BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence
BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence: In this post, we will learn about BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence? In Bed 2nd Year there is one of the most important questions comes from Growing up as a Learner. BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence? Teaching is a social and professional activity. It is a process of development. Teaching is a system of actions that induce learning through interpersonal relationships. and all the rest you will study in this Blog.
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Meaning and Definitions of Intelligence
Generally, intelligence is considered to be the power to think, understand, learn and decide. However, intelligence is much more than it. The Indian philosophers were the first to contemplate intelligence.
According to ancient Indian philosophers, the inner self of man has three parts: mind, intelligence, and ego. Among them, the mind functions as a coordinator between the external senses and intelligence. Due to coordination of the mind, the external senses become active and due to it, intelligence becomes active. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
According to them, the knowledge received by the senses reaches intelligence. The intelligence orders it and attaches it to the ego, and finally renders it to the vital body, where it is retained. Whenever the human being needs this knowledge, his intelligence delivers it from the vital body to the mind, and the mind makes the human being active accordingly.
However, the medical surgeons could not find out the physical existence of intelligence yet. And how could they? It has not a physical existence on its own like external senses. It is such a creation made of fine tissues which the ancient Indian sages could see and understand by their insight and intuition. Modern scholars are unable to experiment with this fact and verify it, so they do not accept intelligence in this form. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
In modern times, western psychologists attempted to understand the form and activities of intelligence. But they too could not form any uniform view on it as yet. They hold different views in respect of intelligence.
Western psychologist Freeman has classified the different views regarding intelligence into the following four categories:
- Intelligence is the Ability to Learn: Woodworth, Galton, Dearborn, and some other psychologists consider intelligence as the ability to learn. According to their view, the man who is able to learn more facts and activities in less time and is able to retain them for a longer time is more intelligent. Buckingham has defined intelligence as the ability to learn. In his words:
Intelligence is the ability to learn. -Buckingham
- Intelligence is the Ability to Adjust with Environment: Stern, Burt and Pintner, and some other psychologists consider intelligence as an ability of man to adjust to the environment. According to them, the sooner a person is able to adjust to new circumstances, the more intelligent he is. Cruz has defined intelligence as the ability to adjust. In his words:
“Intelligence is the ability to adjust adequately to new and different situations.” –Cruz
- Intelligence is the ability of Abstract thinking: According to some psychologists, such as Binet, Terman, and Superman, intelligence is the ability of abstract thinking. In their view, the more intelligent he is Binet defined intelligence as the ability to abstract thinking. In his words:
Intelligence is the capacity to think well, judge well, and be self-critical. –Alfred Binet
- Intelligence is Aggregate of Various Abilities: Most psychologists, such as Kolesnik, Rex, Knight, Wechsler, and Stoddard, are of the view that intelligence is the aggregate of several abilities. In the words of Wechsler:
Intelligence is the aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with his environment. –Wechsler
Kolesnik has defined intelligence even more extensively. In his words:
Intelligence is not a single power or capacity or ability which operates equally well in all situations. It is rather a composite of several different abilities. –Kolesnik
True Concept of Intelligence
Psychologists do not hold a uniform view of the concept of intelligence. Different psychologists have accepted it in the form of the ability of different mental activities, and some psychologists have taken it in the form of the capacity of different mental activities. It is evident that they accept intelligence in the form of mental activities.
All the methods which have so far been developed to measure intelligence, measure only the mental activity of a person, and on the basis of the same the intelligence of a person is determined. In that sense, the mental activities will amount to intellectual activities. Psychologists will have to understand the activities of the brain, mind, and intelligence separately, only then they will be able to discover the true concept of intelligence. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
Nature and Characteristics of Intelligence
All psychologists are not in agreement as regards the structure of intelligence.
However, the facts that they have made out in respect of intelligence, may be considered as the nature and characteristics of intelligence. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
- Intelligence is Hereditary Capacity: Western psychologists Burt, Shields, Scar, Jenson, and Schocaley, on the basis of their experiments reached the conclusion that human intelligence is hereditary. As the height of a person depends on hereditary genes, in the same way, his intelligence also depends on hereditary genes.
