FREE ESSAY ON INTELLIGENCE AND SOCIETY

INTELLIGENCE AND SOCIETY

Intelligence
In society, people base their life on intelligence. They do everything possible to get
ahead in life. To get ahead, they cheat each other, back stab, and commit many sinful
acts. Also, they educate themselves so they are capable of doing whatever is required of
them. Society is trying to always make themselves smarter. Are they trying to change
something that they have no control over though? Intelligence is something that everybody
has, but is something that is developed over time. The development of intelligence has
many items that play a factor. For instance, environment and heredity both play a role in
developing a person's I.Q.
"Each of us are born with intelligence" (Lawler 15). With one's intelligence, one finds
outside issues exist in playing a role in their I.Q. For instance, the moment a baby is
born factors are affecting that child's I.Q. The baby does not have control over these
factors, but they 
still take an affect. The factors can range from the baby's birth weight to the order in
which the child was born. Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler state that a child with
"low-birth weight tend to have a lower I.Q."(212). This is true because it is believed
that if the child's birth weight is low then the child must be slower at developing.
Since a child is slow at developing, he will therefore have a lower I.Q. On the other
end, "If you come from a large family, your I.Q. may go hand in hand with the position
you were born. If you are the youngest your intelligence tends to be higher than the
first born"(Pinter 530). 
After the issues that one can't control take effect, one needs to concentrate on his
parental role in developing a child's intelligence. "Parental education has no effect on
a child until the ages of 2-5" (Lewis 107). When a child reaches this age point, the
parents play a large role in the development of his intelligence. For instance, a child
that comes from an environment that is uncaring, unlovable, and abusive tends to score
lower on an I.Q. test. Put that same child into a different situation, by either adoption
or foster care, or just a change of parental support, and that child performance
increases. "I.Q. could be based on a range of environments, or lowered by lack of
positive environmental feedback" (Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler 103). Without positive
feedback a child gives up. He gives up because he feels like he is a failure at what he
is doing.
While the main focus on a child's intelligence comes from the home, other influences also
play a role. Pinter stated "By environmental influences we way mean very specific and
narrow changes or else those factors of home and school" (94). At school, children learn
reading, writing, and arithmetic. In addition to classes, school offers a good place to
fellowship with others. During the fellowship, one is able to gain knowledge from other
people. That fellowship though isn't always a good thing. For example, suppose that
everything the child hears throughout the day is not true. Then, that child becomes
ignorant to the truth. All this happens because the child is bombarded with false
information throughout the day. At some time the child will start believing that
everything he hears is true.
With children balancing out each other's intelligence in conversation, the need for it to
be built up increases. "Children who get special attention tend to have higher I.Q."
(Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler 112). This is where a child's teacher plays a role in
developing his intelligence. A teacher has the opportunity to "work and train a student
by giving help [causing him to] be smarter" (Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler 112). If
teachers do not interact with their students, how can one expect the students to gain
anything; by teachers helping, it shows love. That love closely relates to the parents'
role in child development. In addition, the child is with the teacher for the majority of
the day. How the teacher and the child interact is a decisive factor in that child's
intelligence.
In addition to the teacher's nature, the classes the teacher teaches takes a part in
developing intelligence. Throughout one's entire school career, the courses taken get
more rigorous as one goes on. That should mean that when they finish their schooling,
their intelligence should be at it's highest. Pintner agrees when he stated "While
schooling, the harder the courses taken are responsible for higher intelligence" (273).
So why does not everyone just keep going to school so that everyone becomes a genius?
That assumption only works in a fantasy world, because "the older you get the dumber or
lower your I.Q. tends to be" (Pintner 307). This happens because with old age comes a
lack of keen mental ability. This is seen in a familiar situation today. Take for
instance elderly drivers, their ability is lacking in the their reflexes. This shows that
when you increase in age things aren't as good as they once were.
