Chapter 5: Intelligence

Question 1

controversy regarding intelligence

Answer 1

The controversies surrounding intelligence and its measurement are rooted in misconceptions and genuine concerns in relation to how intelligence scores were used in the past and are used today.

• common misconception; IQ ‘s being a summated measure of a person’s worth

Question 2

IQ intelligence quotient

Answer 2

• a raw score drawn from the normative sample
• has a set mean of 100 and a SD of 15 for each age group
• used for assessing learning difficulties and developmental disabilities, assisting vocational choice, and quantifying day-to-day functioning problems

Question 3

implicit theories of intelligence

Answer 3

models/schema of intelligence generated by individuals and based largely on their observations and opinions of how the world works

Question 4

explicit theories of intelligence

Answer 4

theories of intelligence devised by psychologists and other scientists; the theories validated by scientific methods, although they can be informed by implicit theories

Question 5

Francis Galton

Answer 5

• tested ‘sensory acuity’ (efficiency tests) and human characteristics, such as length of arm, hair colour, reaction time and hand strength.
• devised correlation to test for relationships
• ‘general human ability’ and ‘special human abilities’ (in the twentieth century, these would be called ‘g’, general mental ability, and ‘s’, specific mental ability
• Towards the end of the nineteenth century, started testing more complex behaviours, language and arithmetic proficiency, general knowledge, history and memory functions.

Question 6

Simon- Binet intelligence scale

Answer 6

• initially started from Binet assessing his daughters for complex tasks
• contained 30 individual tasks, ranked in order of difficulty (revised option became 58 items)
  o Aim: measure global intelligence, represented by reasoning ability, judgment, memory and abstract thinking

Question 7

normative sample

Answer 7

tables of the distribution of scores on a test for specified groups in a population that allow interpretation of any individual’s score on the test by comparison to the scores for a relevant group

Question 8

global intelligence

Answer 8

the overall or summary ability of an individual, which might be represented as the Full-Scale IQ in modern intelligence tests; in hierarchical models of intelligence, global intelligence (or ‘g’) sits at the top of the intelligence hierarchy

Question 9

Factor analysis and intelligence

Answer 9

• summarises underlying dimensions (or factors) that might exist in large data sets.
• allows researchers to reduce large amounts of data, which could be test items or tests themselves, to more manageable chunks

Question 10

Spearman and ‘g’

Answer 10

• intelligence could be represented by a general, underlying mental ability factor (‘g’) (mental energy)
• half of the variance in specific-ability tests could be represented by ‘g’, with the other half for specific abilities related to the particular test (‘s’) and error (‘e’).
• two-factor model (‘g’ and ‘s’), but it is commonly referred to as a one-factor model of ‘g’.

-The implication: conceptualising intelligence as a general ability, or ‘g’, is that it can be represented as a single score.

Question 11

general mental ability ‘g’

Answer 11

the common variance when the results of different tests of mental ability are correlated (sometimes referred to as ‘psychometric g’, ‘Spearman’s g’ or the ‘general factor’)

Question 12

specific-ability test:

Answer 12

an individual test or test battery that is designed to assess specific or narrow cognitive abilities, rather than generate a measure of broader abilities or ‘g’

Question 13

‘s’ Specific ability

Answer 13

limited to a single or small number of tasks, as opposed to ‘g’, which is reflected in all mental ability tasks; all tasks require the application of ‘g’ and ‘s’, and individuals differ on levels of both

Question 14

Terman and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

Answer 14

• Binet’s test was widely used throughout Europe and in other parts of the world.
• It was translated into English in the US and was substantially revised by Lewis Terman

standard against which all other tests of intelligence were compared
o basis for many group-administered intelligence tests (e.g. Army Alpha and Army Beta),
o testing in occupational and educational settings.
o Terman retained Binet’s view of intelligence as a global construct & age differentiation of items (i.e. clusters of items for each age group, which could be successfully answered by between two-thirds and three-quarters of respondents).

Question 15

Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence scale

Answer 15

• assesses adult psychiatric patients.
• considered the test a measure of global ability, even though the structure of the test made it possible to obtain scores on specific abilities.
  o many non-intellectual factors, such as persistence and determination, were indirectly measured through the administration of the test in standardised situations (thus observing test taker’s behaviour)

Question 16

The Weschler test (WAIS and WAIS III & WAIS-IV)

Answer 16

• all revisions assess intellectual functioning in adults.

o grouped items according to content area (all arithmetic questions were grouped together in order of increasing difficulty), + test takers were credited a point for each correct answer they achieved.

o Point scales, rather than age scales, are now utilised by all modern intelligence tests

o use standardised scores with mean of 100 and a SD of 15;

o Deviation IQ scores also can be converted to percentiles, which provide additional information regarding the test taker’s relative standing;

The most recent versions of the Wechsler scales (i.e. WAIS–IV and WISC–V) generate individual subscale scores and a global measure of intelligence (‘g’).

