Directions : Read the following passage and then give short
answers to the following five questions.
Much of the excitement among investigators in the field of intelligence
derives from their trying to determine exactly what intelligence is. Different
investigators have emphasized different aspects of intelligence in their
definitions. For example, in a 1921 symposium on the definition of intelligence,
the American psychologist Lewis M. Terman emphasized the ability to think
abstractly, while another American psychologist, Edward L. Thorndike, emphasized
learning and the ability to give good responses to questions. In a similar 1986
symposium, however, psychologists generally agreed on the importance of
adaptation to the environment as the key to understanding both what intelligence
is and what it does. Such adaptation may occur in a variety of environmental
situations. For example, a student in school learns the material that is
required to pass or do well in a course; a physician treating a patient with an
unfamiliar disease adapts by learning about the diseases; an artist reworks a
painting in order to make it convey a more harmonious impression. For the most
part, adapting involves making a chancre in oneself in order to cope more
effectively, but sometimes effective adaptation involves either changing the
environment or finding a new environment altogether. Effective
adaptation draws upon a number of cognitive processes, such as perception,
learning, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. The main trend in defining
intelligence, then, is that it is not itself a cognitive or mental process, but
rather a selective combination of these processes purposively directed toward
effective adaptation to the environment. For examples, the physician noted above
learning about a new disease adapts by perceiving material on the disease in
medical literature, learning what the material contains, remembering crucial
aspects of it that are needed to treat the patient, and then reasoning to solve
the problem of how to app]y the information to the needs of the patient.
Intelligence, in sum, has come to be regarded as not a single ability, but an
effective drawing together of many abilities. This has not always been obvious
to investigators of the subject, however, and, indeed, much of the history of
the field revolves around arguments, regarding the nature and abilities that
constitute intelligence.
Which aspect of intelligence has been emphasized
most recently
【参考答案】
Effective adaptation. The importance of adaptation to the e......