lecture 6 factor analysis Flashcards
What is Intelligence?
Intelligence as defined by the lay public (Sternberg et al 1980s)
Reasons logically and well”, “reads widely”, “displays common sense”, “keeps an open mind”, “reads with high comprehension”
Differences between laypeople & experts:
Motivation & narrower (experts)
Interpersonal aspects & broader (lay people)
laypersons & expert common factors
Common factors: problem-solving, verbal-ability, & social-competence
Intelligence as defined by the lay public (Seigler & Richards, 1980)
&intelligence in infants (lay def)
Developmental psychology students listed behaviours associated with intelligence in infancy, childhood, and adulthood.
Motor co-ordination
Awareness of people
Awareness of the environment
Verbal output
Intelligence as defined by the lay public (Seigler & Richards, 1980) cont.
children and adults
Children Motor co-ordination Understanding Learning Ability Verbal Facility
Adults Use of logic Problem solving Learning ability Verbal ability
lay construct changes over course of development
increase in “cognitive” component over time
verbal ability consistent, but developing
Intelligence as defined by children (Yussen & Kane, 1980)
Notions of intelligence emerge as early as first grade.
Younger children: tended to emphasise interpersonal skills
e.g., being nice, helpful, polite
Older Children: emphasised academic skills
e.g., reading well, doing well in class
Developmental progression in understanding of intelligence, differs from adults
Intelligence as defined cross-culturally
Culture provides a model for thinking, acting, & feeling
Differing values -> different views of what constitutes intelligence
-Can differ in sub-cultures too
Greater emphasis on {{{social}}} aspects of intelligence in both African and Asian cultures compared to Western
Adults in Zambia (Serpell, 1974, 1996) Social responsibilities, cooperativeness & obedience Intelligent children expected to be respectful to adults
Taiwanese Chinese conceptions of intelligence (Yang & Steinberg, 1997)
(i) general cognitive factor
(ii) interpersonal intelligence
(iii) intrapersonal intelligence
(iii) intellectual self-assertion (knowing when to show you are smart)
(iv) intellectual self-effacement (knowing when to not show you are smart)
Summary of Lay Theories
Lay or everyday theories of intelligence reflect personal definitions and assumptions about IQ:
Structure
Underlying mechanisms
Developmental processes
That are affected by:
Age of person
Background
Culture
And that differ from expert theories
Constructed by
psychologists, empirically- tested and/or derived
Intelligence as defined by the experts:
Galton (
1883): more intelligent = higher sensory abilities
Thus, advocated that tests of visual acuity or hearing ability are measurements of intelligence.
Galton developed many sensorimotor and perception-related tests by which he attempted to measure his definition of intelligence.
Intelligence as defined by the experts
Binet
did not define explicitly, but described various components of intelligence, including reasoning, judgment, memory, and abstraction.
Criticised Galton’s approach & called for more complex measurements
Viewed intelligence as inseparable abilities that required complex measurements to determine.
Intelligence as defined by the experts
Wechsler (1958) conceptualised intelligence as,
“the aggregate…capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally, and to deal effectively with his environment. It [is] composed of elements or abilities which…are qualitatively differentiable” (p. 7).
Advocated measuring several “qualitatively differentiable” abilities, which were verbal- or performance-based in nature.
Intelligence as defined by the experts
Piaget
focused his research on the development of cognitive abilities in children (i.e., how children think, and how they understand themselves and the world around them).
Defined intelligence as an evolving biological adaptation to the outside world;
As a consequence of interaction with the environment, psychological structures become reorganised.
General Definition of Intelligence
Intelligence: a multifaceted capacity that includes the abilities to:
- Acquire and apply knowledge
- Reason logically, plan effectively, and infer perceptively
- Grasp and visualise concepts
- Find the right words and thoughts with facility
- Cope with and adjust to novel situations
General definition of interactionalism
complex concept by which heredity & environment are presumed to interact and influence the development of intelligence
Major theme in theories of Binet, Wechler, & Piaget.
Factor-analytic theories of intelligence do…..what?
focus on identifying the ability or groups of abilities deemed to constitute intelligence.
need to know the structure of intelligence in order to:
Need knowledge of structure of intelligence to:
devise appropriate measures
evaluate measures
ensure assessment covers construct sufficiently
Factor Analysis
what is it?
Family of statistical techniques used to examine correlations among variables (items or tests)
-Used in theory validation
-Used in test construction and validation
Invented by Pearson in 1901
Further developed by Spearman in 1904
Applied by Spearman to cognitive abilities in 1927
