Language and Thought L7 Flashcards
What is a definition of intellegence?
The ability to acquire knowledge, to think and
reason effectively and to deal adaptively with the
environment
What is intelligence?
- 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
What was Samuel Morton’s contribution to the ideas behind intelligence?
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?
What was Paul Brocca’s contribution to intelligence?
(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)
Is a bigger brain actually better?
- 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
What is a better measure of intelligence using the brain then IQ?
-Brains of intelligent people are more efficient i.e. there is better quality of connections and processing between neurons
What can be seen when looking at the brain’s of intelligent children?
-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?
What was Sir Francis Galton (1822‐1911) contribution to intelligence?
-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
What did Francis Galton view as the building blocks for intelligence?
Simple, perceptual sensory motor abilities
- ability to perceive something
- quickness of response
- strength (believed in the “weaker sex”)
What did Francis Galton find when he tried to take measures of intelligence from the population?
Examined performance on tasks, found:
-No relation to social class
-Developed statistical techniques → Pearson’s r
correlation coefficient
What was Alfred Binet’s (1857-1911) contribution to intelligence?
-French scholar: Pioneered intelligence
testing
-Father of modern day intelligence testing (Stanford Binet IQ test)
-Viewed Intelligence as a psychological construct
What was the purpose of the intelligence test Alfred Binet developed/ what did he believe in regards to intelligence?
- 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
What are some examples of the types of tasks Alfred Binet got students to do?
- Copying a drawing
- Repeating digits (memory)
- Making change with coins
- Comprehension
In Alfred Binet’s testing were scores the be all and end all?
No, scores were devices designed to help but do not mark children as inherently incapable
What was the earliest form of an IQ score, who developed it?
- Alfred Binet
- Mental Age/Chronological Age x 100
What is mental age?
Average age at which children achieve a particular
score
What is Chronological age?
Real age of the child
What happens when Allred’s Binet test when to America?
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.
How was intelligence testing carried out with masses of people?
- Group administered tasks
- Paper and pencil tasks
- Allowed ranking of huge groups and comparison of races
Where was some of the first places intelligence testing was used? What was the pitfall of both these uses?
- 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.
What changes are seen in modern IQ tests?
- 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)
What is the average IQ for an age group?
100
What proportions sit in different areas of the intelligence bell curve?
-2/3 of people in the age group will fall between 85-115
Explain the idea of subscales in intelligence testing?
- Intelligence is comprised of parts rather than one entity
- The two main subsections are Verbal and Performance
What are some examples of verbal comprehension?
-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?”
What is Verbal IQ spilt into?
- Verbal comprehension
- Working memory
What is Performance IQ spilt into?
- Perceptual organization
- Processing speed
What are examples of how to test working memory?
- 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 + =
What is perceptual reasoning?
- 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)
What tests look for processing speed?
- Symbol search
- Coding
Are we getting smarter? Which research looks into this?
- 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?
What is a contradict to the increase in intelligence shown by professor James Flynn?
- 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
