Intelligence

[Douglas S. Oliver]

Dear Funknetters,
 I would like to add my two cents to what Peter Harder said about
intelligence.  In addition to the objections expressed by Gould,
not only in "The Mismeasure of Man" but also in numerous articles
and other publications, I believe we must keep in mind that
"intelligence" as a concept has no coherent definition that
extends beyond very narrow fields of research.  No one here has
attempted to define the term in relation to language/language
learning.  Are we talking of specific skills?  Are we defining
intelligence by these skills?  Can we operationalize our
definition(s) in any useful way for research purposes?  One
respondent mentioned the "G" factor; as Gould has also pointed
out, this is just a reworking/renaming of older and already worn
and discarded concepts. This is not to say that people are not
still using this term, but that it has been shown pretty well, I
believe, to be inadequate.

 Speaking as an anthropologist, I must mention the strong
cultural variables involved with discussions of intelligence.
There abound different folk concepts of what it means to possess
intelligence.  Each of us has, I suspect, some notion of who is
smart and who is not.  It sounds to me here like we are each
trying to impose our own culturally shaped idea of intelligence
in this discussion, which is why I have stressed the need for a
definition that would be acceptable for all participants in this
brainstorming activity.  Even if it is only an ad hoc definition,
it would be a start.  I would like to turn the question back to
Ramin Akbari.  What specifically did you mean by “intelligence?”

 In a previous life (the early 80s) I received an MA in
TESL/applied linguistics from UCLA, and while working on that
degree, I came across much literature directly related to this
current discussion.  Most of my books and articles collected at
that time are now buried under a ton of stuff making them
inaccessible (I’m sorry), but I do remember one specific thing
that impressed me at the time:  In one study, a skill shared by
the largest number of language learners was the ability to mimic
(spoken language).  This is not necessarily a skill I would
include under the idea of intelligence, but who knows?

 I hope this response has not been too crabby.  But I do feel
that without a viable definition, any discussion is bound to go
nowhere.

--Douglas



Douglas S. Oliver
UC Riverside Dept. of Anthropology
Riverside, CA 92521

dsoliver at earthlink.net
douglaso at citrus.ucr.edu