Big Think How should we measure intelligence? | Mary-Helen Immordino Yang
Oct 24, 2025
The conversation challenges the notion that intelligence can be accurately measured by standardized tests. It highlights how such assessments often fail to capture a child's true potential, reducing them to mere test scores. Instead, the need for a broader definition of intelligence is emphasized, one that values ecological and adaptive thinking. This type of intelligence fosters creativity and real-world problem-solving, urging us to support learning environments that nurture these vital skills.
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Measurement Isn't The Same As Potential
- Our culture's drive to measure everything may not require measuring intelligence at all.
- Current testing reveals performance under specific conditions, not true potential.
Tests Show Contextual Performance Only
- Standardized tests measure ability to reproduce expected answers on predesigned assessments at a set time.
- That approach tells you how a student performs in that narrow context, not how they will adapt or invent.
Testing Undermines Agency
- Teaching to tests narrows agency and trains kids to solve problems invented by others on others' terms.
- This narrowing privileges a limited way of knowing a child's intelligence and overlooks emergent abilities.