Intelligence Flashcards
what is intelligence?
the ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively and to deal adaptively to the environment
Samuel Morton
1820s - 1850s
head size related to intelligence
he ranked races
Paul Broca
1824-1880
believed heavier brain = more intelligence
gender/ race biases
is bigger actually better?
correlation between brain size and IQ is 3.3
is only a rough guide
Building Block of intelligence…
examine correlations between IQ and brain imaging = belief that brains of intelligent people are more efficient (quality of connections etc)
example: cortex of highly able children starts off thinner at 7yrs and reaches a peak thickness later - extended window of opportunity for developing high-level cognitive circuits
Francis Galton
measuring intelligence
simple, perceptual sensory motor abilities
- ability to perceive something
- quickness of response
- strength
findings: no relation to social class
also developed ‘r’ correlation coefficient
Alred Binet
measuring intelligence
Stanford Binet IQ test
1st to think of IQ as a psychological construct
believed intelligence was a general ability
inteligence quotient
early calculations of IQ
(mental age/ chronological age) x100
Impact of Intelligence Testing
- measuring intelligence in adults
- military - cultural baises - Alpha test
- immigrants - low IQ not let in
- development of sub-scales
Contemporary IQ tests
(problem with mental age when applied to adults)
solution: abandon mental age and calculate IQ relative to other adults’ scores = normal curve
2/3 of people in age group fall between 85-115
Subscales of Intelligence
- verbal comprehension
- working memory
- perceptual reasoning
- processing speed
The Flynn Effect
increase in IQ scores overtime (compared to SAT scores, which are decreasing)
- we are doing more complex problem solving, having effect on some tasks in iQ tests (NOT NUTRITION)
why might our scores on abstract reasoning tasks be increasing?
Raven’s progressive matrices
Spearman’s two factor theory
G = general factors/ underlying cognitive ability
S = specific factor/ specific to type of task
fluid v crystallised intelligence
fluid intelligence: ability to learn/ deal w new problems
crystallised intelligence: acquired knowledge
fluid intelligence stops increasing and declines after adolescence whereas crystallised continues to increase with age.
what do intelligence scores predict?
job performance: r = 0.3-0.3 (9-25% variance)
midterm test r = 0.5 (25% variance)
creativity - little correlation
health/ wellbeing = some correlation but not really
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
3 types of intelligences (interact w eachother)
- analytic intelligence (IQ tests)
- creative intelligence (generating ideas)
- practical intelligence (common sense lowkey)
purposes of adaption, adaptation to shaping and selecting your environments
Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
argued that there is no such thing as a single unified intelligence, but there are many types and an individual can be good at some and not so good at others.
involved a modular view of the mind
Culture & Intelligence
Different cultures hold different levels of importance of intelligence and different ways to measure it etc
example: Zambia children cannot sue a pencil in the ‘draw a person test’ as they are not sued to this so cannot compare English children in this sense.
