Language and Thought L7

Question 1

What is a definition of intellegence?

Answer 1

The ability to acquire knowledge, to think and
reason effectively and to deal adaptively with the
environment

Question 2

What is intelligence?

Answer 2

• Set of mental abilities
• Acquire and use knowledge
• Plan and solve problems by taking thought
• Adapt effectively with the environment and learn
  (quickly) from experience

Question 3

What was Samuel Morton’s contribution to the ideas behind intelligence?

Answer 3

1820s‐1850s):

• Believed head size related to intelligence (the more the better)
• Ranking of races, bias towards Europeans being more intelligent
• Data skewed to not include extremes?

Question 4

What was Paul Brocca’s contribution to intelligence?

Answer 4

(1824‐1880):

• weighed brains of cadavers
• compared groups
• believed heavier brain = more intelligence
• He corrected for body size so that race differences weren’t a factor but not for gender (women believed to be inferior)

Question 5

Is a bigger brain actually better?

Answer 5

• Correlation between brain size and intelligence = .33
• Higher for females than males (within the groups not between)
• Higher for adults than children
• Only a rough guide

Question 6

What is a better measure of intelligence using the brain then IQ?

Answer 6

-Brains of intelligent people are more efficient i.e. there is better quality of connections and processing between neurons

Question 7

What can be seen when looking at the brain’s of intelligent children?

Answer 7

-Cortex of highly able children starts off thinner at age 7, reaches peak thickness later → extended window of opportunity for developing high-level cognitive circuits?

Question 8

What was Sir Francis Galton (1822‐1911) contribution to intelligence?

Answer 8

-Viewed intelligence as hereditary
-Coined the term “eugenics” (Selective breeding of races creates a perfect society)
-Intelligence and preeminence were products of evolution (survival of the fittest)
-Made first systematic attempts to measure intelligence
by observing behaviour

Question 9

What did Francis Galton view as the building blocks for intelligence?

Answer 9

Simple, perceptual sensory motor abilities

• ability to perceive something
• quickness of response
• strength (believed in the “weaker sex”)

Question 10

What did Francis Galton find when he tried to take measures of intelligence from the population?

Answer 10

Examined performance on tasks, found:
-No relation to social class
-Developed statistical techniques → Pearson’s r
correlation coefficient

Question 11

What was Alfred Binet’s (1857-1911) contribution to intelligence?

Answer 11

-French scholar: Pioneered intelligence
testing
-Father of modern day intelligence testing (Stanford Binet IQ test)
-Viewed Intelligence as a psychological construct

Question 12

What was the purpose of the intelligence test Alfred Binet developed/ what did he believe in regards to intelligence?

Answer 12

• Developed test to predict school success in order to help children who were struggling
• Started by measuring head size then came to believe that intelligence was performance on complex tasks, with many levels of difficulty
• Believed that intelligence was a GENERAL ABILITY, not just the accumulation of knowledge
• Did not start out with a precise definition or theory of intelligence and tried to eliminate bias
• Used a 1:1 approach when did testing

Question 13

What are some examples of the types of tasks Alfred Binet got students to do?

Answer 13

• Copying a drawing
• Repeating digits (memory)
• Making change with coins
• Comprehension

Question 14

In Alfred Binet’s testing were scores the be all and end all?

Answer 14

No, scores were devices designed to help but do not mark children as inherently incapable

Question 15

What was the earliest form of an IQ score, who developed it?

Answer 15

• Alfred Binet

- Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100

Question 16

What is mental age?

Answer 16

Average age at which children achieve a particular

score

Question 17

What is Chronological age?

Answer 17

Real age of the child

Question 18

What happens when Allred’s Binet test when to America?

Answer 18

Lewis Terman:

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence test
• Intelligence quotient

Henry Goddard:

• Translated the Binet test into English
• Promoted mass testing

Focus shifted from using it as a tool to help back to proof that some races were superior. Pushed the idea of language as a innate/ fixed trait.

Question 19

How was intelligence testing carried out with masses of people?

Answer 19

• Group administered tasks
• Paper and pencil tasks
• Allowed ranking of huge groups and comparison of races

Question 20

Where was some of the first places intelligence testing was used? What was the pitfall of both these uses?

Answer 20

• Military (alpha test) to determine whether someone should be a shoulder or in more of a command position
• Immigration to exclude people who would supposedly be a burden to society due to lack of intelligence

-Both failed to take in to account the different cultures sitting the test required specific knowledge on American culture and the language so of course Europeans/American would rank higher. Also for immigration the people had been on boats for days and so were not performing their best.

Question 21

What changes are seen in modern IQ tests?

Answer 21

• Mental age was replaced with standardized score (bell curve), this was because the way of calculating didn’t work for adults
• Development of subscales (more complex)

Question 22

What is the average IQ for an age group?

Answer 22

100

Question 23

What proportions sit in different areas of the intelligence bell curve?

Answer 23

-2/3 of people in the age group will fall between 85-115

Question 24

Explain the idea of subscales in intelligence testing?

Answer 24

• Intelligence is comprised of parts rather than one entity

- The two main subsections are Verbal and Performance

Question 25

What are some examples of verbal comprehension?

Answer 25

-Vocabulary: Define envelope; define exaggerate
-Comprehension: “Why should we obey traffic laws?”; “What does the saying, ‘too many cooks spoil the broth mean?’” (general knowledge)
-Information: “Where is Finland?” and “At what temperature does
paper burn?”

Question 26

What is Verbal IQ spilt into?

Answer 26

• Verbal comprehension

- Working memory

Question 27

What is Performance IQ spilt into?

Answer 27

• Perceptual organization

- Processing speed

Question 28

What are examples of how to test working memory?

Answer 28

• Digit Span: 9 6 7 2 8 1 (recite backwards or forwards)
• Arithmetic: How many 15 cent stamps can you buy for a dollar?
• Complete the number series: 20 16 12 8 __ __
• Build an equation using the symbols given: 2 3 5 + =

Question 29

What is perceptual reasoning?

Answer 29

• To with spatial organization, the ability to perceive and orientate information
• Involves matching patterns, rotating blocks to match a pattern that is shown etc. (block design, matrix reasoning, Visual puzzles)

Question 30

What tests look for processing speed?

Answer 30

• Symbol search

- Coding

Question 31

Are we getting smarter? Which research looks into this?

Answer 31

• Professor James Flynn
• Coined the “Flynn effect” : over time people seemed to do better on certain intelligence tests particularly the Raven’s progressive matrix (finding patterns)
• He argued the increase was due to the world getting more complex and thus us needing to engage in a high level of problem solving all of the time
• Brings up the argument should intelligence be measuring something innate or is it testing stuff we have learnt from the environment, what is driving the variation in humans?

Question 32

What is a contradict to the increase in intelligence shown by professor James Flynn?

Answer 32

• That SAT scores are going down

- These have a high verbal component so could be that this English ability is getting worse due to not reading