We have seen Doctors and others often use 'Physical' Capacity as a confirmation of reasoning or intellectual capacity.
For instance:
- "He looks ok"
- "He can make an EPA"
- "He can dress himself"
- "He does not look malnourished"
- "He can perform Daily Activities" (basic human functions)
This is not 'Reasoning' nor 'mental' capacity. Do not be confused by this common error. Focus on the ability to make sense, think and reason logically. That is what is needed to be answered.
Confusion, loss of thought, memory errors, delusions, personality changes are indication of mental impairments. Not how one looks or implicit actions like picking up a spoon or talking and being able to string a sentence.
We witnessed one gent who insisted on giving his Granddaughter a Pony. He looked great sounded fine..but was severely impaired and had the mentality or functioning capacity of a 10 year old child.
Appearances can fool the smartest of Doctors.
iedunote
Below is an excerpt of this link
- Intellectual Ability.
- Physical Ability.
Intellectual Ability
Intellectual ability is the capacity to do mental activities – thinking and reasoning and problem-solving.
It commonly refers to the ability measured by performance on an intelligence test. It is also sometimes used in the context of discussing the performance of someone in an academic or real-world setting.
The seven most frequently cited dimensions making up intellectual abilities are number attitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, and memory.
Intellectual abilities have got seven dimensions.
Such as;
| Dimension | Description |
| Number aptitude | It is an ability to do speedy and accurate arithmetic. |
| Verbal
comprehension |
It is the ability to understand what is read and heard and the relationship of words to each other. |
| Perceptual speed | It is dying ability to identify visual similarities and differences quickly and accurately. |
| Inductive reasoning | It is the ability to identify a logical sequence in a problem and then solve the problem. |
| Deductive
reasoning |
It is the ability to see logic and assesses the implication of art argument. |
| Special
visualization |
It is the ability to imagine how an object would look like its position in space was changed. |
| Memory | It is the ability to retain and recall past experience. |
Advantages
- Highly reliable
- Verbal reasoning and numerical tests have shown high validity for a wide range of jobs.
- The validity rises with increasing complexity of the job.
- Combinations of aptitude tests have higher validities than individual tests alone.
- May be administered in group settings where many applicants can be tested at the same time.
- Scoring of the tests may be completed by computer scanning equipment.
- Lower cost than personality tests.
Physical Ability
Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, desired, strength and similar characteristics.
It can identify individuals who are physically able to perform the essentials function of a job without risking injury to others.
Research on the requirements needed in hundreds’ of jobs has identified nine physical abilities involved in the performance of physical tasks.
These are -dynamic strength, static strength, trunk strength, explosive strength, extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, body – coordination, balance, and stamina.
| Factor | Description |
| Dynamic strength | Ability to exert muscular force continuously over time. |
| Trunk strength | Ability to exert muscular using trunk muscles. |
| Static strength | Ability to exert force against external objects. |
| Explosive strength | Ability to expand a maximum of energy in one or a series of explosive acts. |
| Extent flexibility | Ability to move the trunk and back muscles as far as possible. |
| Dynamic flexibility | Ability to make rapid, repeated flexing movements. |
| Body coordination | Ability to coordinate the simultaneous actions of different parts of the body. |
| Balance | Ability to maintain equilibrium despite forces pulling off balance. |
| Stamina | Ability to continue maximum effort requiring prolonged efforts over time. |
Advantages
- Can identify individuals who are physically unable to perform the essential functions of a job without risking injury to themselves or others.
- Can result in decreased costs related to disability/medical claims, insurance, and
- workers compensation.
- Decreased absenteeism
Disadvantages
- Costly to administer
- Requirements must be shown to be job-related through a thorough job analysis.
- May have an age-based disparate impact against older applicants,
Intellectual Ability vs. Physical Ability
Ability is an individual’s capacity to master numerous tasks in a job.
Organizations need to identify key abilities of employees that will lead to success, and employees need to have certain abilities that will make them a valuable addition to an organization.
The person who has both the intellectual ability and physical ability may become a rising star within the organization.
Intellectual ability deals with mental capabilities such as excellent memory, verbal comprehension, reasoning, analyzing, and problem-solving, which are all important elements of worker skill in companies.
Physical ability is the ability to perform some physical act, including the tasks that require characteristics such as strength, stamina, etc.
For example, a word processor is required to use his/her fingers to type on the keyboard to accomplish the job. There are significant differences between these abilities.
These are given below:
| Intellectual Ability | Physical Ability | ||
| 1. Intellectual ability is the capacity to do the activities like thinking, reasoning, and problem-solving. | 1. Physical ability is the capacity to do tasks that demand stamina, desired, strength and similar characteristics. | ||
| 2. Intellectual ability is doing with the mind. | 2. Physical ability is doing with the body. | ||
| 3. It is a measure of intelligence, and involves understanding complex concepts and thinking critically. | 3. It is the capability of performing physical accomplishments, such as flexibility, coordination, basic motor skills. | ||
| 4. It is related to the skills of the mind. | 4. It is related to the capabilities of the physical structure. | ||
| 5. It plays a vital role in complex jobs with demanding information processing requirements. | 5. It gains importance for successfully doing less-skilled and more standardized jobs. | ||
| 6. Intellectual ability is the ability of the mind – i.e. how clever, intuitive, etc. a person is. | 6. Physical ability is the ability of body – i.e. how strong, agile, etc. a person is. | ||
| 7. It is measured by performance on an intelligence test. | 7. It is measured by performance on a physical test. | ||
| 8. Types of intellectual ability are number attitude, verbal comprehension, perceptual speed, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, and memory. | 8. Types of physical ability are a dynamic strength, static strength, trunk strength, explosive strength, extent flexibility, dynamic flexibility, body coordination, balance, and stamina. | ||
Actually, every individual requires the ability to achieve a goal.
Physical ability is the ability to perform some physical act, including the tasks that require characteristics such as strength, stamina, etc.
On the other hand, intellectual ability is what one is able to do with the brain, with intelligence.
It is generally talking about the ability that tested relied on an intelligence test. It is also used in the real world when measuring someone’s performance.
Basically, by the above way, we can differentiate physical and intellectual ability.