Issues with Assessing Intelligence

I have always found intelligence to be an interesting subject to learn about and in particular my own intelligence.  It is often used to describe how book smart a person is or how high they scored on an exam or IQ test.  Too often I believe that the focus is put in these areas and we lose sight of what else intelligence really means to an individual.  Another aspect we forget about is the effect that a person's genetics, lifestyle, environment and other factors influence their intelligence.  Over time I have had the opportunity to do a lot of exploring in regards to my intelligence and I think that has changed the way I view others in terms of it.  During high school, I had the chance to take a few different viewpoints on intelligence and then describe who I am in relation to its variables.  In particular one theory we looked in to was that of Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences.  I remember this so clearly because it was the first time I thought of intelligence as something other than being book smart.  There are different realms of smart and each individual has their own strengths and weaknesses.  This theory and concept has always stuck with me for that reason.  It allowed each person to have their own type of intelligence. 

As I was reading this week, I noticed the theme of problems in defining and assessing intelligence come up throughout each of the articles and chapter in Drummond and Jones (2010).  Although there are researchers and people who have been exploring this field for years and years, there is still no solid confirmation on how we can define this construct.  Yet even without this confirmation, schools, teachers and parents are looking to find answers amongst intelligence tests which seem to be very one dimensional in their assessment.  Some issues that have arose throughout time are: whether intelligence is hereditary or environmental, whether intelligence is different/how different over cultures, how stable a person's intelligence stays during their lifetime and the differences between IQs discovered today and found in a past generation (Drummond and Jones, 2010).  Due to these numerous dilemmas it is no wonder that there is a struggle to find common ground.  Neisser et. al (1996) just begin to describe all the loads of variables that may influence a person's intelligence if we have at first even defined it.  A person's genes, environmental factors (occupation, education, culture, previous interventions, family life), biological factors (nutrition, chemical or drug use), and individual life experiences (Neisser et. al, 1996).  The mound of information seems to be a difficult place to even start.  How as school counselors are we going to be able to use what we do know to the best of our ability and apply it successfully in our schools? 

"A theory of intelligence is useful to educators and school counselors only if it leads to a better understanding of how children learn or if it assists in predicting future performance" (Esters and Ittenbach, p. 373, 1999).  Esters and Ittenbach's (1999) article began to give me an idea of what I can be doing to benefit my school.  The more that we can learn about the idea of intelligence and all of its theories surrounding it the better suited we will be to take IQ scores and other forms of intelligence for what they are.  The tests can provide valuable information but we must know their structure and limitations as well.  Gaining this background knowledge will allow us to make more informed decisions within a school incorporating all variables of the construct of intelligence that may be at play.

Drummond, R. J. and Jones, K. (2010). Assessment Procedures for Counselors and Helping Professionals. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Esters, I. & Ittenbach, R. (1999). Contemporary theories and assessments of intelligence: A primer. Professional School Counseling, 2(5), 373-9.

Neisser, U. , Boodoo, G., Bouchard, T.J., Boykin, A. W., Brody, N., Ceci, S.J., Halpern, D.F., Loehlin, J.C., Perloff, J.C., Sternberg, R., Urbina, S. (1996). Intelligence: Knowns and unknowns. American Psychologist, 51(2), 77-101.