1- Introduction and History Flashcards
1- Topics in this chapter
-What is intelligence
-What is IQ
-Why do we care about intelligence
-History of IQ testing
2- What is intelligence according to laypeople?
Based on research by Robert Sternberg,
the average layperson views intelligence as:
* Reasoning logically
* Making connections between ideas
* Seeing all aspects of a problem
His research concluded that laypeople tend to think about
intelligence in three forms:
1* Problem-solving intelligence (children are considered especially
intelligent if they are good at this)
2* Verbal intelligence (young adults are considered especially
intelligent if they are good at this)
3* Social intelligence (older adults are considered especially
intelligent if they are good at this)
3- What is intelligence according to teachers?
When judging if a student is “intelligent”
* Elementary teachers tend to use social intelligence
* High school teachers tend to use verbal intelligence
* University teachers tend to use problem-solving intelligence
Teachers who believe intelligence is changeable and improvable
are far more successful at teaching
Suggestion from Hattie & Fletcher : Rather than investing in
increasing outcomes such as IQ or achievement scores, education
may bear more fruit if it invests in:
* Building students’ confidence to tackle hard problems
* Cultivating curiosity
* Teaching metacognition (strategies that optimize learning and
problem-solving ability)
Combine personal efficacy/confidence with the motivation to learn,
4- What is intelligence according to experts?
- Experts view intelligence as:
– Adapting to the environment (Sternberg)
– Learning from experience (Sternberg)
– Abstract thinking (problem-solving)
– Effective decision-making - Disagreements between whether there is one
or many forms of intelligence - Disagreements about whether intelligence is
narrow or broad in what it encompasses - Sterberg (2018)
– Ability to learn from experience
– Ability to adapt to environment - Weschler 1975
– To understand and adjust to the world around us - O’Reilly and Carr (2007)
– Ability to process, manipulate and use this information
– A composite of core features, including reasoning, planning,
problem solving, abstract thinking, comprehending complex ideas,
learning quickly, and learning from experience - Gottfredson (1997)
– Ability to attend to, understand and adaptively respond to the
external environment.
Reading:
- the existence of ‘g’ is largely agreed upon, the nature of ‘g’ remains hotly disputed
-one major exception to the notion that there may be only one underlying dimension (‘g’) is the claim by American psychologist Howard Gardner that there are multiple intelligences (linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist)
-Linda Gottfredson: (‘g’) involves processing efficiency and capacity, it relates to the thinker’s ability to stay focused on goals, and it involves the ability to uncover and deal with relations at different levels of complexity and abstraction. discriminate intelligence from creativity. Intelligence is what we do when we do not know what to do
5- Cultural differences in views about intelligence
Individualistic cultures (ex. Western culture):
* favor problem solving that lead to personal development
* individualists tend not to value silence, rote learning and memorization
(even though memorization is often central in the Western education
system)
* Individualistic cultures tend to favor verbal and knowledge-based notion
of intelligence, speed of thinking, and curiosity
Collectivists cultures:
* collectivistic cultures tend to favor problem-solving that leads to greater
social harmony
* Value rote learning, memorization, and silence
* Favor social intelligence, contemplative thinking, humility, and wisdom
- Of course, statements about whole cultures need to take into account that there are many differences among individuals within those cultures
- There is more within-culture variation than between-culture variation (people within a culture differ in their opinions a lot, so we can’t generalize
- The common denominator is that intelligence requires thinking, problem-solving and successfully adapting to one’s environment
Examples:
Sub
-Saharan Africa
(Putman et al 1980,
Irvine, 1978)
* Higher Social Class * Someone who
speaks less
* Listening to all
aspects of an issue
(reflecting?)
United States
(Sternberg 1985)
*Practical Problem
solving
*Verbal Ability *Social
competence
*Intellectual
balance and
integration
*Goal attainment *Contextual
intelligence
*Fluid and speedy
thought
China (Yang and
Sternberg, 1998)
*Benevolence *Wanting to do
what is right
*Effort in learning *Humility *Freedom from
conventional
standards of
judgment
*Full knowledge of
oneself and
external
conditions
(personal
judgment?
6- What is IQ?
IQ = a score on an intelligence test
* Examples : Weschler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and the Stanford-Binet test
IQ stands for Intelligence Quotient
* “I” in IQ means IQ is based on a theoretical definition of
intelligence (intelligence)
* “Q” in IQ means IQ is a metric that is calculated using a process of measurement (quotient)
* Originates from the idea that IQ = 100 x (Mental Age / Chronological Age)
Link between intelligence and IQ
Intelligence not included: all the facets hardly captured by test
IQ not included: non intellectual factors influencing performance during the test
Connects both: construct validity
(see image, explains way better)
In North American and in Europe, there is a long
tradition of a psychometric approach to intelligence
* IQ test = psychometric tool to assess cognition
* IQ = score on a bunch of tests, a numeric representation of an
aggregate of scores on tests taping into different cognitive
processes
* Is IQ intelligence??
