10: Intelligence Flashcards
What is intelligence?
Intelligence
The ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment
Briefly outline the major contributions of Galton, Binet, and Wechsler.
Francis Galton (1870s)
- 1st systematic attempt to measure intelligence
- Said intelligence was hereditary, based on senses
Alfred Binet (1900s)
- French Ministry of Public Education wanted early identification of children who wouldn’t do great in ordinary public schooling
- wanted to arrange special education to help them!
David Wechsler (1939)
- Believed the Stanford-Binet test focused too much on verbal skills and not enough on anything else
- Believed intelligence was made up of verbal and non-verbal skills
What were Binet’s 2 major assumptions? What is Mental Age?
Binet made 2 major assumptions:
- Mental abilities increase with age
- A person’s rate of increase is roughly constant over their development
(i. e. someone lagging at age 5 will still lag at 10)
Mental Age: Devised tests with questions that a typical child of age X could answer
How was IQ initially calculated? When does this not work so well?
William Stern
- Took Binet’s concept of mental age and made it into a relative score – an Intelligence Quotient
- (Mental Age / Chronological Age) * 100
- e.g. an 8-year-old performing at the level of a typical 10-year old → IQ = 125
- e.g. a 16 year old performing at the level of a typical 12 year old → IQ = 75
- Note: current IQ no longer uses idea of mental age
- Works well for kids, but not adults (>16yrs)
- Also, elderly people show an intellectual decline
Who wrote the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test?
Lewis Terman
- Introduced Binet’s test to North America
- Modified the test slightly (translated, made some aspects more relevant to American culture)
- Revised test was known as the **Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test **
- Considered Gold Standard by 1920s
- Consisted mostly of verbal items → single IQ score
Which scales of Intelligence are the most popular tests currently? How do they differ from early tests of intelligence?
Early Tests of Intelligence:
-Standford-Binet Test
-Arthur Otis’ mass-administered tests of intelligence for screening US Army recruits
- Army Alpha – mostly verbal test, based on Stanford-Binet
- Army Beta – non-verbal test (Mazes, picture completion, etc…)
Current Tests:
-David Wechsler (MOST POPULAR)
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
- Most recent revision: WAIS-IV - includes 4 index scales:
- Verbal Comprehension
- Perceptual Reasoning
- Working Memory
- Processing Speed
- Available for children
- Instead of WM, “Freedom from Distractibility”
- Most recent revision: WAIS-IV - includes 4 index scales:
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
- Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
-Revised Standford-Binet Test:
- Now includes Verbal, Quantitative, Abstract/Visual reasoning, & Short Term Memory scales
- Woodcock-Johnson (and others)
- Includes specific tests for Crystalized & Fluid Intelligence
- Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test
- Measures Sternberg’s 3 forms of intelligence
(Analytical, Practical, Creative)
Note: Notice Woodcock-Johnson & Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test demonstrates how theories can influence HOW we test intelligence
Briefly describe Factor Analysis, using terms Clusters and Factors.
Factor analysis:
- Reduces a large number of correlated items (tests, questions) to a smaller number of “clusters”
- Clusters: groups of variables (e.g. scores on different tests) that are highly correlated with one another
- Factors: the underlying characteristic that is assumed to account for the link between these variables
- Used often in personality and cognitive research
- e.g. Lots of words can describe someone’s personality. But, some words are highly correlated with others
- e.g. kind, genuine, nice, compassionate, caring
Explain how Factor Analysis in Intelligence Testing can be used to support both claims of Single & Multiple Intelligences (mental abilities)
- Factor analysis of IQ tests tend to have clusters
- Thurstone suggested 7 Primary Mental Abilities:
- __Verbal
- Comprehension
- Number Facility
- Space
- Word Fluency
- Perceptual Speed
- Rote Memory
- Reasoning
- __Verbal
- Helps identify the skills needed for different tasks and increase certain aspects of mental abilities esp in education
Spearman’s “g Factor”
- Intellect is partly based on a “General Intelligence” factor (g) that influences all tasks;
- i.e. kids that do well in school usually do so in many subjects
What is the basic idea of Spearman’s g?
Is there evidence that g exists?
Spearman’s “g Factor”
- Intellect is partly based on a “General Intelligence” factor (g) that influences all tasks;
- i.e. kids that do well in school usually do so in many subjects
Is ‘g’ real?
- g predicts success in high school, university
- g predicts years of education, later earnings
- g predicts who gets hired
- g predicts on-the-job success better than measures of specific abilities tailored to individual jobs
- g is a better predictor of on-the-job success than level of education, or how well the interview went
- g predicts likelihood of divorce (within 5 years)
- g predicts likelihood of incarceration
How do hierarchical models combine the idea of the g factor and different mental abilities?
Hierarchical Models:
- Combine aspects by “nesting” specific abilities under g
- By far the most common approach, currently
What are the differences between crystallized and fluid intelligence?
