Intelligence tests

INTELLIGENCE TESTS

Intelligence Tests ,Alex Lowen

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April 2 , 2007

Indv101 , Sec023

The controversy that exists about intelligence testing stemmed from the known publication of 1994 The Bell Curve : Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J . Herrnstein and Charles Murray It caused a great reactive force in the face of intellectual elite namely 50 professors , issuing a letter defending the netivistic theories of intelligence testing . According to nativistic theory , the human intelligence is described as qualitatively unique quality ' that can be measured and calculated . Thus

the need for testing . The deeper thought would offer an inquiry in to by what means this qualitatively unique quality ' has developed . How come , suggestible , one has the same of bigger or lesser size ? What is responsible for the size of this quality ' Is the size (or perhaps capacity ) nature or nurture caused If we use our language to express our intelligence , what about immigrants who have inadequate ability for the dominant language ? Would they necessarily be classified as of low intelligence by standardized intelligence instruments ? I new a former professor once in his 50s washing dishes in a small restaurant in New York , just because he could not pass those intelligence testing requirements . Such a waste of talent and abilities

If we consider that Intelligence Quotient indicates the capacity to learn then we must look into the qualifications behind learning , or what precisely is understood by learning

However , when we discuss the learning ability the precise definition is needed . It is not exactly clear what we are discussing : is it ability to comprehend visual information is it ability to comprehend auditory information , is it ability to understand the social cues , is it ability to communicate understood information in writing is it ability to communicate understood information verbally . the list can go on and on

All in all , I view and define the learning ability as a conglomerate of all components that are needed to a ) understand the percepts , b ) retain the chemical /visual constructs that we loosely so call Visiospacial Memory Unit , VMU , c ) facilitate VMU to encode it with the language characteristics to get it ready for communication , and d ) have communication qualities , i .e . writing skills , speaking skills vocabulary skills , controlled body language skills , et cetera . The whole gamut of this range encompasses what we considered prior as the continuum of Encoding - Retention - Retrieval mechanism each of which is partially responsible for the manifestation of learning ability

Now , two components of the above-defined conglomerate , a ) understand the percepts and d ) have communication qualities , i .e . writing skills speaking skills , vocabulary skills , controlled body language skills , et cetera , are variables , culturally and socially defined , that are responsible for the variance effect of learning ability from individual to individual . Simply speaking , micro-culture or the family-influenced learning , defines the interpretation of the environment serving as a filter of the objective reality . That is an individual perceives those components of reality filtered through and with his or her belief system , culturally and socially...