Intelligence Flashcards
What is intelligence?
It is a hypothetical construct, because it is not directly measurable or observable - however, measurable phenomena and patterns of data can be developed.
Defined as “Involving the application of cognitive skills and knowledge to learn and solve problems” (Burton et al., 2015)
What is metacognition, and give an example.
It is the understanding of a way that they [people with a higher level of intelligence] think when problem-solving (Sternberg & Detterman, 1986).
Example - a more intelligent person may know that talking themselves through a task is the best way for them to learn - whereas a person with a lesser level of intelligence might just guess at the answer.
What are the dominant theories of intelligence?
Multiple Intelligences - Gardner
General Intelligence - Galton, Spearman
Emotional Intelligence - Golman, Salovey & Mayer
What is multiple intelligences?
Gardner (1980s) proposed his concept of people having multiple intelligences
Every has a range of intelligences (At different levels and combinations).
Levels and combinations of the intelligences influence our ability to learn and highlight areas of strength and weakness.
What are the criticism of Gardner?
It is more of an intuitive concept rather than being based on empirical evidence
- No measuring techniques for assessing different types of intelligence
Some say different intelligences correlate with eachother.
What is General Intelligence?
Galton first to discuss the concept.
Proposed that intelligence was a general ability that showed itself in different ways depending on the environment being experienced.
Individuals have differences of intelligence, which can be MEASURED.
He believed intelligence was inheritable and linked to his psychological concepts with those of his cousin (Charles Darwin) - influenced areas like eugenics and is now known as ‘social Darwinism’
What is Charles Spearman’s Theory?
Addition to general intelligence theory
His theory was referred to as ‘Two-factor Theory of Intelligence’.
Influenced by Galton.
Believed intelligence could be measured and tested.
Positive correlation between a person’s score on an intelligence test (memory and language).
What are the components of general intelligence?
Visual spatial - involves the ability such as completing puzzles, working with complex shapes and recognising patterns.
Quantitative Reasoning - Involves the ability to solve problems that are numerically based.
Knowledge - relates to a person’s ability to be flexible in their learning and their ability to problem-solve.
Working memory - relates to a person’s ability to recall short-term memory
What is emotional intelligence in Mayer and Salovey (1990) terms?
“Ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions.”
What does the Four Branch EQ consist of?
Perceiving emotions - ability to perceive emotions in oneself and others, as well as in objects, music, stories and other stimuli
Facilitating Thought - ability to generate, use and feel emotion as necessary to communicate feeling or employ them in cognitive processes.
Understanding Emotions - ability to understand emotional information and how emotions combine and progress through relationship transitions, and to appreciate emotional meanings.
Managing Emotions - ability to be open to feelings and to modulate them in oneself and others to promote personal understanding and growth.
What are the critiques of emotional intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is just part of general intelligence
EI tests are mostly ‘self-reported’ which introduces bias into the results.
Relatively new to the field of psychology, and so has not been studied or fully developed.
What is psychometric testing?
Standardised measure of a selected aspect of an individual’s behaviour. Used to differentiate levels of psychological functioning between people.
What is group testing used for?
For screening purposes and where information on a group of people is needed in a short period of time.
Often pen and paper tests.
What are the problems with group testing?
A person who struggles to read maybe get a low score, but may not have a low intelligence score
Time-limits can cause people who process things slowly may get low scores because they didn’t finish the test (therefore they’re labelled with low intelligence).
What is the use of individual testing?
Needs to be administered by trained professionals, who need to follow the instruction manual precisely, as the tests are standardised.
The instructions allowing standardisation enables the tests to be used everywhere.
Score can be compared around the world.