- Which type of intelligence is predominant early in life? Late in life?
Cattell-Horn Model divides ‘g’ into 2 sub-types:
-
Crystallized Intelligence (gc):
-
Being able to apply previous knowledge (mostly LTM)
- Includes facts, problem-solving schemas
-
Being able to apply previous knowledge (mostly LTM)
-
Fluid Intelligence (gf):
-
Ability to deal with novel situations (mostly WM)
- Inductive reasoning, creative problem solving…
- Depends on efficient CNS, not knowledge bank
-
Ability to deal with novel situations (mostly WM)
Note: Fluid intelligence may crystallize! Over lifetime, more experience is gained with more problem types, more knowledge gained ∴ use gf to more gcin adulthood, and remains strong; gf declines in late adulthood.
Briefly describe Carrol’s 3 Stratum Model of Intelligence.
Carrol’s 3 Stratum Theory:
- Establishment of 3 levels of mental skills - general, broad, narrow - arranged in a hierarchical model
-
g underlies 8 Intellectual Factors (I.F.’s) - different than Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
- underlie ~70 specific cognitive abilities
- more a factor is influenced by g, the farther to the left it is in the model (i.e. nearer to g)
Briefly describe Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- What are the 3 Types of intelligence, according to this model?
- What are the 3 cognitive components underlying them? Relate to gc/gf
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence:
3 major Cognitive Components:
-
Metacomponents: higher-order, complex processes
- planning, framing problem, formulating strategies
- related to Fluid Intelligence (gf)
- more time spent framing, planning than jumping right in
-
Performance components: processes to actually perform the task
- retrieving appropriate memories, schemas from LTM, perceptual processing, etc
- execute strategies specified by metacomponents
- related to Crystallized Intelligence (gc)
-
Knowledge-Acquisition components: ability to learn from experiences, store info, and combine new & old info
- related to Crystallized Intelligence (gc)
3 “types” of Intelligence:
-
Analytical Intelligence: academic, traditional intelligence
- “book smart”
-
Practical Intelligence: skills needed to cope in everyday life; managing of self/others
- “street smart”
-
Creative Intelligence: mental skills needed to deal adaptively with novel problems
- “creativity”
What are Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences? Briefly describe each.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence:
- “current definitions of intelligence are too limited”
- 8 (now 9) Intelligences:
- Linguistic
- eg. writer
- Logical/Mathematical
- Naturalistic
- eg. zoologist, meterologist
- Visuospatial
- eg. architect
- Musical
- Bodily-Kinesthetic
- eg. athlete, surgeon
-
Interpersonal
- Understand & related well with others
- eg. salesman, talk-show host, manager, therapist
-
Intrapersonal
- Understand self
- Typically quiet, focused, little peer pressure
- Existential
- Philosophical, spiritual, cosmic intelligence
- Linguistic
What are the 4 major abilities associated with Mayer & Salovey’s Emotional Intelligence (E.I.)?
Mayer & Salovey’s EI:
4 major abilities:
- Perceiving emotions
- Using emotions to facilitate thought:
- Understanding emotions
- Managing emotions
Some claim positive/high E.I. results in…
- Better careers, marriages, child-rearing,
- Less depression, anger, anxiety,
- Better at setting and sticking to long-term goals
- More life satisfaction
Others criticize EI:
- Not a true intelligence (mental ability); prefer the term, “Emotional Competence”
- Little scientific back-up on above positive claims
What is the difference between Achievement Testing and Aptitude Testing?
Achievement testing:
- Examines what a person has learned so far
- Largely related to crystalized intelligence
Aptitude testing:
- Goes beyond prior learning, and examines a person’s potential for future learning
- Largely related to fluid intelligence
What are the 3 key concepts in (all) psych testing?
1. Reliability
- How consistent a measurement is
-
Test-Retest Reliability
- “Are scores stable over time?”
-
Inter-Judge Reliability
- “Would different people agree on the same scores for the same person’s test?”
-
Internal Consistency
- “Do all parts of the “verbal reasoning” section seem to be measuring the same thing (i.e. correlate)?
2. Validity
- How well a test measures what it’s supposed to measure
-
Construct Validity:
- **“Does the test measure the construct of interest?”
- Construct = Intelligence
- Operational definition = scores on IQ test
- Might anything other than intelligence affect scores?