* We will see few of the many psychometric theories of
intelligence
- Many will agree that IQ scores successfully measure “academic
intelligence”
– It is, indeed, a great predictor of academic success - People who regularly attend school and go further in education have higher IQs, though this
is a chicken-egg situation - IQ tests do not measure ALL of intelligence (Neisser 1976;
Sternberg, 1997) - “IQ tests miss out on everyday, practical abilities – those needed
for success in the real work outside the school classroom or
university ivory tower” - Authors will develop new terms like “Practical intelligence” or
“multiple intelligences”
TAs powerpoint:
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
* Aggregate percentile of scores on multiple intelligence tests: “g”
* Used to understand and diagnose cognitive challenges, then provide support
* Controversial, due to possible implicit biases in testing, BUT:
* Test-retest reliability is good –varies with mood and effort, but its relatively stable.
* Inter-rater reliability is good – administration and scoring is standardized so scores don’t vary
depending on the rater
* Why do we care about IQ?
* Short answer: Capitalism
* Correlates well with income/earning potential, GDP at country level
7- Why do we care about intelligence? Personal/National Wealth
IQ Predicts Personal/National Wealth
* IQ is among the best predictors of earnings
– Motivation, commitment, and opportunity
are also very important predictors!
– E.g., Jencks (1972) found from studying men inducted into the Korean War that those who had high IQs (110+) had personal incomes 34 per cent above the national
average after they returned to civilian life
– Those with IQ scores below 90 had personal
incomes about 34 per cent below the
national average
* IQ is related to the wealth of nations
– This correlational relationship suggests that either:
* Wealthier nations tend to cultivate
citizens with higher IQs
* Or, according to the reading, higher IQ
nations tend to become more wealthy
(thus explaining which nations are
wealthy or not)
* Note: available research is sometimes
based on sketchy data: sometimes using
samples sizes of 80 to estimate the IQ of
entire nations..
* Together with economic freedom and extent of democratic systems, IQ predicts 52-65% of the variance between IQ and the wealth of nations
positive relationship between IQ and earnings
countries with higher average IQ to have leaders who are also more intelligent than average;
8- Why do we care about intelligence? Schooling
IQ and Schooling
* Two views:
– One claim is that schools can assist
students to reach their potential (within
the limits of their IQ)
– Others have claimed that there is no
such notion as ‘within the limits of their
IQ’.
* Schooling increases IQ scores (Ceci 1991)
* Teachers who believe that achievement is more a function of effort and teaching are more likely to enhance their students’ achievement (regardless of the correctness of this belief)
* People with high IQs may voluntarily choose to pursue more education and therefore derive more benefits from schooling
* Dropping out of school, summer breaks, truancy, and medical absences all result in measurable drops in IQ scores. drop of 2 IQ points for each year of high school not completed beyond compulsory school age.
9- Why do we care about intelligence? Other reasons
IQ predicts performance in jobs
-General intelligence is the best predictor of job performance, whereas tests specific to the aptitude required for the job appear to contribute little or nothing to prediction.
-best predictor of job performance is ‘g’,
-The more complex the job, the better IQ is as a predictor of that job!
IQ to diagnose problems
-lead to specific treatments to correct the behavioural or academic problems.
-rare for a psychologist to only use an IQ test, much related to how it is interpreted in conjunction with other methods of assessment
10- Things to remember
- Intelligence is only one of many
attributes we value as a society - The expression of intelligence always
depends on an interaction between
the person’s intellect, environmental
factors, and personality traits - Other factors affecting the expression
of intelligence and achievement:
conscientiousness, integrity,
sustainability, effort, commitment,
seeking to be a self-learner (initiative) - Hence, there may be differences
between intellectual potential and
achievement - The concept of intelligence is complex
and contentious. - There is no definitive definition of what is meant by the term ‘intelligence’.
- Various models of intelligence (and
intellectual giftedness) have been
proposed. - The use of intelligence tests is a
component of the measurement of
intelligence. - The numeric expression of intelligence is insufficient for understanding cognitive
strengths and weaknesses. - Psychological assessment, including
intelligence tests (and other tests!), can
inform clinical interventions and help meet the client’s specific therapeutic needs.
11- Galton (1869)
- Wrote a book : Hereditary Genius
(1869) - People differ in intelligence : “I object
to pretensions of natural equality.” - Introduces the notion of heritability of
intelligence : “Eminence runs in
families”
E.g., of 286 judges many had eminent
relatives and 36% of there sons were
eminent but 9.5% of their grandson and
1.5 % of their great grandsons.
