module 6

Question 1

What are the different ways researchers have conceptualised what intelligence is?

Answer 1

1. as a single trait: general intelligence (g)
   - tasks on intelligence tests positively correlated
   - scores correlate w/ school grades, info-processing speed, knowledge of non-studied subjects & speed of neural transmission
2. as a few basic abilities: primary mental abilities
   - word fluency, verbal meaning, reasoning, spatial visualisation, numbering, memory, perceptual speed
   - 2 types of intelligence

Question 2

What are the two types of intelligence?

Answer 2

1. crystalised intelligence: factual knowledge
   - increase across life span
2. fluid intelligence: ability to think on the spot
   - peak early in adulthood

Question 3

How do we measure intelligence? (WISC)

Answer 3

Wechsler Intelligence Test for Children:

• 6 yrs & older
• verbal section: crystallised intelligence, tests general knowledge
• performance section: fluid intelligence, tests spatial & perceptual abilities
• yields overall score & separate scores on 5 abilities: verbal comprehension, visual-spatial processing, working memory, fluid reasoning & processing speed

Question 4

How do we measure intelligence? (WISC, abilities)

Answer 4

• reflect skills important within info-processing theories
• correlates positively w/ other aspects of intelligence
• related to important outcomes: school grades & occupational success

Question 5

How do we measure intelligence? What does IQ mean? (IQ)

Answer 5

Intelligence Quotient

• qualitative measure, used to indicate child’s intelligence relative to that of same aged children
• based on normal distribution: most scores near mean (100)

stability:

• from age 5, correlation of IQ tests are strong
• the closer in age tests are given, the stronger the correlation
• scores not constant over time
• increases when:
  
  • child believes academic performance is valuable
  • child’s parents take interest in success & use firm but modest discipline

Question 6

How do we measure intelligence? What does IQ mean? (IQ predicts)

Answer 6

• predicts academic, economic & occupational success

- but can’t rule out motivation, creativity, physical & mental health and social skills as factors affecting success

Question 7

What are some of the factors thought to influence intelligence? (nature)

Answer 7

genetics: plays greater role as child gets older

genotype-environment interaction:

• passive effects: children overlap w/ parents’ interests
• evocative effects: children influence others’ behaviour
• active effects: children choose things they enjoy

Question 8

What are some of the factors thought to influence intelligence? (gender)

Answer 8

• boys & girls mostly equal, but small differences appear in early toddlerhood
• girls: more verbal fluency, writing skills & perceptual speed
• boys stronger in visual-spatial processing, science skills & mathematical problem solving

Question 9

What are some of the factors thought to influence intelligence? (family)

Answer 9

• better-quality home environments cause higher IQ scores
• low income families: shared environment accounts for more of variance in IQ scores & academic achievement
• middle & high income families: genetics account for more of variance in IQ scores & academic achievement
• emotional & verbal responsiveness of mother
• avoidance of restrictions & punishment
• provisions of appropriate play material
• maternal involvement w/ child
• opportunities for variety of daily stimulation

Question 10

What are some of the factors thought to influence intelligence? (school)

Answer 10

• more schooling correlated w/ increased IQ scores

- IQ scores increase during school year but decrease during summer break

Question 11

What are some of the factors thought to influence intelligence? (society)

Answer 11

poverty hinders intellectual development:

• poor diet, reduced healthcare, inadequate parenting, poor intellectual stimulation, lack of emotional support
• greater gap in wealth in country, greater difference in IQ scores

Question 12

What is Gardner’s theory of intelligence?

Answer 12

multiple intelligence theory: intellect based on view that ppl possess at least 8 types of intelligence

• children learn best thru instruction that allows them to build on strengths
• has large influence on teaching

Question 13

What are the multiple intelligences and examples? (l & l-m)

Answer 13

1. linguistic: sensitive to meanings & sounds of words; mastery of syntax; appreciate ways languages can be used
   e. g. poet, political speaker, teacher
2. logical-mathematical:
   - understand objects & symbols, actions that can be performed on them and relations b/w these actions
   - ability for abstraction
   - ability to identify problems & seek explanations
   e. g. mathematician, scientist

Question 14

What are the multiple intelligences and examples? (s & m)

Answer 14

3. spatial
   - perceive visual world accurately, perform transformations upon perception & recreate aspects of visual experience in absence of physical stimuli
   - sensitive to tension, balance & composition
   - detect similar patterns
   e. g. artist, engineer, chess master
4. musical
   - sensitive to individual tones & phrases of music
   - understand ways to combine tones & phrases into larger musical rhythms & structures
   - aware of emotional aspects of music
   e. g. musician, composer

Question 15

What are the multiple intelligences and examples? (n & b-k)

Answer 15

5. naturalistic
   - sensitive to & understand plants, animals and other aspects of nature
   e. g. biologist, farmer, conservationist
6. bodily-kinesthetic
   - use body in highly skilled ways for expressive/goal-directed purposes
   - handle objects skillfully
   e. g. dancer, athlete, actor

Question 16

What are the multiple intelligences and examples? (i & i)

Answer 16

7. intrapersonal
   - access to own feeling life
   - draw on emotions to guide & understand behaviour
   e. g. novelist, therapist, parent
8. interpersonal
   - notice and make distinctions among moods, temperaments, motivations & intentions of other ppl and potentially to act on this knowledge
   e. g. political leader, religious leader, parent, teacher, therapist

Question 17

What is Steinberg’s theory of intelligence?

