Intelligence, Historical Views of

Intelligence is a historically and culturally contingent concept. This entry explores historical and modern attempts to define and conceptualize intelligence. It reviews the development of representative schools of thought on the nature of intelligence and its fundamental dimensions and essential subtypes. This entry also reviews the parallel, related development of intelligence tests and highlights their contributions to the underlying conceptualization of intelligence. Following a consideration of modern views of intelligence, this entry briefly identifies the status of long-standing controversies, such as the roles of heritability and environment in intelligence, and considers their implications for future research.

The Concept of Intelligence

Few human attributes have garnered more attention or been more central to human identity than intelligence. Yet it has unfailingly resisted simple conceptualizations, even while its reification ...

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