Relatedness declines with generations
you are related to your: sons by 50%,
grandsons by 25% and great
-grandsons by 12.5%
Family studies: classist
Galton was the cousin of famed English biologist Charles Darwin, whose book On the Origin of Species (Darwin,
1859) proposed the theory of evolution. Darwin had shown the importance of individual differences to environmental
adaptation and reproduction.
He was first to note the importance of twin studies : compared identical and fraternal twins
He also introduced skill-based psychophysical test of measurement. E.g., Vision, hearing,
reaction time, strength. (read about)
Reading:
some of his beliefs, such as the intellectual inferiority of women and certain ethnic groups, are no longer accepted today. Additionally, the measures he proposed were later discredited
12- Cattell: Formalized measurement (1901)
An American student of Wundt’s
Fan of experiment psychology
Tests of various perceptual abilities
-Two point threshold
-Reaction Time
-Letter span
-Letter cancellation
Hypothesis : measuring the brain’s
“ability” or efficiency should reflect
intellectual ability
Cattell’s tests did not correlate well with grades.
* What could this mean?
Similarly, in another validation study Wissler (1901) used the
(then new) techniques of correlation to investigate Cattell’s tests
* Results: the tests did not correlate well with one another.
* This implies they cannot be measuring a single trait (i.e., Intelligence or g) or else they would be correlated with one
another.
Cattell’s mental tests were deemed ineffective at measuring intelligence
13- Binet and Simon: Intelligence tests (1904)
At the beginning …
They were asked to identify children
who needed special services in
school. So, pragmatically, they
have created a TEST … not a theory
-identifying children unable to benefit from regular schooling due to their intellectual limitations.
-his goal was to evaluate a child’s natural intelligence separate from their acquired knowledge.
-did not presume that his tests were solely indicative of innate abilities. He was primarily concerned with assessing a child’s present intellectual condition, disregarding their past or future prospects, and distinguishing between acquired and congenital limitations
They used the term Mental age to
describe the level of intelligence
because Binet had noticed people
seem to get “smarter” as they age.
-The problem with mental age….
Older does not always mean smarter
40 years old twice a smart as 20 years old?
-age as an independent criterion of intellectual competence.
-relative or normative measures of intelligence
Scales translated by Lewis Terman in the United States and Cyril Burt in England
- Stern (1912) proposed the Intelligence quotient (IQ)
- Later taken up by Terman.
(Mental age/chronologial age)*100= IQ
If a child’s mental age = his chronological age, his IQ will be evaluated at 100
Nowadays tests are standardized (details next week!)
✓ Mean IQ is 100
✓ Standard deviation is 15
✓ Data are presumed to be normally distributed
14- Goddard (1908-1928)
Director of Vineyard School research
institute in New Jersey USA
“Imports” Binet’s test but he is, at first,
not too enthusiastic about Binet’s
(French) scale
Translates it to English (1908) 1910 : he presents his data on the Binet
test, collected from testing residents at
his institution. He also says that “IQ tests
are not being widely used”
Later, the test becomes increasingly
popular
By 1914, several school districts were
using the scales
By 1916, he had produced around
22,000 copies
At the request of the US
government, Goddard studied
immigrants arriving at Ellis Island.
Claims that 80% of arriving
immigrants were feeble-minded.
* This is obviously due to language and cultural barriers within the test
Dr. Goddard also is renowned for
having coined the term “moron”
- Kallikak family “study”
- Analysis of intelligence in two ancestral lines of one common husband and two different wives
- Theorized that intelligence derives from a single gene
- Created the foundation for eugenics
- Because of genetic assumption, believed
‘feeble-minded’ people should not marry
or reproduce for the ‘greater good’ - Openly revised his position by the late
1920’s - Likely after seeing the negative effects
15- Terman (1916-1925)
- Co-opted the IQ from Stern (1912)
- 100 x (Mental age)/(Actual age) = IQ
- Was a professor at Stanford, improved the
Binet test to create the ‘Stanford-Binet IQ
test’, standardized it across ages
Major work improving the
American version: added many
new items
Standardized on over 1000
children ages 4 to 14
He used schools in a
“representative area”, so the
sample population was much
more representative of the
general population.
This Stanford-Binet IQ test
became the “standard” against
which IQ tests of all sorts were to
be compared.
-Terman introduced the concept of the intelligence quotient (IQ) as a means of measuring intelligence.
The Stanford-Binet test consisted of ten tests, each tailored to a specific age group from 3 to 14 years. These tests included various items such as assessing visual perception, counting coins, solving mental arithmetic problems, generating sentences, and finding rhymes. Terman’s tests became the benchmark against which all subsequent IQ tests were evaluated.
- Believed ‘feeble-minded’ people should be
surveilled and protected, curtailing
reproduction for the ‘greater good
