什麼是智力

學習、理解、對付嶄新或艱難處境的能力。在心理學中，這個用語可能特定解釋爲：利用知識來操縱環境或以客觀標準（例如智商測驗）衡量之抽象思考的能力。智力通常被視爲來自遺傳特點與環境（發展性與社會性）因素的結合。這個主題一直倍受爭議，而許多人試圖揭示：生物學（特別是基因）或環境（特別是反映社會經濟階級的條件）在某種程度上是產生智力差異的全部因素。支持種族與智力關聯的研究特別受到議論，其中大部分尚未被科學界接受。綜合智力常被說成包含了各種不同的能力（表達能力、解決問題的邏輯應用能力等），但評論家論述：這樣的分隔無法反映出認知的本質，而可能奠基於資訊處理的其他模式是需要的。高智力（由測驗算出）有時顯然與社會成就相關聯，但大部分的專家相信，其他因素是重要的，智力並非成功的保證（缺乏智力亦非註定失敗）。亦請參閱artificial intelligence、creativity。

intelligence

Ability to learn or understand or to deal with new or trying situations. In psychology, the term may more specifically denote the ability to apply knowledge to manipulate one's environment or to think abstractly as measured by objective criteria (such as the IQ test). Intelligence is usually thought of as deriving from a combination of inherited characteristics and environmental (developmental and social) factors. The subject remains hotly debated, and many have tried to show that either biology (especially genes) or environment (especially conditions reflecting socioeconomic class) are more or less exclusively responsible for producing differences in intelligence. Particularly contested have been studies purporting to show links between race and intelligence, most of which have not been accepted in the scientific community. General intelligence is often said to comprise various specific abilities (verbal ability, ability to apply logic in solving problems, etc.), but critics contend that such compartments fail to reflect the nature of cognition and that other models, perhaps based on information processing, are needed. High intelligence (as measured by tests) is sometimes shown to correlate with social achievement, but most experts believe other factors are important and that intelligence is no guarantor of success (and its lack is no guarantor of failure). See also artificial intelligence, creativity.