Theories of Intelligence - II

I have often heard discussions in the staff room about how some students seem to be so bright about topics, but fail to answer the paper well. I have experienced this with my students as well, and have come to understand that though some of them understand the matter of the subject very well, they fail to acquire the skills required to answer in an examination.

Why is good understanding not enough to answer the paper well?

Though students and even teachers often believe that good understanding automatically translates into good answer writing, this is seldom the case. This is because good understanding implies that the student has grasped well whatever has been put across in the text, and this understanding can go above and beyond what has been presented. The student understands text through the filters of his own previous knowledge, learning style and language. However, while answering a paper, the student must keep many external constraints in mind. The question paper dictates how much of a topic is to be covered, how much time is to be given to every answer, and which matter has been considered more important than others. Besides, a good answer is judged on several parameters, which I have discussed in my earlier post. A student who wishes to score well, needs to adapt his understanding to these parameters to be successful when results are declared.

Are examination skills like an extra subject to be learnt?

It might seem from the above that there are two separate burdens that every student must endure - understanding and answer writing. This is not true, however, for both go hand in hand. As the student understands, he has the raw material of the answer ready, which (s)he needs to simply mold as per the demands of the paper. For this end, (s)he must simply practice the material learnt in a guided manner. This practice will further strengthen his/her understanding. It's a reciprocal interaction. A good answer reflects good understanding -which is imperative to good answer writing- as we will see further.

To illustrate the above, I move further with my previous post, this time, dealing with the same topic from an examination point of view, progressively. According to past paper analysis, this chapter is considered to carry the second most weightage in MAPC 001. This discussion can be especially useful to IGNOU students who believe they must simply copy-paste whatever is given in their notes onto the examination answer paper. They are then at a loss when such an approach turns out to be very overwhelming in practice.

What is intelligence?

It is hard to imagine a student copying the entire paragraph under 'Introduction' onto the answer paper, especially in a ten marks question - yet, this is often found to be the case. What would you think about the student's attempt if you were the examiner? Does (s)he display any understanding of the topic by writing this way? An introduction is important to an answer, to present the answer in a logical fashion, indicating where it comes from and where it is heading towards. 

Looking carefully at the text, it is apparent that it is written in a fashion to be comfortable for the student to understand. However, the student must carefully adapt this section so that it is precise, an example of which is as follows, assuming the question is about the nature of intelligence- (Keep in mind that the introduction will have to be customized to the question asked.)

Intelligence is commonly associated with academic performance, alertness, quickness of mind, career success etc. Man's understanding of intellectual abilities truly developed in the third quarter of the nineteenth century. Many experts made efforts in the development of theories of intelligence during this time.

What does this general introduction do? Very concisely, it shows that the student has understood the need for development of intelligence theories - that there were many different opinions among people regarding what intelligence is. Also, it leads the examiner to expect that the rest of the answer will present what theories of intelligence emerged in the latter part of the nineteenth century - which is what the student should introduce next-

Intelligence has been understood differently in different cultures. For example, Indian systems of thought, intelligence refers to buddhi or intellect, and it is considered as the decision maker, and therefore refers to qualities like wisdom and prudence. Laypeople and even psychologists often discuss intelligence as if they all have the same understanding of the concept while doing so. The realization of this lack of commonality led to attempts towards the development of a single definition of intelligence.

We now need to move into the main component of our answer - the theories of intelligence. It goes without saying, that this section must be appropriately titled, to distinguish it from the introduction.

Coming to this section, it is visible that it has too much length for a 10 or 5 marks answer.  Besides, there is a lot of direct speech reported, that can be very challenging for the student to remember, given that this is neither the only chapter of the subject, nor is MAPC 001 the only subject of the course. The student must then, logically choose what to omit, what to include, and what to condense in his/her answer, a specimen is as follows:

Various definitions of intelligence have conceptualized intelligence variously -
-as the sum total of everything we know;
-the ability to profit from experiences;
-the ability to cope with the demands of the environment, etc.

Though very informative, the above definitions do not provide for a single, precise and comprehensive definition. To overcome this problem, there were two prominent attempts in history, which are as follows:

I hope it is clear by now, how a good understanding of the topic will reflect in the student's answer. A systematic answer is just not possible unless the topic was well understood.

1) Sternberg's Comparison of Surveys in 1997 - Thirteen psychologists such as Binet, Spearman, Terman, etc. came together in 1921, in a symposium to discuss intelligence, the proceedings of which were published in the Journal of Educational Psychology.  They presented thirteen different definitions of intelligence.

Similarly, in their 1986 research, Sternberg and Determan found that twenty-four prominent scholars had presented twenty-four different definitions of intelligence.

In 1997, Sternberg compared the two surveys, and identified the three most common elements in each of the surveys.

In the report of the 1921 symposium, he found the following three most common elements:
-higher level abilities like abstraction, problem-solving, etc.
-ability to learn
-ability to adapt to the demands of the environment

In the report of the 1986 research, he found the following three most common elements:
-higher level abilities
-that which is valued by culture
-executive process

This was an excellent first attempt to come to a consensual understanding of intelligence.

2) Snyderman and Rothman's 1987 Study -Snyderman and Rothman asked more than 1,000 experts from different fields like psychology, sociology, education, etc. to rate the relevance of thirteen descriptors to intelligence.

Of the thirteen descriptors, the following three were found to be of the most importance, in descending order:
-abstract reasoning
-problem solving ability
-capacity to acquire knowledge

Also, the following three were found to be of the least importance, in descending order:
-achievement motivation
-goal directedness
-sensory acquity 

The above efforts inspired experts to present a definition of intelligence that would include all these commonly agreed upon elements. Two such noteworthy definitions of intelligence are as follows:

-Wechsler, 1944 - "Intelligence, as a hypothetical construct, is the aggregate or global capacity of an individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment."

-Sternberg, 1997 - In a more recent definition, Sternberg defined intelligence as, “Intelligence comprises the mental abilities necessary for adaptation to, as well as shaping and selection of, any environmental context."

Though the above definitions have included the most commonly accepted components of intelligence - adaptability to the environment, abstract reasoning using symbols, and ability to acquire new information - there is still much left to be understood in the ever evolving area of intelligence.




After this discussion of a specimen answer, I will leave you with a small checklist of parameters just like in my earlier post of essay writing, to assess what makes the above a merit-worthy answer:-

1. Clarity or Display of Knowledge

2. Language quality

3. Organization or Ease of Presentation

4. Scope or Coverage

5. Precision

6. Flow or Narrative

*Length is ideally no criterion of judgment, though a well-explained answer is bound to have fair length.