Question 17

deviation IQ:

Answer 17

a method that allows an individual’s score to be compared with same-age peers; the score is reported as distance from the mean in standard deviation units

Question 18

Thurstone and multiple mental abilities

Answer 18

• multiple intelligences.
• multifactor theory of intelligence identified 7 main factors, ‘primary mental abilities’.

o verbal comprehension, reasoning, perceptual speed, numerical ability, word fluency, associative memory and spatial visualisation
o primary mental abilities tests overlap, and THUS ‘g’ did reflect a higher-order factor.

Question 19

primary mental abilities:

Answer 19

seven broad ability factors that were identified by Thurstone:

verbal comprehension, reasoning, perceptual speed, numerical ability, word fluency, associative memory and spatial visualisation;

initially thought to be independent of one another, they were later shown to be correlated, and thus to also contain a ‘g’ factor

Question 20

JP Guilford: A different structure of intelligence

Answer 20

• rejected ‘g’
• intelligence along three dimensions: operations, content and product.

o There were 5 categories of operation, 5 of content and 6 of product –> 3-dimensional matrix of intelligence with 150 individual factors of intelligence (i.e. 5 × 5 × 6 = 150).
o Later versions included even more factors (confirmed most factors)
o had little influence on test construction and theorising.
o Early tests of intelligence largely measured ‘convergent’ thinking (i.e. the use of logical steps to reach one correct answer to a structured question) rather than ‘divergent’ thinking (i.e. the capacity to creatively generate multiple solutions to a stimulus).

Question 21

structure-of-intellect (SOI) model:

Answer 21

Guilford’s multifaceted model of intelligence consisting of 150 intellectual abilities arranged along three dimensions of operations, content and product

o ‘operations’ ; the type of mental processing required to complete a task
o ‘Content’; the type of stimuli to be manipulated
o ‘Product’; the type of information that is manipulated and stored (a single unit of information, categories of information, information systems, relationships among units, information transformation and predictions).

Question 22

Vernon’s hierarchical view of intelligence

Answer 22

• combined Spearman’s ‘g’ and Thurstone’s primary mental abilities into an expanded, hierarchical model of intelligence

BASE–> multiple, narrowly defined, specific abilities, (assessed directly by individual tests of ability).

SECOND LEVEL–> Groups of these specific abilities clustered together to form ‘minor group factors’ at the second level of the hierarchy (similar to thurstones primary mental abilities)

THIRD LEVEL–> In turn, groups of minor group factors clustered together to form two ‘major group factors’ at the third level of the hierarchy.

o two major group factors as ‘v:ed’, or the verbal-educational factor (e.g. encompassing verbal comprehension and numerical ability) AND ‘k:m’, or the spatial-motor factor (e.g. encompassing perceptual speed and spatial visualisation).
TOP –> The two major group factors were considered moderately correlated and came together to reflect global ability, ‘g’ at the top of the hierarchy.

Question 23

two-factor (Gf-Gc) theory of intelligence:

Answer 23

Cattell’s original theory, which decomposed ‘g’ into two component parts: fluid and crystallised intelligence (Gf and Gc

Question 24

crystallised intelligence (Gc):

Answer 24

the accumulated knowledge and skills resulting from educational and life experiences

Question 25

fluid intelligence (Gf):

Answer 25

the more pure, inherited aspects of intelligence used to solve novel problems and deal with new situations

Question 26

culture fair test:

Answer 26

a test devised to measure intelligence while relying as little as possible on culture-specific knowledge (e.g. language); tests are devised to be suitable across different peoples, with the goal to measure fluid rather than crystallised intelligence

Question 27

Cattell-Horn ‘Gf-Gc’ theory

Answer 27

Cattell, Horn and others extended the ‘Gf-Gc’ model of intelligence included more second-order factors along with ‘Gf’ and ‘Gc’.

• ‘Gf’—fluid intelligence
• ‘Gq’—quantitative knowledge
• ‘Gc’—crystallised intelligence
• ‘Grw’—reading and writing ability
• ‘Gsm’—short-term memory
• ‘Gv’—visual processing
• ‘Ga’—auditory processing
• ‘Glr’—long-term retrieval
• ‘Gs’—processing speed
• ‘CDS’—correct decision speed.