-
Content Validity:
-
**Does the test measure **all aspect of X (intelligence)?
- eg. don’t use only addition problems for math score
-
**Does the test measure **all aspect of X (intelligence)?
-
Criterion-Related Validity:
-
**Does score correlate with something meaningful?
-
IQ and Grades:
- __r ~ 0.6 for High School
- r ~ 0.4 for University
-
IQ and Job/Income/Lifespan:
- __r ~ 0.7 for IQ and Socioeconomic Status (SES)
- Compare siblings (same enviro.):
- higher IQ (120) makes $18000/yr higher salary than avg (100) IQ
- Higher IQ ⇒ better job performance
- Higher IQ ⇒ longer life, faster recovery time in brain injuries
-
IQ and Grades:
-
**Does score correlate with something meaningful?
3. Standardization
-
Define controlled testing procedures
- Everyone takes the test under same conditions
-
Static Testing:
- Typical test; Q’s & A’s
-
_Dynamic Testing: _
- Guided feedback during test
-
Developing norms
- “normal” or bell curve for different ages, etc…
- Ability to compare school relative to others within a certain group (eg. 20-year-olds)
What is the Flynn Effect?
Steady, population-level increases in intelligence over time
⇒ Test performance increase ⇒ “rising curve”
- Average IQ is always 100 but in USA, Canada, ~1 pt every 3 years, in Holland, Israel ~2 pts every 3 years!
- If the average Dutch person today (IQ: 135) was to time-travel to 1950s, they would be seen “gifted/superior”
- If the average Dutch person (IQ: 65) from 1940s time-travelled to today, they would be seen “mentally disabled”
Why does the Flynn Effect occur?
- Better nutrition?
- Technological advances?
- esp TV, computers, video games, internet
- More complex environmental demands?
- modern society requires abstract thinking, scientific reasoning, logical analysis…
WAIS includes “general knowledge”, but how can practical intelligences (herbal medicines, building shelter, navigating open sea etc) be tested?
2 Methods:
__1. Choose measures not related to cultural knowledge
- Typically, measures of Fluid Intelligence,
i. e. Raven’s Progressive Matrices
2. Create measures tailored to skills valued by the particular culture
- Difficult to come up with tests
- BUT they tend to measure how adaptively a person will function in their culture
Name some researches that studied the related an individual’s race and their IQ
J. Phillip Rushton:
- UWO alumini
- Suggested >60 measures all show distinct racial effects in intelligence
- Claimed racial levels of IQ were inversely related to penis size…
Richard Hernstein
- The Bell Curve - bestseller
- Racial differences in IQ
- Against any affirmative action
What are some of the reasons why there are racial differences in IQ? Why do those reasons occur?
Test Bias:
- Tests are largely based on Euro-American white culture, so are culturally biased
- Outcome bias: how much a test underestimates a person’s true ability
- Predictive bias: whether a test successfully predicts criterion measures (eg. grades) for some groups but not other
Stereotype Threat:
- When negative stereotypes about a group cause group members to under-perform on tests
- Reminding people of the negative stereotype usually makes them perform poorly - because they are afraid of living up (down?) to the stereotype
- 200 studies show this! (eg. Asian woman & math study)
- Why does stereotype threat occur?
- Person doesn’t want to reflect poorly on their group ⇒ undermines their performance
- Person begin to focus more on monitoring how they are doing so far ⇒ less attention to the actual test itself
- People actively try to inhibit the negative ideas ⇒ again, less cognitive resources for actual test
What is the biggest factor in changing IQ?
What are 2 theoretical views on changing IQ?
What did Dweck’s study show?
Belief that you can change your IQ!
Entity theory: idea that intelligence is fixed, innate
Incremental theory: idea that intelligence can be shaped by experiences, practice, effort
Dweck (2002):
- compared grades, scores of children who held on of these beliefs:
- “Incremental” kids improved their grades - more likely to keep trying when experiencing difficulties (don’t give up)
Other factors in school-related IQ gains:
- Less emphasis on fact memorization ⇒ more on how to learn, critical thinking, application
- Teach specific cognitive and problem-solving skills that underlie success in a given subject
- Teach “learning to learn” (eg. memory-enhancement techniques) from the beginning, even with the most basic content
Is there a sex difference in general intelligence? Are there specific subtests? Which ones?
- No difference on avg. in general intelligence (g)
- Slight differences in average performance on certain cognitive skills (varying with more masculine/feminine skill tasks)
- Male advantage on tasks involving:
- Spatial measures (eg. mental rotation)
- Target-directed motor skills (aiming, catching)
- Mathematical reasoning (problem solving…)
- Female advantage on tasks involving:
- Perceptual speed
- Verbal fluency
- Precise manual (fine-motor) tasks
- Mathematical calculation (arithmetic)
List 2 environmental explanations of why the sex differences is observed. List 2 (broad) biological reasons for why the sex difference is observed.
Environmental explanations:
Socialization: boys & girls are steered into sex-typed activities/toys
Evolution: evolutionarily, division of labor (hunters vs. gatherers) - men need to be able to navigate, aim spears…
Biological explanations:
Structural differences in the brain:
- Boys have more grey matter ⇒ Mental Rotation
- Girls have more white matter ⇒ Verbal Skills
