INTELLIGENCE

• Capacity for learning, reasoning,

understanding and aptitude in grasping
truths, relationships, facts and meanings.

• Wechsler (1944) defines intelligence as the

aggregate or the global capacity of the
individual to act purposefully, to think
rationally and to deal effectively with his
environment.
 INTELLIGENCE
• Latin intelligentia or intellegentia meaning
“the action or faculty of understanding,”
itself derived from the
Latin intellegere meaning ‘to understand.’
• FACTORS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF
INTELLIGENCE
• 1.HEREDITY :- interaction of several genes are
responsible for intelligence.
• -Adopted children resemble their biological
parents in intelligence.
• Twin studies show that identical twins are
similar than fraternal twins in intelligence.
• BIO-CHEMICAL FACTORS:-
• For optimum functioning of the nervous system
sufficient supply of oxygen and various nutrients
are necessary.
• Body temperature, hormones influence neural
activities and affect intellectual performances.
• Defective genes lead to defective enzymes
• Cretinism : also a type of mental defeciency
caused by under activity of Thyroid glands
• Mongolian Idiocy caused by defective
cerebral metabolism.
• If mother becomes pregnant nearing
menapause, bio chemical imbalances may
cause her baby to be mongolian idiocy.
• a. ANOXIA:-Severe deprivation of oxygen.
• -Impairs judgement, perception,
• Causes serious effect on later behavior.
• b. Nutritional Factors:-B complex vitamins
which contains thiamine –close relationship
with functioning of nervous system.
• Glutamic acid an amino acid activates
enzymes involved in neural transmission may
speed up mental growth.
• c.Endocrine factors:- harmonal imbalance
from Endocrine glands stunts the growth of
brain functioning.
• 2. SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS:-
• a. Parents’ Occupation:-Studies show that
there are pronounced differences in the IQ of
children whose parents belong to different
occupational groups.
• Children of professional parents have a mean
IQ of about 115, children of day labourers
have a mean IQ of 94and intermediate
occupational groups range between the two.
• b.Socio-Economic status:-Includes factors like
education, source and level of income, residential
area etc.
• ,Bayley and Jones (1937) found positive
correlation between socio-economic status and IQ
from 3 to 6 years.
• Parent’s education yielded highest correlation
with children’s IQ.
• social rating and income level yielded the lowest
relationship.
• In any society, more intelligent men tend to rise
up in socio-economic scale and remains there.
• Less intelligent man comes down and remains
in the lower strata.
• Upper strata provides more stimulating
environment for mental growth
• Regional Influence: show that mean IQ
of Urban children was 108, sub urban 107 and
rural children 96.
• This depends on several factors:-
• 1.selective migration:-More ambitious move
to superior economic and cultural
opportunities of the city and less ambitious
remain in rural areas.
• 2.City offers better schools, better
educational facilities, affords wide variety of
extra curricular and recreational facilities.
• d. Environment:-Differences in IQ depend on the
kind of environment in which children are reared.
• Environment wherein the educational facilities are
poor and outside contacts are rare, will reduce the
IQ as they grow older.
• Impoverished environment has adverse effect on
the intellectual performance.
• Enriched environment highly stimulates and is
benefecial for growth of intelligence.
• 1.NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE:-
• -Designates the human ability to discriminate
among living things (plants, animals)as well
as sensitivity to other features of natural
world (clouds, rock, )
• This ability can be seen among hunters,
gatherers and farmers.
• It can also be seen among botonist and chefs.
• 2.MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE (Musical
smart):-
• It is the capacity to discern pitch, rhythm, and
tone.
• Enables us to recognise , create, reproduce and
reflect on music –demonstrated by composers,
conductors, muscians vocalist and sensitive
listeners.
• There is a affective connection between music and
the emotions;
• Young adults with this kind of intelligence are singing
or drumming to themselves.
• 3.LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL
INTELLIGENCE (number-reasoning
smart):-
• -It is the ability to calculate,quantify, consider
hypotheses and carry out mathematical operations.
• It helps to perceive relationships and connection and
use abstract, symbolic thought; sequential reasoning
skills; inductive and deductive thinking patterns.
• -4.EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE:-
• The ability or capacity or skill to perceive, assess and
manage the emotions of oneself, of others and of
groups.
• 5.SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE:-
• Is the ability to think in three dimensions in three
dimensions.
• Core capacities include-mental imagery ,spatial
reasoning, graphic and artistic skills.
• Eg:- sailors, pilots, painters, sculptors.
• 6. Multiple Intelligence:-
• Includes social, mechanical and abstract.
• Social intelligence is the ability to manage
and understand people.
• Focus is on behavior rather than
consciousness
• -7.EXISTENTIAL INTELLIGENCE:-
• Sensitivity and capacity to tackle deep questions
about human existance, such as the meaning of
life, why do we die, and how did we get here.
• 8.INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE:-
• Ability to interact and understand others.
• Involves effective verbal and non verbal
communication.
• -Sensitive to moods of others
• Young adults with this kind of intelligence are
good leaders among peers, good at
communication.
• 9.Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence
(Body smart):-
• Eg:-Athletes, dancers, surgeons crafts people –
they have a capacity to manipulate objects
and use of a variety of physical skills.
• This involves a sense of timing and perfection
of skills through mind-body union.
• 10.Linguistic Intelligence:-
• Is the ability to think in words and use language
to express and appreciate complex meanings.
• -Poets, novelists, journalists and public speakers.
• Young adults show this intelligence in crossword
puzzles.
• 11. INTRA PERSONAL INTELIGENCE:-
• Involves not only an appreciation of the self but also of
the human condition.
• Eg: psychologists, spiritual leaders and philosophers

