What Exactly Is Intelligence? Essay Example

What exactly is intelligence? According to most researchers and brain specialists, intelligence can be defined as a “mental ability that involves reasoning, perceiving relationships and analogies, calculating, and the ability to learn and remember.” Before the advent of brain science, most scientists believed that intelligence was based on what was known as the g-factor or general intelligence factor which determines a person’s mental abilities via specific types of measurements, one being the infamous IQ test. However, most scientist now agree that intelligence is based on many different biological and psychological factors and conditions. Early in the 20th century, brain researcher Howard Gardner came up with the idea that intelligence should be divided into subcategories, such as musical (or the ability to play and write music), bodily-kinesthetic (physical movement and body control as in a gifted athlete), logical-mathematical (such as Einstein or Stephen Hawking), linguistic (speaking/vocal abilities), spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal (“Intelligence Definition”).

Similarly, Robert J. Sternberg, professor of human psychology at Tufts University, defines intelligence as a kind of “mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment” (“Human Intelligence”). If one were to ask ten people at random to provide their own definition of intelligence, most would undoubtedly reply that intelligence is being smart or knowledgeable, and that the more education a person has, the smarter that person may be. Some would say that intelligence is knowing when or how to do something during an unexpected accident or situation based on common sense. But overall, attempting to define intelligence is a very subjective activity, much like trying to define beauty or some other type of abstraction.

Many people firmly believe that intelligence can be increased or amplified by practicing certain activities, such as mnemonics or using memory devices to help recall something, problem-solving devices, and creativity techniques (Sternberg, “Human Intelligence”). Of course, a person can also increase his/her intelligence by reading or thinking deeply about a specific topic or subject. Intelligence can also be increased through academics or by attending school and taking classes.

A person could also copy the learning styles of intelligent people. For example, Albert Einstein, the famous mathematician and creator of the General Theory of Relativity (E=MC²), was a great practitioner of reasoning which he felt was the key to success in any type of endeavor. Basically, Einstein would first think about an objective or a goal; then he would create an abstraction that normally would not be supported by science or hard evidence; then he would observe the results in his mind and then store the results in his memory for future use. What this all means is that Einstein increased his intelligence by thinking about abstractions, some of which he used later in his life to formulate his theories on relativity and the space-time continuum.

Certainly, intelligence is one of the requirements for creativity, such as being an artist, a musician, or a writer. In many ways, creativity is based upon a person’s ability to use reason and like Einstein, to think abstractedly. But perhaps most importantly, true intelligence is based upon the ability to use one of the most powerful of all our traits–the human imagination which can take a person to the limits of reality (or unreality) and like Einstein can create abstractions that might someday yield new discoveries about ourselves and the amazing universe in which we live.

Works Cited

“Intelligence Definition.” 2015. Web. Accessed 4 March 2015. <http://www.brainmetrix.com/intelligence-definition>.

Sternberg, Robert J. “Human Intelligence.” 2014. Web. Accessed 4 March 2015.<http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/289766/human-intelligence>.