Intelligence Flashcards
Intelligence
Ability to use one’s mind to solve novel problems and learn from experience
What was the original purpose of IQ tests?
Originally developed to help underprivileged children succeed in school
Binet and Simon
Their goal was to develop an objective test - an unbiased measure of child’s ability, independent of prior educational achievement.
What is the best way to see if a child is developing normally?
Examine ratio of child’s mental age to physical age - their intelligence quotient.
Ratio IQ
Mental age/physical age x 100
Only works with children b/c of smaller age range
Deviation IQ
person’s test/average score in age group x 100
Doesn’t work with children because they score the same as adults
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) (WISC for children)
Tested verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed
Verbal comprehension
How words relate to each other
Perceptual reasoning
Visual problem solving
Working memory test
How much info you can hold and manipulate
Processing speed
Detect visual details quickly
What does intelligence predict?
Excellent income
There’s a role of education (r = 0.5 between intelligence and academic performance)
Healthier/longer life
Spearman’s two factor theory
Person’s performance on a test is due to a combination of general ability (g) and skills that are specific (s) to the tests
What did Thurston claim?
No such thing as g; instead there’s a few stable mental abilities: primary mental abilities that are neither general or specific. There are 7 of them and they differ in strength between individuals.
Word fluency
Ability to solve anagrams/find rhymes
Numerical ability
Make mental and other numerical computations
Spatial visualization
Visualize complex shape in various orientations
Associative memory
Recall verbal material and learn pairs of unrelated words
Reasoning
Induce general rule from few instances
Three level hierarchy
Closer to reality than other models of intelligence. There’s a general ability (intelligence) which is made up of a set of middle-level abilities, which are made up of a large set of specific abilities unique to tasks. Incorporates Spearman and Thurston’s claims.
What are middle level abilities?
There’s data based (Carroll) and theory based (Sternberg) approaches
Data based
Look at responses and see what clusters form
Theory based
Broad survey of human abilities; see which abilities IQ tests measure or fail to measure
Carroll’s eight middle level abilities
Memory and learning, visual perception, auditory perception, retrieval ability, processing speed, crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence
Crystallized intelligence
Ability to apply knowledge that was acquired through experience (factual information tests)
Fluid intelligence
Apply knowledge to solve problems you’ve never encountered before (abstract and processing tests)
Sternberg’s three kinds of intelligence
Analytic, creative and practical
Analytic
Ability to identify and define problems and to find strategies to solve them
Creative
Ability to generate solutions others cannot
Practical
Apply and implement solutions in everyday settings. Better than analytic when it comes to job performance.
Emotional intelligence
Ability to reason about emotions and use emotions to enhance reasoning
Why do emotionally intelligent people show less neural activity when solving emotional problems?
It comes naturally to them - requires less thinking
What are some cultural issues with intelligence?
Different cultures have different definitions of intelligence. Every culture values ability to solve problems, but differences lie in types of problems to be solved.
Why are twin studies difficult?
It’s hard to come across lots of pairs of twins and twins share a lot of genes so it might artificially inflate effect of genes.
Influence of genes on IQ
IQs of identical twins are strongly correlated irrespective of environment, and people who share genes have similar IQs, also irrespective of environment.
Heritability coefficient
Describes the proportion of differences between people’s IQs that can be attributed to genetics. Falls between 0.5 and 0.7, and value changes depending on who is measured and age of people being measured.
Shared environment
Features of environment experienced by all relevant members of the household
Nonshared environment
Features of environment not experienced by all relevant members of household
Environment influence
Power influencers: economic and education
Flynn effect
Average IQ score is 30 points higher today than a century ago
Economics
Socioeconomic status is the material wealth of the family. Why does SES affect/is the best predictor of IQ? Nutrition, stress, medical care, no toxins, intellectual stimulation
Education
Strongly correlated with intelligence, but effects are short lived.
How do genetics AND environment influence IQ?
Genes determine range in which IQ is likely to fall. Experiences determine exact point in that range.
Who is most intelligent?
Average IQ is 100; 68% fall between 85 and 115. If below 85, intellectually disabled; if above 115, intellectually gifted.
Who is more likely to experience a wider deviation in IQ?
Males are more likely to be below 85 or above 115
Common misconception of intelligence
Highly intelligent people are actually LESS prone to mental illness
Gifted
Usually in a single domain, which they spend a great deal of time on
Intellectual disabilities
Mild: 50 < IQ < 69
Moderate: 35 < IQ < 49
Severe: 20 < IQ < 34
Profound: IQ < 20
Example causes of intellectual disabilities
Down syndrome, Fetal alcohol syndrome
Terman’s claims
- Intelligence is influenced by genes (YES)
- Members of some racial groups score better than others on IQ tests? (YES)
- Differences in scores on IQ tests is due to a difference in genes? (NO)
Why do IQ scores vary between groups?
- Tests are biased
- Early tests asked questions only some groups would know the answer to (cultural bias)
- Stereotype threat (fear of confirming negative stereotypes)
- Genes? Inconclusive, not likely
- Environment? Absolutely!
Improving intelligence in children
1) Supplementing pregnant women and newborns with long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (in breast milk)
2) Enrolling low SES infants in early educational interventions
3) Reading to children in an interactive manner
4) Sending children to preschool
Cognitive enhancers
Improve processes that underlie intelligent performance. Stimulants (Ritalin, Adderall) and Ampakines (Modafinil)