Question 28

Carroll’s three stratum theory

Answer 28

‘Gf-Gc’ theory extended AND viewed as comprising three levels, or strata (plural of stratum), which could be differentiated in terms of the breadth or specificity of the ability being assessed.

stratum III - G
Stratum II - broad intellectual abilities, including Cattell’s ‘Gf-Gc’ main factors, many of Horn’s broad factors, and others reminiscent again of Thurstone’s primary mental abilities.
Stratum I - large number of narrow abilities

Question 29

CHC theory of intelligence the Cattell-Horn-Carroll model

Answer 29

a merging of Cattell and Horn’s Gf-Gc theory and Carroll’s three stratum theory, which proposes three levels or strata of abilities: narrow, broad and general (or ‘g’)

Question 30

psychometric theory:

Answer 30

a theory concerned with the measurement of psychological constructs (like intelligence); the two main theories underpinning test development are classical test theory and item response theory; psychometric techniques typically include factor analysis and its variants

The early models of intelligence (e.g. Spearman’s one-factor model of ‘g’ and Thurstone’s multifactor model of primary mental abilities) and the more recent models (i.e. the Cattell-Horn ‘Gf-Gc’ model, Carroll’s three stratum model and the merged Cattell-Horn-Carroll CHC model)

Question 31

Developmental theory

Answer 31

Jean Piaget, - ‘developmental theory’ of cognitive abilities

o intelligence in children develops as a result of the interaction between their biological endowment and their experiences in the environment.
o Children start with few simple schemata

o As children interact with the environment, these schemata are continuously organised and reorganised to incorporate more sophisticated understandings of the world around them.

Question 32

Jean Piaget 4 stages

Answer 32

1) ‘sensorimotor’ (birth to 2 years)  integrates sensory input and motor abilities;
2) ‘preoperational’ (2–6 years) egocentrism, magical (illogical) thinking and the development of language;
3) ‘concrete operational’ (7–12 years)  logical thinking emerges, but is still concrete, and egocentrism declines
4) formal operations’ (from 12 years),  abstract and logical thought develops, and the emerging adult can consider information not yet personally experienced.

Question 33

An information-processing view of intelligence

Answer 33

• The ‘planning, attention-arousal, simultaneous and successive’ (PASS) cognitive processing theory
• four main cognitive processing units, which have biological counterparts in cortical structures.
• Alexander Luria suggested that the brain comprised functionally independent areas, but that in order to function, these areas needed input from other areas, and needed to interact with one another.

Question 34

The four PASS cognitive processing units are:

Answer 34

1) planning, which reflects important aspects of executive functioning, involves abilities associated with goal-setting, planning and monitoring behaviours associated with meeting those goals, and implementing self-regulatory and adjustment strategies to keep on track
2) attention-arousal, which reflects abilities associated with maintaining sustained attention and focus, and resisting distraction
3) simultaneous processing, which is essential for integrating different stimuli into a coherent whole, as is required in speech comprehension, when individual words, sentences, inflections and non-verbal cues are integrated to give meaning to the interaction, or when multiple visuo-spatial components are integrated to allow appreciation of a piece of art or a natural vista
4) successive processing, which is required when dealing with information that is sequential or serially ordered, such as when spelling a word, working through the steps to solve an arithmetic problem, or arranging files in alphabetical order.

Question 35

multiple intelligences:

Answer 35

a theory usually associated with Howard Gardner, who proposed that intelligence comprises multiple, discrete modalities that are not aggregated to ‘g’

1) linguistic,
2) logical-mathematical
3) visuo-spatial intelligence
4) bodily-kinaesthetic:
5) inter-personal:
6) intra-personal: personal insight
7) Musical: abilities with rhythm, harmony, pitch
8) naturalistic; abilities related to understanding and managing the natural world, which are needed by farmers, foresters and biologists.

Question 36

triarchic theory of intelligence:

Answer 36

a theory proposed by Robert Sternberg in which intelligence comprises three components: analytical abilities (‘componential’), creative abilities (‘experiential’) and practical abilities (‘contextual’);

Question 37

Componential processes/ analytical processes

Answer 37

intellectual abilities –> higher-order, executive functions (e.g. planning, monitoring, evaluating and problem solving), learning processes (i.e. processes associated with knowledge acquisition) and abilities needed to perform tasks (e.g. the ability to store information, see relationships and use inductive reasoning).

