"Intelligence" is frequently and casually used in both everyday conversation and academic discourse, as though it were an identifiable, measurable quantity. Yet, the truth is that intelligence still enjoys the status of being a metaphysical term, like truth or beauty. However, a conception of what it means to be intelligent is both useful and, in some cases, necessary for the proper functioning of certain contexts like schools and workplaces. This paper will discuss a definition of intelligence as it relates to these contexts, as well as the implications of such a definition for the classroom and the workplace.
There are numerous theories of intelligence, both implicit and explicit. Implicit are the informal ideas that exist in people's minds regarding what it means to be intelligent: smart, quick, clear, focused (Sternberg, 1985). Explicit theories worked out by expert researchers sometimes include these ideas, particularly the association of speed with intelligence. It will be argued in this paper that implicit theories, especially those of the population at large, play an important role in how intelligence is to be viewed, precisely because conceptions of intelligence vary across cultures. Furthermore, this variance arises from the fact that "intelligence" is a term created by society to describe the capacity needed to function within society.
Intelligence is, in the broadest sense, problem-solving ability. When all of the myriad challenges and circumstances in life are reduced to a basic unit, problem-solving is the one function shared by all creatures. Thus, a person is labeled "intelligent" whether he has accomplished the task of designing an energy-efficient building, or constructed a theory of quantum mechanics, or communicated a political vision to a large group of people. These tasks present a problem, and the intelligent person works out a solution. The reduction of intelligence to a single entity, however, is differen...