Intelligence Lecture 2 Flashcards
What is the psychometric approach of intelligence?
THE PSYCHOMETRIC APPROACH OF intelligence, we have the idea that intelligence as a construct has to do with mental abilities. The way that research and science works with intelligence is largely saying that there is a concept of intelligence that we test. Most of this work is done on the testing side.
SAT was created based on IQ tests. SAT stands for standardized apptittude test. The idea was to look at innate ability not just what kind of school you went to. Now if doesn’t stand for anything it is literaly just called the SAT. It is not an IQ test according to the manufacturerers of the SAT. Is the SAT measuring what we learn in school or is it something different than differences in schooling. IQ tests are normed for different ages, but these other sorts of standardized tests only have one version given to everyone. It isn’t age normed.
What is true about genetics and IQ tests?
IQ scores do seem to be similar/more correlated when we have more genetic similarities. We also talked about how its really hard to disentagle genetics from the environment
What is an interesting case for active effects of gene-environment correlation?
an interesting case for active effects comes from idetncial vs fraternal twins. Identical twins, their similarity in IQ increases with age. the older you ge the more similar their IQs are. BUT fraternal twins’ similarity in IQ decreases with age. It is thought that a lot of this has to do with selecting your environment. Maybe twin A likes learning so asks her teacher for more homework. THose active effects and choices they make lead to more and more differences overtime.
what environmental factors make a big difference in IQ scores?
- Environment
- Schooling
- Family/home environment
- Socioeconomic status
- Time period
a big factor in this is schooling, even thought IQ tests are supposed to be testing not just schooling but it shows that schooling does really matter. IN vancouver, the cut off to start kindergarten, you have to be born before december 31st. If you are born January 1st you have to wait a whole other year to be in school.
that year of being in school actually makes a big difference in IQ scores. We also know things like family and home environment matter. Parents who provide more stimulatng environments etc.
socioeconomics is also a big environmental factor of IQ scores. Time period is also important. IQ scores seem to be going up wit htime.
What is true about IQ testing today? How do we know what an “average” score is?
- Administered and scored by
trained professionals - Very strict guidelines
- Most tests are continuously re-
normed
→For the population being tested
(ie, a culturally diverse Canadian-
based sample)
→To re-determine what an IQ of
100 means (vs 70 vs 130 vs …)
what is the average score. It is based on performance relative to other people so they need to know what other people are doing.
What is IQ testing used for today?
In some regions/schools, used to
quality for…
* Learning disability diagnosis and
access to supports (giftedness is also assessed)
* Access to special education classes
* Access to giftedness programs and
supports
* Sometimes used in court cases,
policy
* Example: death penalty in US
(below 70 was the cutoff for when you can’t execute them.)
What are IQ scores correlated with?
- IQ scores are correlated with many other variables…
- Job performance
- Attitudes
- Health
- Mortality
- & others!
it does correlate with all sorts of other things so people consider it to be a useful barometer. It predicts mortality, health etc.
could be helpful as a tool for research or policy reasons. The relationship between IQ and led poisoning. Paint used to contain Lead in it. What happened is paint would flake off walls, led is sweet so kids would eat the flaking paint because it was sweet. At the time the belief was led exposure is not toxic. But then researchers wanted to see if there is actually a problem with ingesting small amounts of led. Researchers found that there is actually a correlation. If you ingest a small amount of led, this is correlated with a drop in IQ. This finding was important in leading to these policies.
IQ differences have also been used to test the impacts of poverty, exposure to violence etc. During covid when we had a lot of breaks from schooling, a lot of research showed that this break in schooling was associated with a drop in IQ.
Give an example of how IQ tests can be useful in research?
- IQ can be used as a tool for research (and policy decisions)
- Example: IQ & lead
Old belief: only large amounts of lead exposure are
toxic
Research (Needleman et al., 1979) → even small
amounts of lead is associated with a drop in IQ
Led to policies banning lead in gasoline!
How can IQ tests be useful for society?
- IQ can be used as a tool for research (and policy decisions)
Changes/differences in IQ can/have
be used to study the impacts of:
* Poverty
* Exposure to violence
* Pollution
* Breaks from school
* Etc.
Can IQ tests be dangerous?
score on IQ test is sensitive to things like how much money they say they are going to pay you.
reflects things like coaching.
there is also bias in some of the testing (people with different positionalities may be at a disadvantage)
the problem is we interpret it in terms of intelligence.
- IQ tests may not actually
measure “intelligence”
What is IQ test performance sensitive to?
- IQ tests may not actually
measure “intelligence”
→Test performance is sensitive
to motivation ($$ incentive), to
coaching
→Bias in testing
RUNNER : MARATHON
(A) envoy : embassy
(B) martyr : massacre
(C) oarsman : regatta
(D) horse : stable
The problem is, we tend to
interpret IQ scores as
evidence of a person’s
underlying mental ability
…
not as evidence of their
cultural knowledge,
motivation, coaching, stress
that day, hunger, etc…
