Intelligence - how do you measure

How intelligent are you?

You probably have an opinion. Your opinion may be based on your perception driven by experiences.

So you may feel smart if you did well in your examination. What about the skilled poker player? Or the artist who sculpts a statue?

Are they also intelligent?

Scientists have tried to organize intelligence into categories. So you have verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed.

To determine intelligence, we test these skills. David Wechsler, an American psychologist, designed one of the common tools used for such a test.

Verbal comprehension was the ability to understand language. Not just words, but nuances within.

Perceptual reasoning was the ability to reason and solve problems using vision. A child assembling a puzzle that fits, for example.

Working memory was the ability to hold, recall and use information.

Processing speed was the speed at which all of this came together as a whole while doing something.

While the poker player who could recall at speed would qualify, what of creativity you might ask?

While the public orator who could sway millions would qualify, what of the actress who could convey meaning merely by lifting her eyebrow?

The challenge perhaps, lies in our need to quantify things. When you meet someone who is intelligent, it is hard not to notice. Their behavior, actions and deeds speak, especially if you observe over longer periods.

Intelligence test have been used to filter populations, admissions into school being one such example.

But our brains demonstrate neuroplasticity.

We can change it if we like. I dont want to take away from innate ability. But innate ability starts with belief.

A poor score in a test takes away that belief. Numbers dont lie, we might say. In this case, they do.

Well at least they do to the extent that your score is telling you where you are today, not where you can be tomorrow.

Isn't that true of our weighing scale as well?

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