We explain what intelligence is, its types, how it develops and other characteristics. Also, its relationship with creativity.
What is intelligence?
Intelligence can be understood as the ability to both understand or understand and solve problems. The word “intelligence” comes from Latin intelligencecoming from the verb intellegere (composed of the voices inter“between”, and read“read”), and from its beginnings it was associated with “knowing how to choose”, in the sense of understanding, that is, being able to determine the contexts and rescue the meanings.
Intellectus It was a term used during the Middle Ages to refer to understanding, at a time when few people read, and it was used as a translation of the Greek word nous (spirit, the highest part of the soul). This is also how it was born intelligenceterm to name the social class made up of intellectuals and cultural personalities of a country.
In modern times, however, it has been more or less accepted that there is no single concept of intelligence. Many psychological specialists have tried to formulate it, however, and finally the idea that There is not only one intelligence, but there are numerous forms of it.
Thus, Howard Gardner's “Theory of Multiple Intelligences” emerged in 1983, according to which there would be at least eight different models of intelligence, each one adapted to a specific area of life.
Even so, the popular use of the term intelligence generally summarizes mental abilities such as: processing speed, verbal comprehension, logical-mathematical agility, grasp of deductive thinking or working memory capacity.
Characteristics of intelligence
Just as it is difficult to universally define intelligence, it is difficult to find its universal characteristics. In principle, it is expected to fulfill the following functions:
- Anticipate. Based on what has been learned and the variables of the environment, intelligence seeks to anticipate what could happen and take the appropriate measures to protect, ensure or give us the advantage in a situation.
- Build. Intelligence builds the thought structures that memory will store, in a way that allows us to return to them (experiences) to react to future situations.
- Communicate. Intelligence is also in charge of the communicative area, forming our own symbols and languages, which allow us to represent the real world in its absence.
- Decipher. An intelligent person should have an easier time deductively understanding systems designed by third parties, which in principle would allow solving puzzles, deciphering codes, finding answers and solving problems.
- Establish relationships. Causality, consequence, the various types of relationships that we can establish between one reality and another, are the field of action of intelligence.
Intelligence development
The development of human intelligence is studied by pedagogy, based on various determining factors of its progressive growth, such as:
- Genetic factors. Hereditary propensities and innate facilities towards some type of intelligence.
- Environmental factors. Vital elements in the growth of the individual, especially in its early stages, such as nutrition, the appropriate family environment, access to formal education, and motivation towards learning.
It is generally accepted that, as a salient characteristic, intelligence begins to manifest at an early agealthough there is no safe margin to “diagnose” it, nor universal factors to measure it.
Many absolute geniuses in their respective professional areas, throughout history, were despised in their youth by the school system, given that they did not fit the ideal of intelligence of the time, and many were considered under-gifted as children.
Types of intelligence
Just as there is no single definition of intelligence, there are numerous forms of intelligence that allow it to be studied separately, according to the specific field of perceptions, reasoning or insights they involve:
- Linguistic-verbal. They are intelligence models that are based on the formulation of thought through verbal language, whether written or oral, as well as its transmission and recovery through reading.
- Numeric. That which has to do with formal logical processes and that finds its maximum expression in mathematics and numbers.
- Space. It aims at the deep perception of the environment, of the forms that underlie what is seen and the relationships between them.
- Physical or motor. It is a model of intelligence concerned with the actions of the body, that is, its movements, its skills, its capabilities. It is not usually considered a form of intelligence, because it is often mistakenly associated with mental or intellectual processes only.
- Emotional. Emotional intelligence has to do with the effective and efficient management of one's own emotionality, initially proposed by Daniel Coleman in his book emotional intelligence.
- Social. That intelligence that applies to the field of interpersonal relationships and that uses charisma, leadership, even manipulation and other talents of a social nature.
Intelligence and creativity
In our imagination, Intelligence is usually linked to the ability to createalthough in principle they are two different things. People with high margins of intelligence tend to be creative people, in the sense of being restless, alert and often with peculiar, particular interests, outside the norm.
However, not all creators are necessarily smartsince creative activity is, deep down, a mysterious talent of the human mind. In any case, it is common for a writing genius to have a high level of linguistic ability and verbal intelligence, for example; while a scientific genius surely possesses outstanding mathematical and logical capacity; etc
intelligence test
Intelligence tests in general give an average impression of the different mental capacities of an individual. They usually average them into a figure or percentage that expresses, in some way, whether the individual's talents are above or below average (such as IQ or IQ).
In any case, They should not be taken as reliable or overly relevant information. (much less those that can be done informally).
Some examples of intelligence tests are:
- International IQ Test
- Online IQ Test
- Psychoactive Intelligence Test
Continue with: Creative thinking
References
- “Intelligence” on Wikipedia.
- “Theory of multiple intelligences” on Wikipedia.
- “Intelligence” in the Language Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “What intelligence is, how important it is and why you shouldn't tell anyone that they are intelligent” on BBC News Mundo.
- “The concept of intelligence, what it is and how it has evolved” in Psicoactiva.
- “Types of intelligence” in The Encyclopaedia Britannica.
