Individual Differneces- Theories Of Intelligence Flashcards
What is intelligence?- in the past
Plato- intelligence, through reason, helps us make sense of what we perceive
Aristotle- intelligence separates us from animals. Based in the ‘psyche’ and is both active (making sense of) and passive (information from the senses)
In the medieval period- memory made you intelligent
By the 19th century arguments shifted towards heritability and intelligence
What is intelligence?
Debatable and unobservable
Implicit meanings include
- practical problem solving ability
-Verbal ability
-Social competence
-Knowledge
- high IQ
Implicit theories of intelligence across cultures
Differs across culture however
- in the east, spirituality,historicity and community are also important
- in Korea social competence, problem solving, coping with novelty, practical skills and self management
- in Taiwan forms of social intelligence, self assertion and self- effacement (being humble about abilities)
Implicit theories of intelligence- age and experience
-Laypersons and experts also differ in what they believe intelligence is and does
- differs also between experts- a physics professor and a company CEO will have different ideas about what an intelligent person should be able to do
- manifestation and perception of intelligence also differs by age- an intelligence 2 year old is not the same as an intelligent 20 year old
Implicit theories
Fixed entry theory
- malleable quality (increment theory)
Blackwell,Trzesniewski and Dweck (2007)
- students theory of intelligence is a key belief
- sets up a pattern of motivations
Bodill and Roberts (2013)
- implicit theories are related to external and internal locus of control, respectively
What do we expect of the intelligent?
- perform well at school
- success in job performance
-Ability to solve complex problems - can learn from experience
- able to express themselves clearly
- able to adapt to new situations
- quick learners
- fast reactions/ fast processing
- eloquence and repartee
- can deal with information in any medium
Measuring intelligence- Galton revisited
- forefather of intelligence testing
- believed that intelligence was an inherited attribute
- theorised that intelligence was some general construct of the psyche
-Considered intelligence to be normally distributed - assumed that sensory abilities were a key part of intelligence
Measuring intelligence- Alfred Binet (1857-1911)
- in conjunction with Theodore Simon (1872-1961) developed the binet-simon test in 1905
- used to determine what children could do within the french education system
- standardised test AMD standardised scores
- the test determines a child’s mental age
- was approached psychometrically
The Binet-simon test
The examined
- counting
-naming objects, body parts
- digit recall (memory)
- vocab
- some motor skills
Binet aware of test bias- was refined over versions to make it as fair as possible
Lewis Terman (1877-1956)
- adopted the Binet-simon test to develop the stanford-binet test (1916)
- wrote new items and generated new norms (on a larger more representative sample)
- widely adopted in the US- made mandatory in some states
- later adaptions were made in 1937 (Terman and Merrill)
William Stern (1871-1938)
The intelligence quotient (IQ)
Allows comparison across ages- if your mental age and your chronological age are the same your IQ will always be 100
Developed in 1912 and introduced wholesale into the stanford-binet
IQ= (mental age/chronological age)x100
Robert Yerkes (1876-1956)
- asked to screen applicants in the US army during WW1
- stanford-binet was too long and administered 1:1
- developed two tests
- Army Alpha ( for the literate)
- Army Beta (for the illiterate)
Administered to over 1.75 million people. Had a major impact on the standing of ability tests in society
Evaluating the Army Alpha/beta test
- massive undertaking
- novel introduction of non-reading based assessments for ability
But - often not used properly (some illiterate men got Alpha)
- The Beta test did require you to write numbers
- problems with culture bias (immigrants had to know what phonograms, tennis courts and light bulbs were)
David Wechsler (1896- 1981)
- worked for Yerkes. Also worked with Charles Speaman and Karl Pearson
- was a proponent of Spearman’s G theory (forthcoming)
- develops the Wechsler-Bellevue scale in 1939
- based on the idea that intelligence covered a whole range of skills not covered by conventional tests
- in 1955 developed two widely used scales
- Wechsler Adult intelligence scale (WAIS)- POST 16
- Wechsler scale for children (WISC) - AGED 5-16
- standardised on large representative samples
- still widely used today and very common in the literature
Deviation IQ
- normal IQ scores are difficult to interpret in adults. Wechsler tied them to age and related averages instead
- so IQ= (actual score/expected score for that age)X100
- average score set at 100 with a standard deviation of 15
- thus deviation from 100 are now how you differ from the norm in age appropriate samples
- note that IQ is not a ratio level scores someone with an IQ of 150 is not twice as smart as someone with and IQ of 75
Rules for developing/using IQ tests
- prior to Yerkes, tests were 1:1 with a professional
Modern testing is large scale however - everyone should be tested in the same conditions and with the same instructions
- tests should be standardised on large representative samples
- validity and reliability still essential criterion
Evaluating IQ tests
+ reliable (internally consistent and over time)
+ Does correlate with and predict things we expect it to
+ Massively influential in test design generally
+ Revolutionised education in the 20th century
But
- predicts intelligence to a point, does it predict genius/eminence?
- difficulties can arise through test bias/poor administration
- have been historically misused to promote racist/eugenics agendas
- do they tell us much of the nature of intelligence ?
Theories of intelligence
What is intelligence?
Factor theories
- Spearman’s G
- cattells crystallised and fluid intelligence
Contemporary theories
- Sternberg’s tariarchic view
- gardeners theory of multiple intelligence
Factor theories
They are based of the factor analysis of psychometric tests
- how do scores on individual test items or subtests correlate with one another
- can items be reduced down to a smaller number of factors
Purpose to explain individual differences In intelligence
- not to explain how intelligence develops
So not concerned with the cognitive apparatus underlying intelligence
General intelligence (G)
Charles spearman (1863-1945)
Built on Galton’s proposals that there was some general component to intelligence
People who tend to do well on one test do well on others
These ability tests correlate well with each to create a positive manifold
Charles Spearman (1863-1945)
Specific abilities (s)
- intelligence required for performing well on each different tasks
- eg- specific intelligence for verbal mathematical and spatial abilities
General abilities (G)
- intelligence required for performance in all types of intelligence tests
- best predictor of overall performance
- underlies positive correlations observed
‘G’
- spearman (1927) reflected a hypothetical mental power that infused all intellectual operations
Why do some people support G?
- repeat findings that tests ability are positively inter- correlated
- spearman used PCA to show this
Examples of G based measures include
- Wechsler Adult intelligence scale (WAIS)
- Wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC)
- Ravens progressive matrices
Thurstone (1938)
Argued that G results from primary mental abilities
- associative memory
- number
- perceptual speed
-Reasoning
- space
- verbal comprehension ‘
- work fluency
G has no real significance- just reflects correlations between test results
Also argued the use of composite score or a system of overall ranking (I.e IQ scores) is inappropriate
Cattells (1905-1998)
Crystallised intelligence (GC)
- acquired knowledge and skills
- increases throughout life
- Wechsler’s tests
Fluit intelligence (gf)
- primary reasoning ability
- thought to be present at birth and stabilises in adulthood
- Ravens progressive matrics
