Intelligence - child psychology Flashcards
What is spearman’s definition of intelligence ?
General intelligence ( g factor)
- consistent correlation in children’s performance on series of unrelated tests, tests measure same underlying cognitive ability
- g is basis of human intelligence and accounts for 50% of intelligence/ variance
- specific forms of intelligence like logic and maths known as ‘s’
Cattells fluid intelligence
Ability to reason in abstract ways + solve problems logically without experience and declines with age.
-tests of memory/ reasoning
Cattells crystallised intelligence
Ability to gain knowledge through learning and experience, increases with age.
-subject specific tests
What is Gardners definition of intelligence?
Multiple intelligences
- People don’t have a general intellect but instead have many different kinds of intelligence
- identifies 8 separate intelligences/abilities
- vary in each individual
Gardners 8 abilities
- verbal-linguistic
- logical-mathematical
- bodily-kinaesthetic
- musical
- visual-spatial
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
- naturalistic
Validity of intelligence
- -> lack construct validity because if we can’t agree on one definition of intelligence then how do we know that IQ tests are accurate measurements
- -> theoretically constructed as it can’t be measured objectively
List biological factors that affect intelligence
- sex –> halpem
- brain structure –>haier
- genes –> Scarr&Wienburg and McGue
What did Halpem find about sex differences?
Found evidence to indicate men and women are intelligent in different ways.
Women higher score in knowledge and verbal fluency tests.
Men score higher in mental rotation tasks.
BUT no overall differences in intelligence, just that they display different types of intelligence.
What did Haier say about brain structure and intelligence ?
Men more grey matter in frontal and parietal lobes- motor skills and high level reasoning.
Women more GM in different areas of frontal lobe - speech + writing.
BUT men and women similar IQ’s.
What did Scarr and Weinburg find about genetics and intelligence?
Compared intellectual abilities of parents and their adopted and biological children.
Found stronger correlation between biological relatives.
McGue findings
- IQ concordance for MZ is +0.86 and for DZ twins is +0.60.
- concordance for MZ raised apart is +0.72 which is greater than DZ raised together at +0.60.
Issues with twin studies
- assortative mating
- dont measure interaction between genes and environment, parents share environment too with offspring
- concordance is correlation not necessarily cause.
Van Leeuwens Aim
measure influence of assortative mating, cultural transmission and genetic-environmental interaction
sample
112 families of twins who were 9 from Netherlands twin registry
- also had extra sibling between 9-14
- invited by letter
- no psychiatric problems, major medical problems or physical/sensory disabilities
design
extended twin design comparing intelligence test of MZ and Dz twins, full siblings and parents.
procedure
Children- SPM-60 problems in 5 sets of 12- non-verbal-measures fluid
Adults-APM-scored out of 36 - written instructions
Phenotypic assortment ?
assortative mating happens because choose partner of similar intelligence
Social homogamy ?
people with similar intelligence clustered in same environment so more likely to get together
How were IQ’s estimated?
results from test estimated using Rasch model so APM and SPM scores could be compared.
Results
- No sex differences
- MZ more similar than DZ or full siblings
- Moderative + spousal correlation (0.33), support phenotypic assortment
- No cultural transmission- environment no effect
- GE interaction stronger for those with lower IQ
Conclusions
- main influence is genes but environment has larger impact on people with lower IQ.
- cultural transmission doesn’t influence children IQ
- Phenotypic assortment better explains spousal resemblance than social homogamy.
Usefulness of research
can test at low age to identify low IQ and provide early intervention to develop cognitive skills
Evaluate research method
Correlational- not cause
Determinism
suggests that genes determine who we mate with and our children intelligence
Evaluate Sample
- population validity- 112 families
- ethnocentric- dutch
- both types of twins and siblings used.
Ravens Progressive Matrices
measures abstract reasoning + fluid non-verbal Find missing pattern in a series Qs get harder Coloured progressive matrices Standard progressive matrices Advanced progressive matrices
