Aptitude: The potential to acquire specific skills.

Aptitude tests: Tests that measure potential for skills.

Case study: An in-depth study of an individual.

Cognitive assessment system: A system that evaluates cognitive abilities.

Componential intelligence: Analytical skills for problem-solving.

Contextual intelligence: Practical skills to adapt to daily demands.

Creativity: The ability to produce original ideas or solutions.

Emotional intelligence: The ability to understand and manage emotions.

Culture-fair test: An intelligence test that is unbiased across cultures.

Experiential intelligence: Using past experiences creatively to solve problems.

g-factor: General intelligence common to all intellectual tasks.

Individual differences: Variations among individuals in psychological traits.

Intellectual giftedness: Exceptional intellectual ability that is usually quantified by an IQ score.

Intellectual disability: Sub-average intellectual functioning with challenges in adaptive behavior.

Intelligence: The capacity to understand and utilize knowledge effectively.

Intelligence tests: Standardized tests designed to measure intellectual ability.

Intelligence quotient (IQ): A score derived from standardized tests to gauge intelligence.

Interest: A preference for engaging in specific activities over others.

Interview: A method of gathering information through direct interaction.

Mental age (MA): An individual's intellectual age based on performance.

Observational method: Collecting data through direct observation of behavior.

Planning: The process of setting goals and determining actions to reach them.

Psychological test: A standardized measure of psychological attributes.

Simultaneous processing: Integrating multiple pieces of information at once.

Situationism: The theory that behavior is influenced more by situational factors than by personal traits.

Successive processing: Sequentially handling information one after another.

Values: Enduring beliefs that guide behavior and decision-making.

• Individuals vary in their physical and psychological characteristics. Individual differences refer to distinctiveness and variations in people’s characteristics and behaviour patterns.

• A wide variety of personal attributes such as intelligence, aptitude, interests, personality, and values can be assessed. Psychologists assess these attributes through psychological tests, interviews, case studies, observations, and self-reports.

• The term ‘intelligence’ refers to an individual’s capacity to understand the world, think rationally, and use resources effectively to meet the demands of life. Intellectual development is the product of a complex interplay of hereditary factors (nature), and environmental conditions (nurture).

• The psychometric approaches to intelligence lay emphasis on studying intelligence as a constellation of abilities, expressed in quantitative terms such as IQ. The more recent theories representing information-processing approaches, e.g. Sternberg’s triarchic theory and Das’s PASS model describe the processes underlying intelligent behaviour. Howard Gardner suggests that there are eight different kinds of intelligence.

• Intelligence is assessed with the help of specially designed tests. Intelligence tests may be of verbal or performance type; can be administered individually or in groups; and may be culturally-biased or culturally-fair. At the two extremes of intelligence are the intellectually deficient persons and the intellectually gifted.

• Culture provides a context for intellectual development. Western culture promotes ‘technological intelligence’ based on skills of analysis, performance, speed, and achievement orientation. In contrast, non-western cultures value self-reflection, social and emotional competence as signs of intelligent behaviour. Indian culture promotes ‘integral intelligence’ that emphasises connectivity with people and the larger social world.

• Emotional intelligence involves the ability to perceive and manage one’s and other’s feelings and emotions; to motivate oneself and restrain one’s impulses; and to handle interpersonal relationships effectively.

• Aptitude refers to an individual’s potential for acquiring some specific skills. Aptitude tests predict what an individual will be able to do given proper training and environment.

• Creativity is the ability to produce ideas, objects, or problem solutions that are novel, appropriate and useful. Certain level of intelligence is necessary to be creative, but a high level of intelligence, however, does not ensure that a person would certainly be creative.