Individual differences- Ability and Intelligence

Question 1

What is the definition of individual differences?

Answer 1

All of the ways in which people differ from one another, especially psychological differences. Included are all differences in personality and intelligence

Question 2

What are the two types of models of intelligence?

Answer 2

. Structural Models of General Intelligence

. Systems Models of Intelligence

Question 3

What are the Structural Models of General Intelligence?

Answer 3

. Spearman: hierarchical model of general intelligence (‘g’)

. Thurstone: Primary Mental Abilities

Question 4

What are the Systems Models of Intelligence?

Answer 4

. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

. Sternberg’s Triarchic
Theory of Intelligence

. Emotional Intelligence

Question 5

What is the definition of intelligence/GMA (General Mental Ability)

Answer 5

“a very general mental
capability that … involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience” (Gottfredson, 1997,)

Question 6

Who developed the first statistical test of human intelligence ?

Answer 6

. Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon
. approach still the basis of modern research
. intelligence tested using selected set of questions

Question 7

What is ‘G’?

Answer 7

. Developed by Spearman
. General intelligence
. idea that 1 GMA factor (verbal ability) can explain the correlations among different cognitive abilities (numeric)

Question 8

What is the relationship between GMA and job performance?

Answer 8

. Meta-analytic support for a strong correlation between GMA and job performance
. Job complexity strengthens the GMA-performance relation

Question 9

Why does GMA predict job performance?

Answer 9

. Likely to mean greater job knowledge at a quicker rate and therefore a better job performance

Question 10

Whats the definition of emotional intelligence?

Answer 10

“The ability to monitor one’s own and other people’s emotions, to discriminate between different emotions and label them appropriately, and use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour.” (Colman, 2006)

Question 11

What is the emotional quotient?

Answer 11

An index of emotional intelligence analogous to the IQ index of conventional intelligence

Question 12

Who are the key theorists of emotional intelligence?

Answer 12

. Mayer and Salovey (1990)
. Goleman (1995)
. Bar-On (2000)

Question 13

What do systems models of intelligence include?

Answer 13

Include factors other than cognitive ability

Question 14

Who came up with the Theory of Multiple Intelligences and when ?

Answer 14

Gardner (1983)

Question 15

What were Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and outline each?

Answer 15

1 linguistic – a mastery of language, the ability to effectively manipulate language to
express oneself;
2 spatial – ability to manipulate and create mental images in order to solve problems;
logical-mathematical – ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically;

4 musical– capability to recognise and compose musical pitches, tones and rhythms;
5 bodily kinaesthetic – ability to use one’s mental abilities to coordinate one’s own bodily
movements;
6 interpersonal – ability to understand and discern the feelings and intentions of others;
7 intrapersonal – ability to understand one’s own feelings and motivations.

Question 16

What is the criticism of MI?

Answer 16

. MI theory is subjective
. incompatible with well-established
concept of ‘g’
. No empirical support for independent intelliegnces- found to have high intercorrelations
. Key mental abilities are not covered by the theory (e.g. inductive reasoning, memory, perceptual speed

Question 17

Briefly explain Gardner’s multiple intelligences

Answer 17

Gardner argued that there is more than a single, general factor of intelligence. He proposed 7 individual independent intelligences.

Question 18

What are Thurstone’s (1938) Primary Mental Abilities (PMAs)?

Answer 18

. Intelligence – a set of PMAs all rather independent of one another
. PMAs = Verbal comprehension, Reasoning, Perceptual speed, Numerical ability, Word fluency, Associative memory, Spatial visualisation

Question 19

Explain what system models of intelligence are?

Answer 19

Expands concepts of intelligence to include concepts other than just cognitive ability.

Question 20

Explain what structural models of intelligence are?

Answer 20

Only looks at cognitive ability

Question 21

Explain Robert Sternberg’s Triarchic theory of Intelligence (perhaps use as essay topic)

Answer 21

. Goes beyond mental skill, including emotional and attitudinal factors
. The three intelligences contributing to successful intelligence are Analytical (critical thinking), Creative (new ideas), Practical (using intelligence in practical situations)

Question 22

What are the components of Goleman’s model of EI?

Answer 22

1. self-awareness (of emotions)
2. self-management (self-control)
3. social awareness(empathy)
4. relationship management(developing others, leadership)

Question 23

What are the criticisms of EI?

Answer 23

1. Concepts are too broad – lack of coherent definition and measurement
2. Measurement issues – scoring and discriminant validity
3. There is limited data for comparison (norms) across jobs  Emotional Task Analysis
4. Potential for faking/impression management in self-reports by test taker- Problematic for selection!
5. limited evidence of EI predicting job performance (so far)
6. Emotional demands of jobs differ