Child Development

Associated with a Persisting Cognitive Defect.’’ Journal of Neu-

rology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry 59 (1995):375–380.

Carol W. Runyan

Janet Abboud Dal Santo

Kristen L. Kucera

INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence is the ability to solve problems. It is also
commonly referred to as practical sense or the ability
to get along well in all sorts of situations. People can-
not see, hear, touch, smell, or taste intelligence. On
the other hand, the more they have, the better able
they are to respond to things around them. Anyone
interested in understanding intelligence will find
many theories, definitions, and opinions available.

During the late nineteenth century, scientists
were interested in the differences in human thinking
abilities. Out of these interests evolved the need to
distinguish between children who could learn in a
school environment and those who could not. At the
turn of the nineteenth century, Alfred Binet and The-
odore Simon developed a set of questions that helped
identify children who were having difficulty learning.
This set of questions was later used in the United
States by Lewis Terman of Stanford University and
eventually became the Stanford-Binet Intelligence
Test. The main purpose for looking at intelligence is
to be able to measure it; measuring thinking ability
helps psychologists predict future learning of chil-
dren and, if necessary, develop educational programs
that will enhance learning.

In addition to general thinking ability, other defi-
nitions of intelligence describe the specific ways a
child responds to problems. For example, Howard
Gardner is interested in how children use different
abilities to display intelligence. In particular, he says
that children have mathematical, musical, interper-
sonal, linguistic, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, intraper-
sonal, and naturalistic intelligences. He theorizes that
children have all these types of intelligence, but have
more ability in one than the others. Theorist Daniel
Goleman argues that general intelligence, measured
by the traditional test, is not as useful in predicting
success in life as the measurement of emotional intel-
ligence. He suggests that abilities such as initiative,
trustworthiness, self-confidence, and empathy are
more important to consider than general intelli-
gence. Therefore, until specific tests of these types of
intelligence are developed, determining how much a
child has of one type of intelligence is not possible.

Measuring Intelligence as a

Comprehensive Process

Although people cannot see intelligence, it can be

measured. Psychologists measure intelligence using

several methods such as the Stanford-Binet scale, the

Wechsler Intelligence scales, and the Kaufman Assess-

ment Battery for Children. These tests measure abili-

ties such as information processing, memory,

reasoning, and problem solving. Tasks that measure

these abilities include identifying the missing part in

a picture, repeating numbers, or defining vocabulary

words. These tests also measure a child’s ability to re-

spond in an acceptable way to different social situa-

tions. The important factor in all established

intelligence tests is that the child must be able to see,

hear, or speak in order to pass the test. A child who

is able to hear and answer questions will score the

best.

For children who cannot speak or hear, there are

tasks for measuring nonverbal intelligence within

each of the tests. Some of these include items such as

completing puzzles or reproducing a design using

blocks. However, instructions are given verbally, so a

child will need to hear and understand questions in

order to respond. There are other less frequently ad-

ministered tests of performance, such as the Test of

Non-verbal Intelligence where instructions are given

in pantomime. In cases where a child does not speak

English, translated intelligence tests that measure the

same abilities can be used. In cases where no transla-

tion exists, the use of a qualified translator is accept-

able.

The method of measuring intelligence of infants

and toddlers not old enough to speak is a little differ-

ent. For example, instead of identifying children who

cannot learn, psychologists measure whether the in-

fants or toddlers have developed a common ability by

a certain age. One test used with this age group is the

Bayley Scales of Infant Development. This test in-

cludes tasks such as rolling over, smiling, and imitat-

ing sounds. Specifically, psychologists want to know

how an infant is developing compared to other in-

fants of the same age.

After psychologists give intelligence tests they can

begin to determine a child’s level of intelligence by

looking at the amount of items the child answered

correctly compared to other children of the same age.

Correct responses are tallied and referred to as intel-

ligence quotients, or IQ. The scores of the children

in the original group are distributed around an aver-

age score of 100. Most children have average intelli-

gence and score between 85 and 115. Very few

children score in the low range of mental retardation

or the high range of gifted.

INTELLIGENCE 217