Intelligence Flashcards
1- What is intelligence?
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.” -Einstein
Intelligence and …
* The ability to generalize memories (Memory); flexibly use knowledge (Concepts) to solve new problems (Problem solving)
Ex: I know how to fold a burrito, but how do I
swaddle a baby?
* Thinking and reasoning abilities beyond algorithms
- Intelligence relates to efficient and appropriate reasoning
- Learning from experience
- Adapting to the environment
- Acting purposefully
So…
Is AI intelligent? - Is it just an algorithm passively feeding on a lot of text and predicting what comes without “intelligent” thought?
ChaptGPT solves ambiguous decision-making
and reasoning tasks similarly to humans - falls for the conjunction fallacy (Linda feminist bank teller)
What it can do - Automated tasks
- Routine activities
- Create content
- Create Bizarre songs
- Co-create movie with AI
What it cannot do - Editing: Avoid repetition n
content - Write accurate news articles
- Provides ‘fake news’
- Cannot provide opinions or
advice - Can’t create original puzzles
- It varies across individuals
- IQ tests have been designed to measure general intelligence differences
- Other factors underlie differences on these tests aside from “intelligence”
2- Measuring intelligence
History
Measuring intelligence: A standard test
* Psychometrics: The study of psychological assessment
* Standardization
- Test scores are compared to pre-tested ‘standardization’ or ‘norm’ groups
* Normal distribution or curve
- A symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes test score distribution
IQ tests scores
* Average score of 100
* Standard deviation of 15; 95 %
* Within two standard deviations of the mean, IQ scores between 70 and 130
Validity and Reliability of IQ test scores
* Reliability: There is consistency across instances of testing
- IQ scores show have high test-retest reliability
- Evidence: Score at age 6 correlates with scores at age 18
* Validity: The test is measuring what it is intended to measure
- IQ scores should have predictive validity if they predict performance on something requiring intelligence
- Correlations of .5 with job performance
- But what is intelligence will vary across context and culture
… to come
History:
The start of intelligence testing
* Francis Galton (1822 to 1911)
* Developed tests, but purpose was questionable
- Founded the eugenics movement
- Racially-motivated view of how to
“improve” society
- A dark start to intelligence testing
Alfred Binet
* Developed a test in response to a request from the French government
- Identify children that needed special education in school
* Binet viewed intelligence as as important for:
- Practical life, adapting to circumstances judging and reasoning well
* Binet thought his test only measured academic output and not intelligence
The Simon-Binet Test
* 30 questions of increasing difficulty (easy
to hard)
- Easy items: Follow a light beam
- Difficult items: Describe abstract words
* Some questionable items (like which one is attractive)
* Standardization
* A child’s mental age was calculated by
comparing the score /30 to the score of
a group of children the same
chronological age
The Stanford-Binet Test
* Based on the Simon-Binet test
Item for a 4 years old
“Repeat the following numbers: 3 6 7”
Item for an Adult
“Describe the difference between misery and poverty”
* IQ RATIO scores : (Mental Age (MA) / Chronological Age (CA)) * 100
* If MA > CA, ability is above average of peers (gifted)
* If MA < CA, ability is below average of peers (delayed)
Wechsler Tests
“The global capacity of a person to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment”
(Wechsler, 1958, p. 7)
* Separate intelligence scales for children and adults AND separate scales to measure different types of intelligence
Verbal IQ:
-Similarities: Explain what two words have in common
-Vocabulary: Define words
Performance IQ:
-Picture completion: Determine what is missing from a picture
-Picture arrangement: Organize pictures in a logical order
Raven’s progressive matrices
* Shown patterns with a missing
section and asked to determine
the missing piece from a set of
options
* Non-verbal assessment
- Relatively free from linguistic
influences and thus free from
cultural biases
3- Measuring intelligence
Assessment
What are they measuring?
* Working memory (WM) capacity shares at least half its statistical variance with “general intelligence”.
