Intelligence
The Latin noun intelligentia emerged from the verb intelligere, meaning to comprehend or perceive. In the Middle Ages, scholars used intellectus as a technical term for understanding and translated the Greek philosophical concept of nous. This medieval approach tied intelligence to metaphysical theories about the soul's immortality and active intellect. Early modern philosophers like Francis Bacon rejected these scholastic ideas entirely. Thomas Hobbes called the phrase "intellectus intelligit" a logical absurdity in his 1655 work De Corpore. John Locke and David Hume preferred using "understanding" instead of "intelligence" in their English writings. The word fell out of favor in philosophy until contemporary psychology revived it with its older scholastic baggage.
Scholars have debated how to define intelligence since the early 1900s when the term rose to prominence. A 1995 consensus report by the American Psychological Association acknowledged that definitions vary widely across disciplines. Alfred Binet described judgment as practical sense and initiative alongside self-critique. David Wechsler defined it as the global capacity to act purposefully and think rationally. Lloyd Humphreys focused on acquiring, storing, retrieving, and combining information in new contexts. Howard Gardner emphasized problem-solving skills and creating effective products. Robert Sternberg and William Salter proposed goal-directed adaptive behavior as the core definition. Shane Legg and Marcus Hutter synthesized over seventy definitions into an agent's ability to achieve goals across environments.
Intelligence Quotient tests first appeared in the early twentieth century to screen children for intellectual disability. These assessments later expanded to evaluate immigrants, military recruits, and job applicants. Psychologists developed the g factor theory to explain correlations between scores on various cognitive tests. Most psychologists agree IQ measures at least some aspects of human intelligence, particularly academic success. Many researchers question whether these tests capture intelligence as a whole. The debate continues about what proportion of differences in test performance stems from genetics versus environmental factors. Scientific consensus rejects genetic explanations for average differences in IQ scores between racial groups.
Emotional intelligence involves conveying emotions clearly while reading others' feelings accurately. Some theories suggest heightened emotional intelligence speeds up emotion processing alongside improving accuracy. Higher levels help manage emotions and enhance problem-solving abilities. Social intelligence focuses on understanding social cues and motivations within interpersonal situations. It relates closely to emotional intelligence yet remains distinct according to many scholars. Moral intelligence represents the capacity to distinguish right from wrong based on personal values. This form stands independent from both emotional and cognitive intelligence frameworks. Concepts like book smarts contrast with street smart approaches to knowledge application. Book smarts reflect academic study while street smarts derive from practical experience.
Wolfgang Köhler conducted groundbreaking research on ape intelligence during the early twentieth century. Stanley Coren documented canine cognition in his book The Intelligence of Dogs. Researchers study chimpanzees, bonobos including the language-using Kanzi, dolphins, elephants, parrots, rats, and ravens. Cephalopods provide important comparative data despite their radically different nervous systems from vertebrates. Evidence shows a general factor of intelligence exists across non-human species. Studies indicate g accounts for 47% of individual variance in primate cognitive measures. Between 55% and 60% of variance in mice stems from this same factor. These percentages mirror human IQ patterns where g explains 40-50% of variance.
Scholars define artificial intelligence as systems that perceive environments and take actions maximizing success chances. Kaplan and Haenlein describe it as interpreting external data, learning from it, and achieving goals through flexible adaptation. Progress appears in benchmarks ranging from games to protein folding tasks. Existing AI lags behind humans regarding general intelligence defined as carrying out huge ranges of tasks. Mathematician Olle Häggström frames intelligence as optimization power steering future possibilities into preferred regions. Deep Blue demonstrated this by steering chessboard futures into winning subspaces against Garry Kasparov. Skeptics argue no meaningful definition exists beyond pointing to ourselves. Computer scientist Alex Pentland calls current machine-learning algorithms dead simple stupid working only through brute force.
Common questions
What is the origin of the word intelligence?
The Latin noun intelligentia emerged from the verb intelligere, meaning to comprehend or perceive. In the Middle Ages, scholars used intellectus as a technical term for understanding and translated the Greek philosophical concept of nous.
How did early modern philosophers view the concept of intelligence?
Early modern philosophers like Francis Bacon rejected scholastic ideas entirely. Thomas Hobbes called the phrase intellectus intelligit a logical absurdity in his 1655 work De Corpore. John Locke and David Hume preferred using understanding instead of intelligence in their English writings.
When did Intelligence Quotient tests first appear and what was their original purpose?
Intelligence Quotient tests first appeared in the early twentieth century to screen children for intellectual disability. These assessments later expanded to evaluate immigrants, military recruits, and job applicants.
What percentage of variance in primate cognitive measures does the general factor g account for?
Studies indicate g accounts for 47% of individual variance in primate cognitive measures. Between 55% and 60% of variance in mice stems from this same factor. These percentages mirror human IQ patterns where g explains 40-50% of variance.
Who defined emotional intelligence and how does it differ from social intelligence?
Emotional intelligence involves conveying emotions clearly while reading others feelings accurately. Social intelligence focuses on understanding social cues and motivations within interpersonal situations yet remains distinct according to many scholars.