SCIENCE DAMNED DATA, NEW DISCOVERIES AND RADICAL RESEARCH Beyond the g factor
DAVID HAMBLING looks at our current understanding of intelligence… and what the future may hold Intelligence is a powerful but elusive quality, easy to recognise but difficult to define, perhaps the most important factor in distinguishing humanity, but the least understood. While researchers are getting closer to grasping what it is and how it works, their discoveries do not always make for comfortable reading.
The nature of intelligence has always been a topic of debate and there has never been a satisfactory, agreed-upon definition. In 1923 American psychologist Edwin Boring famously stated that “Intelligence is what is measured by intelligence tests”, which at least simplifies matters.
In the 1980s, researchers led by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner argued that…
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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 411