The concept of intelligence is an elusive one, with enormous variations between both laypeople and experts regarding the actual meaning of the word. Not surprisingly, there are also enormous variations between authors as to what are the basic components and the dynamics of intelligence, with some of these differences stemming from differences in concept but others arising from differences in the method of investigation used. The present article reviews the discussion regarding this very controversial topic, pointing out the shortcomings of traditional and even current approaches to the subject, particularly regarding the scope of the abilities considered, and the tendency to disregard the social-cultural-environmental components of human thinking. In the end, a new approach to the topic of intelligence is presented based on a new contextualist information-processing theory proposed by the authors.
Intelligence and evaluation; intelligence and genetic; information-processing theory; social-cultural context
