Apart from the faculty of language, the other most important
species-specific psychological faculty that human beings possess is perhaps
intelligence. Its historical origin precedes the emergence of language in the
early hominids and relates to the diachronic point in the history of evolution
when man started knowing his worth as a thinking and cognizing being. This
simple rendition of meaning to such a complex and all-pervading mental
phenomenom as human intelligence actually has a long and complex history. This
follows with the human path of evolution from skilled hunter-gatherers to
efficient information processing biological systems. Of course other species of
the animal world do have different types of intelligence and its several
accessories that help them survive. However, for other animals its domain is
limited in capacity and certainly unlike something as complex as human
intelligence. Being such an important evolutionary trait, its exploration
within the domains of science and specifically in modern psychology is
extensive and all compassing. Perhaps since its inception as a scientific
discipline of objective inquiry in last two centuries what psychology and
psychologists have done is to measure intelligence with increasingly refined
methods. These methods have gradually evolved with techniques and sophistication
alongside the developmental history of humankind sharing the usual anxieties
and controversies of scientific inquiry and rationalization.

Gall’s phrenological insights and the conceptualizations of
the various organs of the brain with their individual psychological functions
had created the first scientific interest in knowing where in the brain
intelligence lies among a plethora of other mental faculties. Phrenologists
explicitly proposed that every mental function of the brain had a physical basis
of origin inside the brain that can be identifiable. Intelligence as a major
functional feature of the mental life also thought to be dependent upon one’s
skull size. This was the time when empiricism of psychology was rudimentary and
its tools for measurement of human behaviors were still in evolution. However,
despite the passage of time and changes in the views of research workers on the
nature of intelligence, the metaphors they used for the analogy have remained
alive even today. These metaphors   and the conceptual schemas that helped them
to imagine and quantify intelligence still influence scientific views in a
changed world of multiculturalism and rapid vanishing of geographic boundaries.
This is important to objectively analyze how human beings have evolved through
these shifting currents of socio-biological change with their adoptive use of
thinking and intelligence. It calls for a review of the very history of
intelligence in terms of the scientific principles and imaginations that have
gone into measuring and designing tests for a diverse range of purposes (e.g.
college admission to military recruitment). The book under review, Intelligence:
A Brief History by Anna T. Cianciolo and Robert J. Sternberg is a slim
volume on the historical tentacles of scientific thinking on theories of
intelligence, important contributions in measurement of intelligence and a
survey of current paradigms of research.

Science is best understood by its use of metaphors.  The objective exploration of any physical or
mental phenomenon requires appropriate metaphorical comparison for its
conceptualization to take place. This has happened historically in the
experimental paradigms used to test and compare human intelligence. In the very
first chapter titled "The Nature of Intelligence" the authors
approach the subject compartmentalizing into several metaphors like geographic,
computational, biological, epistemological, sociological, anthropological, and
lastly the systems metaphor. Actually these are different approaches of
different converging disciplines that have explored the basic nature of
intelligence over the last century. Throughout the book we see the discussion
and review of research under these metaphors, which puts the diversity of
themes into clear perspectives. The initiation of the geographic metaphor where
the human mind was thought to have distinct divisions into various performance
zones was with Franz-Joseph Gall’s Phrenological sciences. Performance on
various intelligence tests was correlated with several underlying factors of
individuals and these factors were unique abilities represented in different
parts of the brain. British psychologist Charles Spearman had divided human
intelligence into specific and general abilities. Specific abilities may include
mathematical computation or musical talent here as mostly all human beings have
some aspects of general abilities regarding intelligence. Intelligence was no
longer considered some unitary general-purpose mental energy. Different types
of intelligence soon fell into hierarchies. 
These hierarchical models placed general intelligence at the top and all
other specific types of intelligence at the bottom. Hierarchical models got
into controversy, as it was evident during testing that two dissimilar mental operations
may require similar types of basic intelligence and hence may be put in the
same hierarchical position.  The
computational paradigm of intelligence research tried to capture the diverse
nature of intelligence among human beings as correlations of other cognitive
capacities like memory.  The methods
used were mostly of neuropsychological and psychological origin. It is only
with the imaging of the brain with PET and fMRI that now scientists are
learning about the various brain areas responsible for different types of
intelligence and how verities of cognitive functions simultaneously subserve
intelligence processing.  The chapter
offers brief accounts Piagetian epistemological framework of cognitive
development in children and Vygotsky’s thoughts on the social nature of human
cognition. The anthropological metaphors include the influence of culture and
societal belief on our conception of intelligence and the way it varies in
different cultures. The last metaphor is called the systems metaphor. The chapter
presents the various dominant scientific frameworks that have guided research
on intelligence so far.

