How is intellect measured?
Intellect
According to J.P.Guilford, intellect consists of three key parameters: operations, contents and products. Each parameter contains specific elements, which are independent and therefore should be measured individually and considered as autonomous units of human intellect.[8]
Malleability of intelligence
In general, intelligence is thought to be attributed to both genetic and environmental factors, but the extent to which each plays a key role is highly disputed. Studies of identical and non-identical twins raised separately and together show a strong correlation between child IQ and socio-economic level of the parents. Children raised in lower-class families tend to score lower on intelligence tests when compared to children raised in both middle and upper-class families. However, there is no difference in intelligence scores between children raised in middle versus upper-class families.The biological basis of intelligence is founded in the degree of connectivity of neurons in the brain and the varying amounts of white and grey matter. Studies show that intelligence is positively correlated with total cerebral volume. While it is true that the number of neurons in the brain actually decreases throughout development, as neural connections grow and the pathways become more efficient, the supporting structures in the brain increase. This increase in supporting tissues, which include myelination, blood vessels, and glial cells, leads to an increase in overall brain size. When brain circumference and IQ were compared in 9 year olds, a positive correlation was found between the two. An increase of 2.87 IQ points occurred for each standard deviation increase in brain circumference.