Evolution of the Concept of Intelligence

The concept of IQ is relatively recent, despite the widespread cultural tendency to regard intelligence as a discrete and measurable category that has existed since time began. Intelligence tests were initially constructed with a relatively straightforward purpose -- to discern which children could flourish in the rigid French school system. After the French government passed a law requiring all French children attend school, it commissioned Alfred Binet and his colleague Theodore Simon to identify which children exhibited cognitive deficits. Binet focused upon skills that were not necessarily 'taught' to children, such as "attention, memory and problem-solving skills," to ensure that children from more privileged backgrounds did not have an advantage on the test (Cherry 2010). Binet also created a distinction between children able to answer more advanced questions only older children were capable of solving and average children. "Based on this observation, Binet suggested...
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