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IQ

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Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior

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Introduction

Intelligence is the ability to think rationally, learn effectively, understand complex ideas, and adapt to the environment. Accordingly, intelligence is best seen as a general ability that can influence performance on a wide range of cognitive tasks. IQ (the intelligence quotient) is the quantification of an individual’s intelligence relative to peers of a similar age. IQ is one of the most heritable psychological traits, and an individual’s score on a modern IQ test is a good predictor of many life outcomes, including educational and career success, health, longevity, and even happiness (Gottfredson 1998). Like humans, several species of animals express a “general cognitive ability” that influences performance on broad and diverse cognitive tasks, and moreover, animals exhibit a wide range of individual variations in this ability.

Intelligence and Intelligence Testing (IQ) in Humans

It has long been recognized that intelligence varies across individuals. Colloquially, we...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, USA

    Louis D. Matzel & Bruno Sauce

Authors
  1. Louis D. Matzel
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  2. Bruno Sauce
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Correspondence to Louis D. Matzel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Jennifer Vonk

  2. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR, USA

    Mark A. Krause

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Matzel, L.D., Sauce, B. (2022). IQ. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55065-7_1080

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