8.16-8.22: How Thinking Varies: Intelligence

Question 1

The capability to think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, reason, plan, solve problems, learn from experience, and acquire new knowledge

Answer 1

Intelligence

Question 2

A statistical technique developed by Charles Spearman that involves analyzing the interrelations among different tests to look for the common factors underlying the scores

Answer 2

Factor analysis

Question 3

A general mental ability that Charles Spearman hypothesized is required for virtually any mental test

Answer 3

General intelligence (g factor)

Question 4

A component of general intelligence that involves the ability to deal with new and unusual problems

Answer 4

Fluid intelligence

Question 5

A component of general intelligence that involves accumulated knowledge and skills

Answer 5

Crystallized intelligence

Question 6

A syndrome in developmentally disabled individuals that involves the presence of unusual talents that contrast with low levels of general intelligence

Answer 6

Savant syndrome

Question 7

A number that represents the average age at which children perform closest to a given child’s score on an intelligence test

Answer 7

Mental age

Question 8

A measure of intelligence that is calculated by dividing a child’s mental age by his or her chronological age and then multiplying by 100

Answer 8

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Question 9

A test that is designed to measure how much a person has learned over a certain period of time

Answer 9

Achievement test

Question 10

A test designed to measure a person’s potential to learn new skills

Answer 10

Aptitude test

Question 11

An intelligence test composed of many subtests that can be combined into a single composite to capture overall ability. Scores on separate subtests of the exam can be used to identify relative strengths and weaknesses that are useful to educators and therapists

Answer 11

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

Question 12

A process of making test scores more meaningful by defining them in relation to the performance of a pretested group

Answer 12

Standardization

Question 13

The extent to which a test or measure produces consistent results

Answer 13

Reliability

Question 14

The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

Answer 14

Validity

Question 15

A concern that one’s performance or behavior might confirm a negative stereotype about one’s group

Answer 15

Stereotype threat

Question 16

Persistent differences in the performance of certain groups of people, usually based on characteristics like race or gender

Answer 16

Achievement gap

Question 17

A measure that describes, for a given population in a given environment, what proportion of the variance of a trait is due to genetic differences

Answer 17

Heritability

Question 18

A cycle by which others’ beliefs or our own can affect behavior in ways that make the beliefs true

Answer 18

Self-fulfilling prophecy (or Pygmalion effect)

Question 19

A set of attitudes or beliefs that shape how a person perceives and responds to the world. In the domain of intelligence, a mindset may be an implicit belief about where intellectual ability comes from

Answer 19

Mindset