Intelligence (was feeling sad)

[lupinesque]

Shaun wrote:

> IQ tests are the same. They have flaws. They do miss some kids 
whose abilities are 
> outside the areas that IQ tests measure (generally logic and 
reasoning ability). 

Yeah, I guess that's the kind of thing that makes me think they miss 
the boat.  From teaching, taking care of children, being a student, 
and just generally being a living human being, I think of 
intelligence as a multidimensional (infinite-dimensional) phenomenon 
that includes not only logic and reasoning but other things such as:

resourcefulness, 
ability not to panic when faced with a completely unfamiliar problem,
patience,
willingness to do a lot of drudge work, 
willingness to distinguish between one's own wished-for outcome and 
what logic demands, 
ability to defer gratification and so make decisions that are best 
for the long term, 
ability to know when short-term solutions are more important, 
ability to tolerate uncertainty, 
creativity (which varies widely in its meanings depending on the 
medium--a creative poet uses very different skills than a creative 
geologist), 
willingness to ask questions that may make one appear stupid or 
ignorant, 
empathy (it's very important to be able to imagine what things look 
like from a different perspective--any historian or political 
scientist who couldn't do this would be very handicapped), 
intuition, 
willingness to trust intuition
. . . the list goes on.  

I am aware that these are as much emotional or moral qualities as 
intellectual, but that just goes to show that "intelligence" is not a 
category of the brain separable from the rest of the package.

It makes me think of Binet, I think it was, who when asked, very 
reasonably, what intelligence is, replied, "It is what my test 
measures."  Now that was a man who knew the definition of a valid 
test--which few parents or teachers do.  I.Q. tests 
measure "intelligence as defined by I.Q."--but that is not what most 
of us think of when we say "Person X is so intelligent!" or "Person Y 
is so stupid!"

You are absolutely right, though--I have never seen an I.Q. test 
(aside from taking one when I was 5 or whatnot), just "improve your 
I.Q." books and such.  They may well measure more than I fear they 
do.  This leads to another problem, of course, which is that kids get 
a label put on them that only a few experts understand.  But that 
could be addressed by people explaining to parents what they are all 
about.

Amy
clearly off on one of her favorite subjects