Is intelligence an inherited quality? If so, what can be done to change it? Intelligence does have a genetic component. However, that is only part of the picture. The environment also has an enormous impact on intelligence. Research has shown that basic interventions such as adequate prenatal care, good nutrition, and a rich and stimulating home environment can all increase children's IQ. Are there different types of intelligence, or is it one general ability? Intelligence is much like love: we have a hard time defining it, but we know it when we see it. Intelligence seems to involve a basic ability to understand and respond effectively to the world around us. But current thinking holds that there are many different forms that this could take, depending on the culture we live in, the demands of the situation, and our own personal strengths. For example, Gardner's multiple intelligences approach maintains that there are at least seven ways to be intelligent: musically, bodily, mathematically, linguistically, spatially, interpersonally, intrapersonally. |
2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education