INTELLIGENCE: A DivA AND A WoRKHORSE

T his introduction will try to set the stage for the subsequent chapters. We first dis­ cuss a few issues related to the measure­ ment of intelligence before commenting on the understanding of intelligence. We do so because intelligence testing has always been a very prag­ matic job. In an attempt to satisfy the demand for ability testing, the development, use, and evalua­ tion of measurement tools has been a focal activ­ ity of researchers working in the area. In the early years of empirical psychological research, the measurement of intelligence was so success­ ful, with approaches related to its understanding so far from being satisfactory, that the latter was overly neglected for a long period. Following these historical lines, we postpone more recent efforts toward the understanding of intelligence to the end of this introduction.