INTELLIGENCE AND CREATIVITY

DEFINING INTELLIGENCE

INTELLIGENCE – Is the ability to understand and adapt to the environment by using a combination of inherited abilities and
learning experiences.

THE BINET INTELLIGENGE TEST

The first workable intelligence test arrived in the early 1900s. In France, the minister of public instruction wanted to find some way of
locating students who were not bright enough to be in the regular school system.

Stanford- Binet test

The original intelligence test developed by Alfred Binet and perfected at Stanford university.

Four elements that were important to intelligence:

1. Direction
2. Adaptability
3. Comprehension
4. Self-evaluation

THE INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT

MENTAL AGE
CHRONOLOGICAL AGE
X 100 = IQ
INTELLIGENCE QOUTIENT

A measure of brightness obtained by comparing mental age with physical age.

A “quotient” is a number obtained by dividing one number by another. To make calculation easy, the number 100 was chosen as the
center, or perfectly average, point test. An IQ of 100, then is a perfectly average IQ.

IQ CATEGORY PERCENT OF PEOPLE

130 or above very superior 2

120-129 superior 6

110-119 high average 18

90-109 average 48

80-89 low average 17

70-79 borderline 6

69 or below mentally retarded 3

TEST-ITEM CONSTRUCTION

At the simplest level, typical Binet test items included naming major parts of the body (arms, legs, and so on) or finding specific
object from pile (pick up the toy train; pick up the ball) when ask to do so by examiner.

MENTAL AGE

The level of intellectual functioning in years, which is compared with chronological age.

THE WECHSLER INTELLIGENCE TEST

The Binet test certainly served its purpose of locating children who would have trouble in school, since the Binet test deals almost
exclusively with words, and they are the core of schoolwork. Almost all the items require some kinds of searching for a word answer,
as in in the question, “brother is a boy; sister is a _____.”

David Wechsler (WEX-ler) wanted to develop a program to help those people find job and get out of the mess they were in; he
needed some measure of how bright they were in real-world intelligence rather in schoolwork.

WECHSLER HIT ON THE IDEA OF A TWO-PART INTELLIGENCE TEST

1.VERBAL SCALE- IQ test items that rely heavily on word comprehension and usage.

2.PERFORMANCE SCALE- IQ test items that try to bypass verbal material and focus on problem solving without words.

3.WECHSLER ADULT INTELLIGENCE SCALE(WAIS)- An intelligence test that provides three IQs: verbal, performance, and
combined (total) IQ.

WHAT IS INTELLIGENCE?

Think about this for a few seconds: since we are not certain exactly what intelligence is, but we do depend on intelligence test, what
we call intelligence is, in fact, whatever the intelligence test measure. That sound absurd at first, but note the predicament we are in.
we have these tests that can tell the difference between people’s school abilities in a general sort of way. We use the tests all the time
to try to predict how bright person is. Hence, we are constantly using the test results themselves as the equivalent of intelligence.
IS INTELLIGENCE INHERITED?

Most of the evidence indicates that heredity plays an important part in basic intellectual potential. The majority of investigators in this
area have concluded that roughly 50 percent of what we call intelligence is the result of some kind of heredity influence, while the
other 50 percent comes from all kinds of things- education, social class, environment, nutrition, amount of stimulation, and the like.

USES AND LIMITS OF IQ SCORE

In general, things like achievement in history, reading comprehension, and biology class are all closely related to how well one does
on the IQ test (bond,1960)

COURT CASES

In recent years, federal and state courts have more and been ruling that IQ test result cannot be used to make judgements about which
classes or schools to place children in if the children haven’t done well on the test (Opton,1979).

BRAIN SIZE & INTELLIGENCE

A very strong relationship exists between the brain size of an animal species and the ability of that species to solve problems-as long
as brain weight is compared to overall body weight.

THE EFFECT OF MENTAL CHALLENGE

inheritance clearly plays a role in what a person can become. But it only sets up certain limits. Within this limit, the environment plays
its role. For instance, a person inherits a basic body structure, a certain lung capacity and a specific leg structure. What the person does
with these inherited traits is the result of effort and environment if, say, he or she wants to become a runner.

CREATIVITY

While intelligence test has been the focus of much interest for generations, many psychologists have pointed out that these tests do not
detect the “spark” that motivate to do an exceptional job in finding new better ways of handling problems or in inventing something
new- in other words, in being “creative”. As a result, there is now a great deal of interest in trying to find a way to measure this
dimension of the person. The IQ test doesn’t tap whatever it takes to produce original, workable ideas; that is, it doesn’t measure
creativity (Gentzels& Jackson, 1962).

MENTAL RETARDATION

is usually present at birth, discovered at the young age, and effects quite large number of people.

BASIC CLASSIFICATIONS

IQ 70-79- BORDERLINE MENTAL RETARDATION

Those labeled borderline score just below the “lower average” group in IQ.

IQ 52-69- MILD MENTAL RETARDATION

Most people legally termed “retarded” fall into this category, and most attend special school.

IQ 36-51- MODERATE MENTAL RETARDATION

People in this group have physical problem, often steaming from a serious disease.

IQ 20-35- SEVERE MENTAL RETARDATION

People in this group usually require constant supervision.

IQ 19 OR BELOW- PROFOUND MENTAL RETARDATION

The smallest group, about 1 percent of the total population, fall into this category.

PHYSICAL DEFECTS

Only about 20 percent of those labeled retarded suffer from a known physical defect.

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Is it possible that some factors in the environment can lead to retardation? One thing we do know is that proper nutrition is absolutely
critical to brain development.

METHODS OF TREATMENT

For the mentally handicapped with physical defects, medicine is making great strides.

REPORTERS:

MANSAWI, SALAMAH S.

DANDAMUN, NORFATMAH A.