Question 38

Experiential processes/creative intelligence

Answer 38

• abilities associated with dealing with novel and unusual situations, such as generating new ideas, devising new ways to carry out a task, and coming up with innovative ways to solve a problem.

Question 39

Contextual processes/ practical intelligence

Answer 39

abilities associated with adapting to one’s environment (i.e. changing oneself), shaping one’s environment (i.e. changing the world around you) and selecting an environment’ (e.g. relocating to a new, more satisfying environment)

Question 40

Intelligence

Answer 40

cognitive abilities such as problem solving and learning, although some definitions include other aspects of the individual, such as personality and creativity

Question 41

aptitude test:

Answer 41

a test used to assess future learning potential

Question 42

achievement test:

Answer 42

a test used to assess past learning

Question 43

the eugenics movement

Answer 43

— humans can control their own evolution—proposed that the human species could be improved by restricting reproduction by the ‘feeble-minded’ and facilitating the reproduction of those of superior ability and status.

Question 44

• Hernstein and Murray’s The Bell Curve,

Answer 44

• believed “wealth and social advantage in US society was more and more going to an intellectual elite, and that affirmative action programs would not boost intelligence for those outside of this elite—particularly those from other racial groups—as intelligence is not readily modifiable through environmental actions”
• the mean IQ for distributions of scores for white people (US & European participants) centres on 100 IQ points.
• The mean IQ for Asians centres above that for whites
• mean IQ for black and Hispanic centres somewhere below that for whites.
• members of all groups can be found at every level of IQ
• The observable differences in intelligence among individuals are due to both genetic endowment and environmental influences, with heritability accounting for between 40 per cent and 80 per cent of the variability.

Question 45

Test bias

Answer 45

the systematic favouring of one group over another in test outcomes; this can be due to more than one cause

Question 46

gender differences

Answer 46

• men do not differ from women on global measures of intelligence, although some group differences are present for some specific abilities.
• Males tend to do better than women on some visuo-spatial tasks
• women tend to score higher on some verbally based tasks.

Question 47

Intelligence varies for age groups across the lifespan.

Answer 47

• The growth in intellectual functioning is very rapid up to the age of 10–12 years, continues to increase (though not as dramatically) until the age of 20–25 years

remains very much stable until about 60 years of age, and then declines noticeably after this age, with more striking declines for very old individuals.

• The average IQ increase is about 3 IQ points every decade,
• that the average IQ today of 100 IQ points would approximate an IQ score of 115 in your grandparents’ day (based on two generations of 25 years each).
• As new intelligence tests are devised, or old ones revised, they are re-standardised against current populations, and this effect is not obvious; but nonetheless, it does exist.
• The causes of this increase in intelligence over time are unknown. Explanations for it include improvements in nutrition and the fact that people live in increasingly more complex societies, which might reflect, in turn, increases in body and brain size, and brains more stimulated by better educational, TV and life experiences.

Question 48

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS):

Answer 48

developed by David Wechsler, and one of the most widely used, individually administered, intellectual assessment batteries; the latest version, WAIS–IV, was published in 2008

• The WAIS–IV is an individually administered test battery that comprises 10 core subtests and 5 supplementary subtests

Question 49

strengths and limitations of WAIS-IV

Answer 49

Strengths
- the size and representativeness of the standardisation sample used in test development.

• A stratified sampling plan was used to match the final sample as closely as possible to the population of the USA in 2005 in terms of demographic characteristics known to influence intelligence scores: namely, age, gender, race/ethnicity, educational attainment (self or parent) and geographical location.

Limitations

• relatively long time needed to administer the core subtests required to obtain the necessary IQ or Index scores
• failure to take into consideration recent advances in intelligence theories and failure to include new subtests to assess recently emerging concepts in the area of intelligence such as social intelligence and creativity.
• For users of WAIS–IV in Australia and New Zealand, although adaptations (e.g. using more familiar stimuli, relevant cultural content and appropriate language for test items) have been made to ensure examinees in these two countries were not disadvantaged by US content, it is still the case that the norms used for scoring and interpretation were collected in the USA

Question 50

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI):

Answer 50

a test developed to assess major patterns of personality and emotional disorders using the empirical-keying approach; the latest version, MMPI–2 was published in 1989 and it requires a test taker to respond to 567 items and takes 60 to 90 minutes to complete

• The internal consistency of the MMPI–2 scales is typically in the 0.70s and 0.80s, but some coefficient alphas as low as 0.30 have been reported for some scales in some samples.
• In terms of test-retest reliability, correlation coefficients ranging from 0.50 to 0.90 have been reported for retesting after one week.