The concept of human intelligence is still controversial within science. Theorists and researchers do not fully agree on what it is and how it can be measured.

However, there is a certain consensus that intelligence is related to the ability to seek out and use to our advantage the information we need in order to solve the problems we face.

Curiosities about human intelligence

Now let’s look at five things you probably didn’t know about human intelligence.

1: The tests do not measure intelligence in absolute terms

Throughout history, many tests have been developed to measure the cognitive abilities inherent to intelligence . Two of these instruments are the Weschler Intelligence Test, and the Raven Progressive Matrix Test. Both have the particularity that they have a wide scientific literature that supports them and they also have a good correlation between them. The latter means that whether we take one test or the other, the two will show very similar results.

On the contrary, those tests that are often offered by current magazines or circulated by Facebook or some websites to check how smart we are, have not been scientifically studied, and therefore have no value.

However, no test serves to measure our intelligence in absolute terms , but in relative terms. This means that what the result shows is how intelligent we are in relation to the rest of the population in our same age group; that is, it compares us with others and positions us within a hierarchical scale.

2: Intelligence is associated with operational memory

At the beginning of the 20th century, the English psychologist Charles Spearman proposed through an exhaustive factor analysis that the intellectual capacity of people is subject to what he called the G-factor of intelligence.

According to his hypothesis, the G factor would represent a basic and specific component for general intelligence , dependent on brain integrity and susceptible to being measured by means of tests.

More recent research has also found a correlation between Spearman’s G-factor and the operating memory index.

Working memory can be defined as the set of mental processes that allow us to temporarily manipulate the information we need to correctly perform cognitive tasks such as reading, math skills and even understanding language. A classic example is when we go to the supermarket and decide to take an approximate mental calculation of what we are spending as we add products to the shopping cart.

In other words, the greater the amount of items or information that a person can keep circulating in his operating memory, the greater his intellectual capacity will be . This makes sense, since in order to effectively solve any problem, we will need to be able to mentally contemplate and manipulate the greatest number of variables involved in it.

3. There are scientists who propose that intelligence is not a one-dimensional concept

I am aware that this affirmation contradicts the previous point, but the truth is that the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposed by psychologist Howard Gardner , basically maintains that whoever is intelligent in one sense, can be a complete fool in another.

This researcher defends the idea that there is no specific thing called “intelligence”, and that on the contrary, people’s intelligence can manifest itself in many different ways .

According to the definition we gave at the beginning, someone who plays the piano or basketball for a living cannot be said not to be intelligent because he lacks mathematical ability or is not very good at solving logical problems.

“If someone like Lionel Messi makes millions from his ball skills, the last thing we can say about him is that he’s stupid,” Gardner could say without hesitation.

This concept has gained a lot of popularity among people because it essentially proposes that we are all potentially intelligent for something. However, there are scientists who criticize it on the grounds that certain personal qualities cannot be considered synonymous with intelligence, but rather “areas” of good performance .

Some researchers have even concluded that at the base of the different disciplines that make up the “multiple intelligences” is the G-factor that we talked about earlier, as a kind of foundation or hard core on which the multiple intelligences are built according to individual differences.
That is, the G factor would be in this case the common denominator of the different types of intelligence that Gardner proposes.

4: Intelligence tends to be stable over time

We all know that when we exercise a particular skill a lot, like playing chess or solving crossword puzzles, we eventually end up becoming experts in that particular skill . It is true that practice makes perfect, but one should not confuse being very good at a particular discipline with general intelligence.

Of course, the quantity and quality of information we acquire over the course of our lives will ultimately shape our baggage of knowledge. But regardless of how much we study, how many languages we learn, how many sports we play, the G factor of intelligence tends to remain more or less unchanged , whether we are 20 or 60 years old.

In other words, specific learning is restricted to their particular area of operation. They are not extrapolated or generalised.

It is precisely this characteristic that makes some intelligence assessment instruments reliable, such as those mentioned at the beginning.

5: There is no intelligence gene

To date no gene has been detected that is entirely responsible for human intelligence as we know it. And this makes sense, since intellectual capacity rather seems to be the result of many different processes that interact with each other, which in turn require the involvement of many, many genes.

Just as when we listen to a symphony we cannot claim that the quality of the music that reaches our ears is the result of a particular instrument, it does not make sense to think that intelligence is the result of a single factor.

Neither can we separate intelligence from the culture in which we are immersed . We do not live isolated in a glass bell, but in a complex world configured by infinite variables. From the moment we are born, or even before, we are exposed to an environment that permanently interacts with and shapes our genetic predisposition.