Chapter 10: Evolution and Individual Differences

Question 1

Alfred Binet

Answer 1

Found that following Galton’s methods of measuring intelligence often resulted in falsely concluding that deaf and blind children had low intelligence. Binet attempted to measure directly the cognitive abilities he thought constituted intelligence.

Question 2

Cyril Burt

Answer 2

Claimed that his studies of identical twins reared together and apart showed intelligence to be largely innate. Evidence suggested that Burt invented his data, and a major scandal ensued

Question 3

James McKeen Cattell

Answer 3

Worked with Galton and developed a strong interest in measuring individual differences. Cattell brought Galton’s methods of intelligence testing to the United States

Question 4

Charles Darwin

Answer 4

Devised a theory of evolution that emphasized a struggle for survival that results in the natural selection of the most fit organisms. By showing the continuity between human and nonhuman animals, the importance of individual differences, and the importance of adaptive behavior, Darwin strongly influenced subsequent psychology

Question 5

Sir Francis Galton

Answer 5

Influenced by his cousin, Charles Darwin, was keenly interested in the measurement of individual differences. Galton was convinced that intellectual ability is inherited and, therefore, recommended eugenics, or the selective breeding of humans. He was the first to attempt to systematically measure intelligence, to use a questionnaire to gather data, to use a word-association test, to study mental imagery, to define and use the concepts of correlation and median, and to systematically study twins

Question 6

Henry Herbert Goddard

Answer 6

Translated Binet’s intelligence test into English and used it to test and classify students with mental retardation. Goddard was an extreme nativist who recommended that those with mental deficiencies be sterilized or institutionalized. As a result of Goddard’s efforts, the number of immigrants allowed into the United States was greatly reduced

Question 7

Leta Stetter Hollingworth

Answer 7

Rejected the belief, popular at the time, that women achieve less than males do because they are intellectually inferior to males; instead her explanation emphasized differences in social opportunity. Her career focused on improving the education of both subnormal and gifted students

Question 8

Jean Lamarck

Answer 8

Proposed that adaptive characteristics acquired during an organism’s lifetime were inherited by that organism’s offspring. This was the mechanism by which species were transformed. (See also Inheritance of acquired characteristics.)

Question 9

Thomas Malthus

Answer 9

Economist who wrote Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), which provided Darwin with the principle he needed to explain the observations that he had made while aboard the Beagle. The principle stated that because more individuals are born than environmental resources can support, there is a struggle for survival and only the fittest survive

Question 10

Charles Spearman

Answer 10

Using an early form of factor analysis, found that intelligence comprised specific factors (s) and general intelligence (g). He believed the latter to be largely inherited. (See also General intelligence.)

Question 11

Herbert Spencer

Answer 11

First a follower of Lamarck and then of Darwin. Spencer applied Darwinian principles to society by saying that society should maintain a laissez-faire policy so that the ablest individuals could prevail. Spencer’s position is called social Darwinism. (See also Social Darwinism.)

Question 12

William Stern

Answer 12

Coined the term mental age and suggested the intelligence quotient as a way of quantifying intelligence. (See also Intelligence quotient.)

Question 13

Lewis Madison Terman

Answer 13

Revised Binet’s test of intelligence, making it more compatible with U.S. culture. Terman, along with Goddard and Yerkes, was instrumental in creating the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests. He also conducted a longitudinal study of gifted children and found that, contrary to the belief at the time, gifted children tended to become healthy, gifted adults

Question 14

Robert M. Yerkes

Answer 14

Suggested that psychology could help in the war effort (World War I) by creating tests that could be used to place recruits according to their abilities and to screen the mentally unfit from military service. The testing program was largely ineffective and was discontinued soon after the war

Question 15

Adaptive features

Answer 15

Those features that an organism possesses that allow it to survive and reproduce

Question 16

Binet-Simon scale of intelligence

Answer 16

The scale Binet and Simon devised to directly measure the various cognitive abilities they believed intelligence comprised.The scale first appeared in 1905 and was revised in 1908 and in 1911

Question 17

Coefficient of correlation ®

Answer 17

A mathematical expression indicating the magnitude of correlation between two variables

Question 18

Correlation

Answer 18

Systematic variation between two variables.

Question 19

Eugenics

Answer 19

The use of selective breeding to increase the general intelligence of the population

Question 20

Evolutionary psychology

Answer 20

A modern extension of Darwin’s theory to the explanation of human and non-human social behavior (also called sociobiology)

Question 21

Factor analysis

Answer 21

A complex statistical technique that involves analyzing correlations among measurements and attempting to explain the observed correlations by postulating various influences (factors)

Question 22

Fitness

Answer 22

According to Darwin, an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce

Question 23

General intelligence (g)

Answer 23

The aspect of intelligence that, according to Spearman, is largely inherited and coordinates specific intellectual abilities

Question 24

Inclusive fitness

Answer 24

The type of fitness that involves the survival and perpetuation of copies of one’s genes into subsequent generations.With this expanded definition of fitness, one can be fit by helping his or her kin survive and reproduce as well as by producing one’s own offspring

Question 25

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Answer 25

Lamarck’s contention that adaptive abilities developed during an organism’s lifetime are passed on to the organism’s offspring

Question 26

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 26

Stern’s suggested procedure for quantifying intelligence. The intelligence quotient is calculated by dividing mental age by chronological age

Question 27

Mental age

Answer 27

According to Stern, a composite score reflecting all the levels of the Binet–Simon test that a child could successfully pass

Question 28

Mental orthopedics

Answer 28

The exercises that Binet suggested for enhancing determination, attention, and discipline. These procedures would prepare a child for formal education

Question 29

Natural selection

Answer 29

A key concept in Darwin’s theory of evolution. Because more members of a species are born than environmental resources can support, nature selects those with characteristics most conducive to survival under the circumstances, which allows them to reproduce

Question 30

Nature-nurture controversy

Answer 30

The debate over the extent to which important attributes are inherited or learned

Question 31

Regression toward the mean

Answer 31

The tendency for extremes to become less extreme in one’s offspring. For example, the offspring of extremely tall parents tend not to be as tall as the parents

Question 32

Social Darwinism

Answer 32

Spencer’s contention that, if given freedom to compete in society, the ablest individuals will succeed and the weaker ones will fail, and this is as it should be

Question 33

Spencer-Bain principle

Answer 33

The observation first made by Bain and later by Spencer that behavior resulting in pleasurable consequences tends to be repeated and behavior resulting in painful consequences tends not to be

Question 34

Survival of the fittest

Answer 34

The notion that, in a struggle for limited resources, those organisms with traits conducive to survival under the circumstances will live and reproduce