A theory of intelligence as processing: Implications for society.

Abstract

Defining intelligence as processing allows one to predict intelligence from infancy, discover causes of mental retardation, test the intelligence of people with disabilities, develop culture-fair tests of intelligence, and demonstrate that groups that differ in IQ do not necessarily differ in intelligence. An early estimate of intellectual disability allows a child to qualify quickly for remedial programs. Economic and emotional benefits would ensue from discovering and eliminating the causes of a small percentage of cases of mental retardation. The measurement of intelligence as processing reveals intellectual strengths that may otherwise be masked by physical or emotional disability or by cultural circumstances. Cultures may differ in the types of knowledge their members have but not in how well they process. Cultures may account for racial differences in IQ. The purpose of this article is to consider the implications for society of defining intelligence as processing. My belief is that controversy surrounding the term intelligence has arisen and continues because intelligence has historically been defined as how much one knows rather than as how well one processes. IQ scores, by convention, are based on how much one knows relative to one's age peers. My theoretical position (Fagan, 1992; Fagan & Haiken-Vasen, 1997) is that intelligence is processing and that processing can be measured by performance on certain elementary cognitive tasks. An IQ score, on the other hand, depends not only on processing ability but on what one has been taught. To state my theory briefly, as information is processed, the mind changes. That change is called knowledge. Knowledge is a state of mind. How well we process depends on our genetic plan and on the good or ill that the world has physically inflicted on our brain. Culture provides us with information. What we know depends on how well we process and on what our culture teaches us. Defining intelligence as processing frees intelligence from its historic definition as the score (IQ) on an intelligence test and makes intelligence an integral and legitimate object of study across all areas of psychology and disciplines related to psychology. Defining intelligence as processing has the additional practical advantage of providing a common metric with which to study intelligence across species. Most important for our present purposes, defining intelligence as processing clarifies theoretical issues in the field of intelligence and, in so doing, may change lives.

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