When one speaks about the topic of intelligence a question surfaces, that question is,
are whites smarter than blacks? " "Race" and "I.Q." are terms which seemingly posses a
clear and well defined meaning for millions of people" (Montague 1). When these two words
are combined into "Race I.Q." it causes people to do things they normally would not. A
case in point, if one questions race I.Q. what keeps him from not questioning
race-abilities and other items. So he tries avoiding the issue waiting for the topic to
be dropped or changed. He avoids the issue so he is not considered a racist. The best
thing to do would be to quit categorizing individuals as a race, but instead look at
everybody as a whole. Allow everybody to be considered an equal. Then the problem of
"Race I.Q." would not be an issue.
In addition to the race, another problem is the true meaning of intelligence. Loehlin,
Lindzey, and Spuhler declare that "the meaning of intelligence is to be able to solve
general problems" (49). People out there today have troubles at solving problems. Yet,
that is the main way of testing one's intelligence. Why is it that intelligence is based
on the ability to solve problems? Some people may be slow in that particular area, but
excel at artistic work, or other areas. One can't measure true intelligence by putting a
paper full of questions in front of somebody and expect to get complete understanding of
that person's true intelligence. A test is unable to show a person's hidden potential.
However, the taking of a test remains the key tool in determining a person's
intelligence.
In the subject of testing, rises another issue. It is unknown by most people that "the
average difference between whites and blacks is 15 on an I.Q. test" (Montagu 147). Why is
there such a difference between these races' intelligence? This can be answered many
different ways. For instance, who is issuing the test plays a part in the equation. "The
average score for a black person drops 6 points when taking the test given by a white
than when given by a black" (Richardson and Spears 57). Also, another event that plays a
role in this difference would be that " . . . the standardized test are meant for whites.
So when blacks take the test, they are being tested on their white intelligence"
(Richardson and Spears 53). The ability of whites to score higher on the test decreases
when they are given a test that emphasizes the black culture. If we go and change the
test, so they coincide with the person taking the test, it causes too many other problems
that people are too lazy to face. It would mean for the current test to be removed and
replaced with a new test. The new test would first have to be created so it is culturally
correct. Last, to make the test culturally correct it would take numerous people to
research each culture so we have an accurate test. And people today aren't prepared to do
all this work. In addition to the actual test, the race issue has an effect on the
changing of the test. Nobody wants to be labeled with something unpleasant, such as a
racist.
Loehlin, Lindzey, and Spuhler argue that if one wants to "decrease black-white I.Q.
differences [they] might be anticipated from improvement in nutrition" (319).
Intelligence is like any thing else. In everyday living, it is hard for a person to
function without the proper dieting that is needed. Whether a person is going to school
or if he is trying to function at the work place, doing activities with friends and
family, one needs to maintain proper eating habits to be able to have a healthy life. The
same concept applies here. With proper nutrition, one's intelligence improves. It
improves because with proper nutrition one is able to function at a better command. 
With environment and heredity both playing a role in the development of a person's I.Q.,
people are mistaken by the thought that one can control their own intellectual destiny by
means of hard work. One must realize, that in intelligence the outcome is based on things
such as home and school, your family, and the culture in which you grow- up in. These
items are always going to play a role in the outcome of one's intelligence. No matter how
hard one tries to change them, it will always remain the way it was meant to be. 
Bibliography
Works Cited
Lawler, James M. I.Q., Heritability and Racism. New York: International Publishers,
1978.
Lewis, Michael. Origins of Intelligence: Infancy and Early Childhood. New York: Plenum
Press, 1976.
Loehlin, Lindzey, and J.N. Spuhler. Race Difference in Intelligence. San Francisco: W.H.
Freeman and Company, 1975.
Montagu. Race and I.Q.. New York: Oxford University Press, 1975.
Pintner. Intelligence Testing, Methods and Results. New York: H. Holt, 1923.
Ken Richardson and David Spears. Race and Intelligence. Baltimore: Penguin Books Inc.,
1972