• Is the capacity to understand oneself and one’s thoughts

and feeling and use such knowledge in planning and
directing one’s life.

• Young adults of this intelligence are self motivate

 INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT
• William Stern was the pioneer of this field.
• He said intelligence of an individual can be
expressed as ratio between M.A and C.A
• M.A is mental age- scores he obtains in the
intelligence test and C.A – chronological
age.for eg – 10 years, 14 years etc.,
• Formula for IQ is MA/CA x 100
• CONCLUSION
• :Generally we accept that intelligence is
inherited.
• Studies show that heredity is an important
factor in determining intelligence.
• Environment also determines its expression.
• Race and culture have their share in
intelligence .
To be remembered by the Nurse
 MENTAL ABILITY
• The American psychologist L.L. Thurstone Spearman’s theory,
• there were seven factors, which he identified as the
“primary mental abilities
• 1.verbal comprehension (as involved in the knowledge of
vocabulary and in reading),
• 2. verbal fluency (as involved in writing and in producing
words), 3.number (as involved in solving fairly simple
numerical computation and arithmetical reasoning
problems),
• 4.spatial visualization (as involved in visualizing and
manipulating objects, such as fitting a set of suitcases into an
automobile trunk),
• 5. inductive reasoning (as involved in
completing a number series or in predicting
the future on the basis of past experience),
• 6. memory (as involved in recalling people’s
names or faces, and
• 7.perceptual speed (as involved in rapid
proofreading to discover typographical errors
in a text).
• Cattell suggested Mental Abilities:
• Their Structure, Growth, and Action (1971) that
general ability can be subdivided into
• two further kinds, “fluid” and “crystallized.”
• Fluid abilities are the reasoning and problem-solving
abilities measured by tests such as analogies,
classifications, and series completions.
• Crystallized abilities, which are thought to derive
from fluid abilities, include vocabulary, general
information, and knowledge about specific ABILITIES
 NATURE (CHARACTERISTICS OF
INTELLIGENCE)
• 1.Intelligence is an innate natural endowment
• 2.It helps in maximum learning in minimum period of time.
• 3.Helps to foresee the future and plan accordingly.
• 4.The person is able to take advantage of his previous
experiences.
• 5.develops a sense of discrimination between right or wrong.
• 6.The developmental period of intelligence is from birth to
adolescence.
• 7.There are individual differences with regard to the intelligence
between boys and girls.
• 8.Intelligence is mostly determined by heredity but a suitable
environment necessary to improve it.
• Functions of Intelligence:
• • Intelligence directs one’s behavior
towards a goal.
• • It helps one to adjust to a new
situations.
• • It helps an individual to adopt to
physical and social environment.
• • It helps to learn new things and to solve
new problems.
• • It directs the individual to think
rationally and act purposefully.
 Development of Intelligence:

• It is generally agreed upon by almost all psychologists

that intelligence increases up to adolescence and
declines in old age.
• According to Pinter, the development of intelligence
takes place at a rapid space up to the age of 14 years,
and then it stops at any stage in between the ages of
14 – 22 years.
• In the opinion of Terman, students and adults reach
the limit of their intelligence growth at the age of 16
years. According to Binet, this limit is reached at the
age of 15 years.
• According to Ottis, intelligence grows up to
the age of 18 years.
• The researchers of Thorndike reveal that the
power to learn in a person develops up to the
age of 22 years and this power continues to
work up to the age of 45 years.
• In the case of children of genius category, it
continues to grow up to the age of twenty
years.
• However, the definite age till when
intelligence grows has not been determined.
This problem remains even today as it was
earlier.
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