Do you have an assessment coming up for a new job? If so, they are probably going to test your intelligence. But what is that exactly?
Intelligence is universal
Intelligence is fundamental to life on earth. It’s not just humans who appear to get ahead when they have more of it, but all living things rely on some degree of intelligence to survive. Humans tend to flaunt their intelligence more than other species we share the planet with, and it has a special place in our development and our institutions. Interestingly it is only in the last 150 years or so that there have been attempts to measure and understand intelligence better. Few reading this article would not have been subjected to at least one undignified attempt to measure their intelligence through an IQ test of some sort. There are indeed entire industries devoted to measuring intelligence even though the debates about what intelligence is continue to rage.
Being clever
There were always the clever kids at school. The ones who just had it. They seemed to effortlessly grasp topics that to others seemed like a murky grey fog. They consistently scored high on tests, acing difficult math problems in minutes that flummoxed others for hours. For better or worse these clever kids had brains that seemed to be wired differently. Intelligence, through this lens, appeared to be largely biological. You were either born with it or you spent the rest of your life playing catch up.
The advantage of cleverness
Research tells us that intelligence has an evolutionary advantage. While our smart ancestors might have gained from devising better strategies to hunt, farm and build shelters, contemporary smart individuals generally do better than the more modestly equipped. Smart people tend to be more educated, earn more, make better lifestyle choices and hence live longer and more satisfying lives.
Measuring Intelligence
The war for talent is in some ways a war for smarter staff. A warehouse full of ongoing research tells us that they perform better at work. Hiring more intelligent staff is scientifically likely to be a good bet. Of course this is true for group data. On an individual level a smart, difficult person who lacks motivation is almost certainly worse than an average person who is super conscientious. There are thousands of assessments on the market that measure intelligence, and, depending on which test you use, a result on an intelligence test can be delivered in mere minutes. Yet once again, it is not always clear what exactly is being measured. Intelligence tests take well-informed short-cuts to measure something that correlates with intelligence rather than measuring intelligence directly. Why? Because intelligence is abstract and doesn’t sit in some well-defined section of the brain, but is rather an emergent property that arises from the interaction of multiple areas of organic hardware and software.
Singular vs. Multiple Intelligences
Robert Sternberg suggested that IQ measures something he called “g” (for general). His view was that as abstract as intelligence is, it boils down to this central entity of problem solving that is better in some people than others. Howard Gardner objected to this narrow definition of intelligence and instead advocated for “multiple intelligences”. He argued that intelligence tests were limited, and that intelligence can look very different depending on how you look. In the end he demarcated 8 areas of differing types of intelligence such as linguistic, numerical and artistic. We may know people who can draw remarkably but fail in logical reasoning. In Gardener’s world they would be considered intelligent, but in Sternberg’s they might not.
Psychometric Intelligence
In the world of psychometric testing, you are more likely to bump into a Sternbergian weighted assessment rather than Gardnerian. In workspaces logical reasoning and more generalized intelligence are the ticket to play ahead of Gardeners intelligences. Companies favour individuals who can adapt and learn new things quickly as work environments and demands change. The view is that if someone is a good problem solver they will come equipped with making good choices and having better judgement. Yet Gardener’s view is still likely to show up with the inclusion of personality and interpersonal measures such as EQ (emotional intelligence) in a test battery, to ensure that the smart new hire has people smarts too.
Finally
Overall, no one can deny the combined result of human intelligence. The futuristic world we have built with amazing technology, engineering, medical breakthroughs and household conveniences is evidence of intelligence in action. Of course, humans can be equally unintelligent too. Particularly when it comes to the way we treat each other, wayward politics, wars, ego’s, distorted beliefs, fanaticism…. its an endless list. It’s true, intelligence is great. If only we knew how to use it wisely.
Author: Hilton Rudnick
View the Employee Assessments page to learn more: https://employee-psychometric-assessments.omnicor.co.za/
