Creativity

The term ‘creativity’ refers to mental processes that lead to solutions, ideas, concepts, artistic forms, theories or products that are unique or novel.Ithassometimesbeenreferredtoas‘theeighthintelligence’. In this chapter there will be an opportunity not only to explore your creative talents and potential in general, but also the specific creative thoughtprocessesofimagination,lateral thinkingandproblemsolving. As a result of work carried out in the 1960s by the American neurologist Roger Wolcott Sperry (1913^1994), it became apparent that the creative functions of human beings are controlled by the righthandhemisphereofthehumanbrain.Thisisthesideofthebrainwhich is under-used by the majority of people, as opposed to the thought processes of the left-hand hemisphere, which is characterised by order, sequence and logic; and is responsible for such functions as numerical andverbalskills. Sperry shared the 1981 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his split-brain research, which serves as the basis for our current understanding of cerebral specialisation in the human brain. From the 1960s his work with human patients proved to be of major significance inthe developmentofneurobiologyand psychobiology. He published

his ground-breaking discovery of two separately functioning hemispheresofthebrainin1968. Thanks to people such as Sperry, in the second half of the twentieth century we have become much more aware of the importance of the human brain, its functioning and its relationship to our body; in fact we have learned more about the brain in the past decade or so than in all of the previous centuries, and one area in which we have obtained a much greater understanding concerns the specialisation of the cerebral hemispheres. Throughout history it has been accepted that human beings are all different in their own way; in other words, each one of us is an individual with his=her own physical make-up, fingerprints, DNA, facial features, character and personality. These characteristics have always been analysed and categorised, but it was not until the midtwentieth century that it was realised that each one of us has two sidestohis=herbrain, eachofwhichhavequitedifferentfunctionsand characteristics. In the 1960s, Roger Sperry, Michael Gazzanniga and Joseph Bogan began a series of ground-breaking experiments that seemed to indicate certain types of thinking were related to certain parts of the brain. Research, begun in the 1950s, had found that the cerebral cortex has two halves, called hemispheres, which are almost identical. These two brain hemispheres are connected by a bridge, or interface, of millions of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum, which allows them to communicate with each other. The left side of the brain connects to the right side of the body, while the right side of the brain connects totheleftside. In order to work to its full potential, each of these hemispheres must be capable of analysing its own input first, only exchanging information with the other half, by means of the interface, when a considerableamount of processinghastakenplace. Because both hemispheres are capable of working independently, human beings are able to process two streams of information at once. The brain then compares and integrates the information to obtain

a broader and more in-depth understanding of the concept under examination. In the early 1960 s, Sperry and his team showed by a series of experiments, first using animals whose corpus callosum had been severed, and then on human patients whose corpus callosum had been severed in an attempt to cure epilepsy, that each of the two hemispheres has developed specialised functions and has its own private sensations, perceptions, ideas and thoughts, all separate from the opposite hemisphere. As their experiments continued, Sperry and his team were able to reveal much more about how the two hemispheres were specialised to perform different tasks. The left side of the brain is analytical and functions in a sequential and logical fashion and is the side which controls language, academic studies and rationality. The right side is creative and intuitive and leads, for example, to the birth of ideas for work so fart and music.