* WM can predict intelligent behaviors, including reasoning and adaptability
4- Measuring intelligence
Influencing factors
Genetics and IQ scores
* Studies with fraternal or identical twins raised in the same or different environment
* Shared genetics is a better predictor of IQ
correlations among twins than the environment
Important points on IQ scores
* Helpful to identify children who need
help but can be used to exclude
marginalized communities.
* Factors affect performance
- Socioeconomics
- Gender differences in self-estimated
intelligence
- Culture: Familiarity with task and stimuli
can affect performance
The Flynn effect: Explaining IQ variations
* Americans’ IQ scores increased 3 points per decade over 100 years
Why?
-Education: average years of schooling has increased
- Complexity
* Over time, more focus on abstract thinking and critical thinking, especially in wealthier countries
- Health
* There is a greater focus on health, which improves brain function and enhances
IQ test scores
5- Theories of intelligence
General vs multiple intelligence theories
Intelligence as a single entity vs. Intelligence as many things
Spearman’s two factor theory
* Found that tests of cognitive abilities
correlated with one another
* Suggested that higher correlations are
driven by a common reliance on a single
factor
* This is general intelligence (g)
* General Intelligence (g factor) varies across people but is stable within a person. Genetic basis
* Specific abilities (s factors) are performance on tasks, are affected by education and environment, and vary within a person
- Like school subjects!
Cattell and Horn Theory
* Fluid intelligence (similar to g)
- The capacity to acquire new knowledge and engage in flexible thinking
- Tests of reasoning
- Genetic basis
* Crystalized intelligence (similar to s)
- Knowledge and learning that has been acquired throughout the lifetime
- Vocabulary, math
- Affected by personality, education, culture
- Motivated learning
Found that crystalized increased with time (age), but fluid decreased with time (age)
Multiple forms of intelligence
* Savant Syndrome: A a person who is
otherwise limited in mental ability has an
exceptional specific ability
- E.g., artistic skills or mathematical ability
- Can be congenital or acquired (new skills
after brain injury)
* Suggests there are different forms of
intelligence, supported by different cognitive
processes
Acquired savants:
* People who acquire specific skills from brain
injury
- Tony Cicoria: After being struck by lightening, a man developed exceptional piano skills
- Orlando Serell: ability to perform calendar
calculations.
* To compensate for damage, other areas of the brain will be ‘rewired’, which induces
savant-like capabilities
Gardner’s theory of multiple
intelligences
DON’T NEED TO KNOW THE TYPES
v Verbal-linguistic intelligence (verbal material and sounds)
v Logical-mathematical intelligence (and numerical patterns)
v Spatial-visual intelligence (think in images and pictures)
v Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence (handle objects skillfully)
v Musical intelligences (rhythm, pitch and timber)
v Interpersonal intelligence (moods, motivations and desires of others)
v Intrapersonal (inner feelings, values, beliefs and thinking processes)
v Naturalist intelligence (plants, animals and other objects in nature)
v Existential intelligence (deep questions about human existence)
Sternberg’s theory of intelligence
* A process view that states that
intelligence is not a system or structure
* Intelligence is the capacity to automatize information processes and use them in
appropriate settings
- This can vary
intellectual components:
1. Meta-component: Higher order processes for planning and decision making. Making decisions about how to solve a problem
2. Performance component: Processes for executing a task
3. Knowledge acquisition component: Processes to learn and store new information
Triarchic theory: Types of intelligence
(1) Components interact with certain materials/tasks (2) that are relevant to a given situation (3)
-Analytic intelligence: Mental steps or components used to solve problems
-Practical intelligence: The ability to apply information to daily ambiguous situations
* Emphasizes contextual information
* E.g., Delivery persons who can intelligently navigate routes when there are road-blocks
-Creative intelligence: The ability to think in new ways and apply information flexibly
* Emphasizes experiential information
* Linked to insight problem solving
6- Emotion effect on cognition
Emotion and thinking
* Emotion affect how we process information and think
Positive mood leads to broad thinking
* A positive mood promotes a general “assimilative thinking” style, and leads
to greater susceptibility to misinformation
* A negative mood promotes specific
“focused thinking” style, and lowers susceptibility to misinformation
Global processing…linked to happier moods
