Chapter 10 Flashcards
Intelligence
The ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
General Intelligence (g)
According to Spearman and others, g underlies all mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test. This is the concept that intelligence is ranked on a single scale.
Fluid Intelligence (Gf)
Our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease with age, especially during late adulthood.
Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
Our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.
Cattle-Horn-Carroll (CHC) Theory
The theory that our intelligence is based on g as well as specific abilities, bridged by Gf and Gc. We use our g-based fluid intelligence to learn, and we gain crystalized intelligence (specific abilities) in return.
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Gardner has identified 8-9 relatively independent intelligences.
Savant Syndrome
A condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.
Sternberg’s 3 Intelligences
- Analytical (academic problem-solving) Intelligence- assessed by IQ tests.
- Creative Intelligence- demonstrated in innovative smarts.
- Practical Intelligence- required for everyday tasks.
Predictability of a G-score
G scores can predict future income or the achievements of certain degrees. Even so, success is not a one-ingredient recipe.
Emotional Intelligence
The ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions.
Intelligence Test
A method for assessing an individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.
Achievement Test
A test designed to assess what a person has learned.
Aptitude Test
A test designed to predict a person’s future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.
Mental Age
A measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the level of performance typically associated with children of a certain chronological age. Thus, a child who does as well as an average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8. It was believed that these tests would identify those who needed extra help in school.
Standford-Binet
The widely used American revision (by Terman at Stanford University) of Binet’s original intelligence test. This test was used to determine general intelligence (g).
Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
Defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100. On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100. These tests were used for placing people into categories, which is not done anymore.
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
The WAIS and its companion versions for children are the most widely used intelligence tests; they contain verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests. This test yields an overall intelligence score as well as separate scores to identify those who could benefit from special education opportunities for improvement.
Standardization
Defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.
Normal Curve
The bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall near the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes. IQ scores form a normal curve.
Flynn Effect
The average person’s intelligence score rose three points per decade.
Reliability
The extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternative forms of the test, or on retesting.
Validity
The extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to.
Predictive Validity
A type of validity; the success with which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.
Low Extreme of IQ
A person with an IQ score of 70 or lower is diagnosed with an intellectual disability.
High Extreme of IQ
A person who has an IQ score of 130 or above is considered a genius, and tend to experience success.
Labeling IQ in Schools
By labeling one student as mentally challenged and another as gifted, they will fulfill self-expectations and come to be that they stay in their group. This depletes some students of the opportunity to achieve as much as they can.
Predictability of IQ
By the age of 4, IQ scores begin to predict later scores. By 11, the prediction is extremely accurate.
Cohort
A group of people sharing a common characteristic, such as being from a given time period.
Cross-Sectional Study
Research that compares people of different ages at the same point in time.
Longitudinal Study
Research that follows and retests the same group of people over time.
Intelligence Changes Due to Age
Crystalized intelligence increases up to old age, while fluid intelligence decreases beginning in the early 20s-30s, then rapidly declines after age 75.
Hertiability
The proportion of variation among individuals in a group that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.
Heritability of Intelligence
Estimations of the heritability of intelligence range from 50-80%, meaning when people have different intelligences, we can say that 50-80% of this difference can be attributed to genes. There is no one gene for intelligence.
Environment and Intelligence
Because they share an environment and are treated similarly, fraternal twins are somewhat more alike than scores of non-twin siblings. This shows that environment does influence intelligence.
Gene/Environment Interactions
Small genetic advantages can trigger social experiences that multiply our original skills. Environmental conditions may also depress physical or cognitive development
Gender Differences in Intelligence
Men and women’s intelligence differences are very minor, though each gender slightly excels in different areas. Males tend to be in the extremes more than women do.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Intelligence
Racial and ethnic groups differ in their average intelligence scores, which can be due to a large number of situational factors, and not so much natural intelligence.
Bias in Intelligence Tests
Generally, IQ tests are not biased. But when we take them in different cultures, bias may appear.
Stereotype Threat
A self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype. This can cause bias, because juts knowing how your stereotype is expected to perform can affect your own performace.
