Lecture 5: Intelligence Flashcards
intelligence: predictor of … and protective factor for ….
- Intelligence is a predictor, it is related to
* Professional success
* School choice
* Learning problems
* Behavioural problems - Intelligence is a protective factor; it is positively related to
* Succes of intervention
* Coping
what is the origin of individual differences in intelligence
- Development: both environment and child change
- Transactions are essential: environment changes child behaviour, and children change environment
- Interaction nature * nurture produces intelligent behaviour
Individual multiplier: Basketball-analogy
(phenomenon that can explain individual differences)
- Bo and Mo are friends
- Bo is slightly taller
- One day Bo is asked by big kids to join the
basketball team - Mo gets into a worse team
- Bo scores well and he learns the tricks
from the older children, he enjoys it a lot,
spends a lot of time with the older
children and trains a lot, also outside of
school - Mo plays basketball only at school
Individual multiplier effect=
Small difference in nature (height) is multiplied by nurture. Result: large difference in skill
* By (self-)selecting environments that encourage innate difference
* Through additional practice
* Leads to an upwards spiral via practice, environment, opportunities (also motivation: als iets leuker is en beter lukt ga je het vaker doen)
Social multiplier effect =
Social multipliers produce difference between groups and generations (nature * environment of a group)
Voorbeelden:
- onze generatie beter in schaken door de queens gambit
- breakdancing became an olympic sport: popularity rose, online battles, this generation is getting better at breakdancing. the cause is mainly nurture, but the one with talent (nature) still has the greatest chance of winning
what are multipliers in the environment for intelligence
- attention at school
- educational toys (komen vaak overeen met intelligence tests voor kids)
what phenomenon can the social multiplyer effect explain
the flynn effect! (= gradual rise of IQ points in many populations worldwide)
more attention and popularity to intelligence -> attention to cognitive development -> improvements on IQ subtests
(but many explanations)
positive manifold=
positive correlations between scores on various cognitive tests (language, arithmetic, spatial perception, memory, perception etc)
very robust finding
original explanation for the positive manifold
spearman: latent variable g, one factor that drives all these factors, also called mental power
criticism:
– A-theoretical (not based on a cognitive model )
– No developmental model (is g already in the egg, does g change?)
– Where is g?
– What is g?
-> The g explanation seems very economical, but introduces an all explaining ‘invisible’ force
Han van der Maas explanation
- Suppose we must compare lakes
- We measure:
– species of fish, insect life, water quality, oxygen, plant life - (Suppose) we find a positive manifold: “good” lakes are better
than “bad” lakes in all respects - Factor analysis reveals one dominant factor: eco g?
- Biologists: “No!”
- more likely that all the characteristics of the lake are positively influencing each other -> mutualism
mutualism =
cognitive modules all positively influence each other (e.g. knowledge base - memory strategies - reading comprehension)
the matthew effect
the rich get richer, the poor get poorer
reading:
1. children who fail at early reading, begin to dislike reading
2. they do not expand their vocabularies and background knowledge
3. their limited vocabularies interfere with their comprehension
4. their limited comprehension contributes to reading failure
5. they read less than their peers who are stronger readers
1. enz….
cycle between skill and effort
(early) skill -> success or failure -> fear, motivation, self-image -> effort: exercise, practice -> skill…
other factors:
- expectations
- attitude in culture on the skill
- stereotype threats
- responses from the environment
threat of stereotypes
when you get stereotyped over and over again, you internalise the negative characteristics associated with the stereotype and actually allow them to become self fulfilling prophecies
stereotype threat and race
african americans who had to indicate their race before the test performed more poorly than those who did not have to do that
motivation-achievement cycle
achievement (knowledge/skill) -> flow & perceived performance -> expectancy (self-efficacy, attributions, perceived control) & value (interest, goals, competence, relatedness, autonomy) <- culture, social influence, autonomy support, extrinsic rewards, verbal persuasion -> academic emotions (boredom, pride), engagement (self-regulation, volition) -> quantity of learning, quality of learning -> achievements
stereotype: expectancy
kijk in schrift
Cognitive achievement is not possible
without..
- academic emotions (the result of the value attached to an academic task + perceived control). academic emotions can activate but also deactivate
- feelings of competence (degree to which you consider yourself capable)
No matter how much intelligence you have, you can always change it quite a bit.
oke
Implicit theories on intelligence (Dweck)
- Entity theory (Fixed mindset): intelligence is a fixed unit
- Incremental theory (Growth mindset): intelligence is changeable
these theories are related to a lot of important behaviours, therefore this topic is very popular:
– learning goals (mastery vs performance, avoidance vs
approach)
– attaching importance to effort
– attributions of errors
– learning strategies
Relations between implicit theories and other
motivational constructs about intelligence
fixed mindset (intelligence is something that cant be changed) -> attributions (failure means im not smart at the subject), performance avoidance (my main goal is to avoid looking dumb), effort beliefs (if i have to try hard it means im not smart) -> performance during a time of difficulty (cito toets), challenge seeking (level of math course selected)
summary
- Relationship between motivation and cognitive achievement is reciprocal
- Emotions, self-concept, mindset are important factors
- Effort is necessary for performance
- The environment can influence motivation by e.g., expectations, stereotypes
is IQ stable?
There’s no such thing as “an” IQ. You have
an IQ at a given point in time… IQ is relative
concept: how well you do on a test compared
to peers, and that is true whether you are 4 or
in your 40s
rank position of IQ
stability is about the rank of an individual, the position in relation to peers. however, most people improve from time point to time point. in relation to each other they dont though.
the rank order stays the same, this is the stability we are talking about.
so: skills improve, but IQ is relative (rank order) so therefore we say IQ is stable. but this does not mean that your skills stay the same
until when are IQ scores valid?
- IQ scores quite stable from 5-6 years of age, but not before
- valid:
- before fifth year: max 0.5 years
- 5-13 years: max 1 year
- from 13 years: max 2 years
