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Introduction

What is intelligence? The simplest answer would be "Intelligence is what an animal's brain does when it guides its behavior" (Coon, 2001). However, human intelligence is not that simple. According to Coon, the most basic form of animal intelligence is instinct, which produces innate behavior, but many animals can guide their intelligence through experience after birth. Human Intelligence is something far more profound and has become a much-studied subject. No subject in psychology has provoked more controversy than the study of human intelligence (Gottsfredson, 1998).

As our technologies become more advanced, the demand for more educated individuals also increases. From the behaviorist' viewpoint, "intelligence becomes equated with learning (Jensen, 1982). Our original nature, psychologically, is composed of a general capacity for learning. What developed through the course of evolution was an ever- increasing plasticity of the brain being shaped by the physical and cultural environment (Jensen, 1982). Essentially, our learning capacity and accumulation of knowledge developed from our experiences, our culture, and our environment.

Measuring Intelligence

Using a single measure for intelligence would be counterproductive since a child's intelligence varies at different stages (Berger, 2003). We could not expect a 2 year old to be able to understand an academic intelligence test, any more than we would expect him to take a math test. There are, however, intelligence tests specifically adapted to measuring a child's perceived intelligence through cognitive abilities. Most intelligence tests focus on measuring a person's potential, as well as their achievement (Berger, 2003).

Intelligence, as measured by IQ tests, is the single most effective predictor of an individual's performance at school or at work (Gottfredson, 1998). Most standard IQ tests measure verbal and mathematical skills, and do not take into account the other areas of intelligence such as creativity. Similarly, until recently, most standard IQ tests did not account for the importance of one's culture in determining one's intellectual capabilities. Some critics of intelligence research maintain that the idea of general intelligence' is misleading, and that no such universal capacity exists and that intelligence is simply a by-product of the opportunities afforded the individual to learn skills and information valued by his/her society (Gottfredson, 1998).

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