- The environment is Important for Proper Development of intelligence: Western psychologists Dwirsk. Meland, Gaig, and Commin on the basis of their experiments, reached the conclusion that a suitable environment is necessary for the development of hereditary intelligence. As the height of it, the person is determined by hereditary genes, but needs proper nutrition for its development, in the same way, the development of intelligence requires a suitable social and educational environment.
- Development of Human intelligence is completed by the Age of 20: Western psychologist Pintner made out this fact on the basis of his study that the development of hereditary intelligence is completed by the end of the development of hereditary intelligence according to some other psychologists, the development of 16 years.
According to some other psychologists, the development of intelligence is completed by the age of 20 years, after this, there is no increase in the intelligence quotient (1.Q.). (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
- Yogic Exercise can Enhance Hereditary Intelligence. Contrary to the conclusions of western psychologists, Indian yoga psychologists claim that the hereditary intelligence of a person can be enhanced from 30 to 45% with the use of yogic exercise, and this fact has now been accepted by western psychologists too.
- Gender Causes no Difference in Intelligence: Western psychologists Kole and Brush on the basis of their experiments concluded that there is no difference in intelligence on the basis of gender, and this fact is accepted by all.
- Intelligence is the Ability to Learn: According to western psychologists Woodworth, Galton, and Dearbum, intelligence is the ability to learn. In their view, the less time a person takes in learning new facts and activities, the more intelligent he is. From the opinion of these psychologists, it appears that intelligence is only the ability to learn, while intelligence also possesses several abilities. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
So, it would be better to say in other words that a person learns according to the measure of his intelligence. - Intelligence is the Ability to Adjust with Environment psychologists: Western psychologists Stern, Burt, and Pinter, have considered intelligence to be the ability to adjust to the environment. According to them, the sooner a person adjusts to his environment, the more intelligent he is. We will consider it suitable to say in other words that the more the intelligence of a person, the sooner he adjusts to his environment. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
- Intelligence is the ability of Abstract Thinking: Western psychologists Binet, Terman, and Spearman, are of the view that intelligence is the ability of abstract thinking. According to them, the more a person has the ability to contemplate, that is, has more power to think and decide, the more intelligence he has. We prefer to state it in the opposite terms that the more intelligence a person possesses, the higher the level of his contemplation.
- Intelligence is the Ability to Benefit from Prior Experie Acquired Knowledge: We know that a man learns always and this process of learning continues lifelong. According to some psychologists, intelligence is the ability to benefit from prior experiences and previously acquired knowledge. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
According to them, a person who is proficient in using prior experiences and previously acquired knowledge in learning new facts has more intelligence. We think it proper to state this fact in other words that the more intelligence a person possesses, the more he is able to use his prior experiences and previously acquired knowledge in the learning of new facts. - Intelligence is the Ability to Solve Problems: Some western psychologists consider intelligence as the ability to solve problems. According to them, the person who is more proficient in solving problems has more intelligence.
We think it better to say that a person with more intelligence is more able to solve problems easily.
- Intelligence is the Aggregate of Several Abilities: Most psychologists, such as Kolesnic, James, Wechsler, and Stoddart hold that intelligence is the aggregate of several abilities. In the present times, all psychologists agree with it and the measurement of intelligence is done by the measurement of these. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
- There is a difference between Intelligence and Knowledge: According to psychologists, there is a difference between intelligence and knowledge. First, intelligence is hereditary while knowledge is acquired. Second, intelligence is needed for knowledge but knowledge is not needed for intelligence. Third and the most prominent difference is that knowledge is forgotten in case of retardation of intelligence, but the forgetting knowledge does not in any way retard intelligence.
Special Mention
Western psychologists consider intelligence as the sum total of several mental abilities, but our ancient Indian psychologists have considered intelligence as the controller of the mind. (BEd 2nd Year What do you mean by Intelligence)
In our view, psychologists should conduct more research in this field.