What is Mental ability?

Mental ability is a complex capability developed over the years and having definite interrelated aspects like content or structure of mental ability and application of these in different persons.

This interrelationship ca he best explained by the following Table:

These terms require some explanation.

Contents of Mental Ability

a) The ability for 'figural relations' means the capacity to understand and manipulate objects. People used to dealing with machine parts, tools, puzzle completions, graphs, diagrams, etc. or working fast with their hands, will excel in this.This is also called 'concrete intelligence' and 'performance IQ' by psychologists.

b) The ability to deal with symbols means basically a mental exercise.The capacity to think effectively with words as symbols as well a 'numbers' as symbos is included. This is also called 'verbal ability' and 'numerical ability'.Experienced teachers, writers, journalists and lingtusts are likely to excel in verbal ability. On the other hand, mathematicians, statisticians, scientistsand astrologists are likely to excel in 'numenccal ability.' The best combination of verbaland numerical ability is called 'abstract intelligence' by psychologists.

c) Semantic ability is the capacity to deal with ‘meanings’ or to read between lines. This includes originality, flexibility, foresight and ‘shifting of meaning’ from the material at hand towards ‘brevity’ and ‘conciseness’. This could also be called ‘insight into written matrial with originalityh’. Semantic ability is also at the abstract level but is different from verbal ability. While verbal ability deals with the relation between words and letters, semantic ability deals with ‘ideas’ – their analysis and construction of new and original ideas.

d)Behavioural ability is also known as ‘social intelligence’. This is the ability to deal effectively with other people, to evaluate and judge the behavior of persons or groups of persons. It includes the capacity to understand emotions, actions, interactions and outcomes of reactions of persons to each other.

This is an absolutely essential ability because we are social beings. Effectiveness in the relationships between parents and children, students and teachers, employers and employees, management and workers, leaders and followers, interviewers and interviewees-all these depend on the ability to understand and judge human behavior.

Applications of Mental Ability

Individuals differ in their styles of application of intellect. Some excel in one while others excel in other styles. The various applications of intellect are:

a)Comprehension- this includes grasp and understanding of the given material only without going beyond the material provided. This can also be called ‘cognitive style’. Recognition of familiar objects, sounds, melodies, etc., is included here but analytical ability is not.

b) Retention- after comprehension, some individuals are able to transfer the material into ‘retention’ and are able to recall it quickly, recalling the right matter at the right time, with accuracy and speed, is a key to success. This is also called ‘memory ability’.

c) Reasoning- this includes the logical application of comprehended and retained material. The ability to grasp object relations, relations of ideas, ability of analysis and synthesis, and convergent and divergent thinking are included in this area. Reasoning is a style of higher order complex mental ability.

d) Evalution- this means reaching an outcome, conclusion, and implication, after reasoning, analysis and logical thinking have been applied. The evaluative style helps the individual’s problem-solving ability, and insight and foresight regarding problems. This is most helpful usually while dealing with other persons and social situations like group conflicts and communal tensions.