What is your definition of intelligence and how is it measured?

[msc545]

People have different ideas about what constitutes intelligence and how intelligence is actually measured. What are your thoughts about this?

[andreasderjuengere]

My thoughts:

I define intelligence on my own terms but referring to some ''established'' guidelines to have a scale.

I don't really 'measure' it - It's simply a comparison of where a person 'stands' compared with others.

Where usually I turn out to be on the 'stronger' side :P

Never mind - we need people to do the simple jobs. There's no need to ''rate'' the value of a person based on their cognitive performance.

[msc545]

That is surprisingly fairly reasonable.

[andreasderjuengere]

Thanks, mate :)

[slatyb]

It's a real thing -- performance on all sorts of intelligence is highly correlated to academic and career success among other things.

[SeekerOfTruth007]

IQ tests are not "useless", but I doubt they measure true intelligence. Some people who can score very high on IQ tests are nevertheless mentally disabled. We all them "Savants". Some people who score low on the tests are nevertheless very successful in life and even solve real-world problems very well.

A Real Time Strategy game is a better test of real intelligence than is a WAIS or Mensa IQ test, because you are actually competing and attempting to out-think another human being. I'm a 99th percentile player at StarCraft: Broodwar, and a 90th percentile player at StarCraft 2. I'm also 99th percentile at Age of Empires 3. I think it's a better test of true intelligence and problem solving. Nevertheless, I SUCK at Foreign Language and failed it repeatedly in College, so I have real intellectual limits too.

Everybody has limits, including Einstein. Did you know Einstein had a mild case of Savant syndrome?

[msc545]

Just what exactly do you think "true intelligence" is? Do you want to offer a definition of it?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

True intelligence is the ability to understand, categorize, and solve problems without the need to be coached by someone else.

[msc545]

Is that all it is?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

Are we talking about agency and free will now? Everyone has agency and free will. I have no idea how we'd measure degrees of agency or free will if there is such a thing.

[msc545]

Are those part of your definition of intelligence?

[SeekerOfTruth007]

I think they are part of being human, or even animal for that matter, whether or not they are a part of intelligence.

[MrChinaski]

Intelligence is like porn. I know it when I see it.

[msc545]

0 I was hoping for a more detailed and frankly better answer from you.

[MrChinaski]

It's true, though.

[MrChinaski]

For every regular contributor to the site here I carry a view of about their intelligence to within about 15 IQ points. I don't have an evidence base from standardised testing. I don't have feedback on ex post performance of my predictions. But it's there anyway. My guess is that it is pretty darn accurate to within the error bands I indicated: it's pretty easy to tell 85 from 100 from 115 from 130.

I stand by my original comment.

[msc545]

Okay, well that is certainly more detailed.

[MrChinaski]

How do you define intelligence?

[msc545]

Operationally, I define it as several scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale or the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. In a more general sense, it is the capacity to learn, reason, solve problems, and adapt effectively.

[msc545]

There are many more definitions of intelligence that not everyone agrees on, so these are just general statements, really, with the exception of the ones regarding the WAIS/WISC.