Chapter Two is on the core theoretical issues of
intelligence testing and covers the description for different types of tests
that are currently in use. The authors do not pass any critical judgment about
the validity of these tests but show the scientific thinking lurking behind
them.  The author’s show that any
psychological test is governed by at least one of the metaphors presented in
chapter one. Whether it is scholastic achievement tests or tests for military
selection or for immigration all are carefully guided by those long held
metaphorical imaginations of the human condition. Here the authors achieve
symmetry in their presentation of the material. Though intelligence tests have
been controversial and there had been a steady campaign against such testing in
the academies, they do remain the single most approach to divide human beings
on the basis of their mental or cognitive performances.

In Chapter Three the authors return to the issues of
teaching intelligence. The presentation is again in the lines of the metaphors.
Teachers of intelligence generally try to improve the thinking and problem
soling skills guided by the geographic and computational principles.  In cases with neurological abnormalities and
other developmental deficiencies drug treatment is prescribed.  The concept of a "critical period"
in the development of intelligence is believed to be central in the biological
intervention. Epistemological theories on intelligence testing focus on the
developmental stages of children’s intellectual development. Sociological
theories are based on the principles developed by Vygotsky. Sociological
approaches work on dynamic principle of intelligence development by focusing on
a small number of mental attributes. Anthropological theories try to find the
culture specific norms of intelligent behaviors and incorporate them into
classroom training. The authors point out that this approach has tried to
correct the extreme Anglo centric views of intelligence of nineteen and early
twentieth century.  Systems theories of
intelligence teaching work on improving several components of intelligence
rather than only a few. The chapter covers material on various types of methods
currently in use for intelligence teaching along with their theoretical
background. The influence of genetic factors on the manifestation of
intelligence is the subject matter of Chapter Four. Since the time of Darwin
and Galton the nature-nurture debate on human evolution has included factors
associated with intelligence. The authors describe family studies, twin studies
and adoption studies as evidence for a genetic basis if intelligence. A
significant portion of the chapter is devoted to core issues regarding genetics
and current behavioral genetic methods used in intelligence research. The
authors conclude that it is still unfinished and controversial to state weather
nature or nurture play an important role in the genetic make up of human
intelligence.

The last chapter is on group differences in intelligence.
Gender variation on intelligence scores on tests of visual-spatial, verbal,
mathematical and memory have contributed towards out understanding
enormously.  Differences arise because
of basic physiological design between two genders and the social forces that
modulate intelligent behaviors in males and females. The last part of the
chapter is devoted to racial differences in intelligence. In the contemporary
world where racial intermixing and social integration is such an everyday
factors a rational explanation of racial influence on intelligence certainly
plays a dominant role in stabilizing social choices.

This slim volume is certainly informative offers an
impartial view of a controversial topic like human intelligence in its
entirety. It is recommended for any new student in psychology or to an amateur
reader interested in the history of intelligence.

© 2005 Ramesh Kumar Mishra

Ramesh Kumar Mishra , Ph.D., Lecturer
in Linguistics, Dept. of Speech Pathology, All India Institute of Speech and
Hearing, Mysore, Karnataka, India