Intelligence

Intelligence has been defined as:

● ‘the capacity to solve problems, apply principles, make inferences and perceive relationships’ (Argyle, 1989); 

● ‘the capacity for abstract thinking and reasoning with a range of different contents and media’ (Toplis et al 1991); 

● ‘the capacity to process information’ (Makin et al, 1996); 

● ‘what is measured by intelligence tests’ (Wright and Taylor, 1970).

The last, tautological definition is not facetious. As an operational definition, it can be related to the specific aspects of reasoning, inference, cognition (ie knowing, conceiving) and perception (ie understanding, recognition) that intelligence tests attempt to measure. 

General intelligence, as noted above, consists of a number of mental abilities that enable a person to succeed at a wide variety of intellectual tasks that use the faculties of knowing and reasoning. The mathematical technique of factor analysis has been used to identify the constituents of intelligence, such as Thurstone’s (1940) multiple factors listed above. But there is no general agreement among psychologists as to what these factors are or, indeed, whether there is such a thing as general intelligence. 

An alternative approach to the analysis of intelligence was put forward by Guilford (1967), who distinguished five types of mental operation: thinking, remembering, divergent production (problem-solving which leads to unexpected and original solutions), convergent production (problem-solving which leads to the one, correct solution) and evaluating.