Answer 17

• based on view that intelligence is the ability to achieve success in life
• success depends on 3 types of abilities: analytic, practical & creative
• considering all 3 allow identification of wider range of talented ppl

Question 18

What are analytic abilities?

Answer 18

• traditional intelligence test measures

- e.g. language, math, spatial

Question 19

What are practical abilities?

Answer 19

• reasoning about everyday problems

- e.g. conflict resolution

Question 20

What are creative abilities?

Answer 20

• reasoning in novel circumstances

- e.g. creating “clean-up”, a fun game

Question 21

What is the three-stratum theory of intelligence?

Answer 21

Carroll’s model that places g at top of intelligence hierarchy, eight moderately general abilities in middle & many specific processes at bottom

• attempts to view intelligence thru multiple levels of interconnected processes
• all 3 levels of analysis are necessary to account for totality of facts about intelligence

Question 22

What are the stages of reading development? (0-1)

Answer 22

stage 0: birth to beginning of 1st grade
- acquire prerequisites for reading: knowing alphabet & phonemic awareness

stage 1: 1st & 2nd grade
- acquire phonological recoding skills

Question 23

What are the stages of reading development? (2-4)

Answer 23

stage 2: 2nd & 3rd grade
- gain fluency in reading simple material

stage 3: 4th-8th grade
- acquire new info thru print

stage 4: 8th-12th grade
- develop skill of coordinating multiple perspectives

Question 24

What is phonemic awareness?

Answer 24

ability to identify component sounds within words

Question 25

What is phonological recoding?

Answer 25

ability to translate letters into sounds & blend sounds into words

Question 26

What are pre-reading skills? (phonemic awareness)

Answer 26

phonemic awareness:

• correlated w/ later reading achievement & a cause of it
• teaching phonemic-awareness skills to 4 & 5 yr olds causes them to become better readers & spellers for at least 4 yrs after training
• learned from natural environment (e.g. nursery rhymes)

Question 27

What are pre-reading skills? (word identification)

Answer 27

word identification:

• from 1st grade, children choose adaptively b/w 2 approaches
• progress b/w beginning of 1st grade & end of 2nd grade: from relying on phonological recoding to retrieval
• degree of mastery of phonological recoding contributes to retrieval skills

Question 28

What is word identification?

Answer 28

identification of words crucial to reading comprehension & enjoyment of reading

• 2 ways:
  
  1. phonological recoding
  2. visually based retrieval

Question 29

What is comprehension?

Answer 29

forming mental model of situation/idea depicted in text and continuously updating as new info appears

• improves w/ age & experience
• content knowledge: greatest influence on reading comprehension development
• influenced by amount of reading
• SES partially reflect differences in amount parents read to children during preschool

Question 30

What is a mental model?

Answer 30

cognitive processes used to represent situation/sequence of events

Question 31

What is encoding?

Answer 31

identification of key features of object/event

Question 32

What is automatisation?

Answer 32

execution of process w/ minimal demands on cognitive resources

Question 33

What is comprehension monitoring?

Answer 33

keeping track of one’s understanding of verbal description/text
- differentiates b/w good & poor readers

Question 34

What is content knowledge?

Answer 34

understanding vocabulary terms & possessing general info about subject

Question 35

What is the hidden classroom?

Answer 35

• influences how child performs in school
• messages about performance:
  
  • beliefs about effort
  • stereotypes about ability
  • culture of success/achievement vs. “being cool”
  • reward for risk taking
• messages come in form of teacher expectations, student expectations, posters in classroom

Question 36

How do beliefs about effort affect performance? (1)

Answer 36

e. g. “you’re really smart”
- imply natural ability: e.g. being male/female
- contrasts w/ view that success is achieved thru hard work & determination

VS

e. g. “you worked very hard on that”
- rewards process more than result
- imply success is not guaranteed:
- w/ effort, goes up
- in absence of effort, goes down

Question 37

How do beliefs about effort affect performance? (2)

Answer 37

students who believe success is natural do worse in long term:

• have harder time rebounding from negative feedback
• internalise negative feedback as statement about themselves

Question 38

How do stereotypes about academic ability impact academic performance?

Answer 38

• help/hinder academic performance depending on stereotype
• girls: good at reading/writing/English
• boys: good at math/science
• Asians: good at math

Question 39

What is Dweck’s theory of self-attributions & achievement motivation?

Answer 39

achievement motivation: whether children are motivated by learning/performance goals

• learning goals: seek to improve competence & master new material
• performance goals: seek to receive positive assessments of competence/avoid negative assessments
• 2 different patterns of achievement motivation

Question 40

What are the 2 different patterns of achievement motivation? (1st)

Answer 40

1. entity/helpless orientation: attribute success & failure to enduring aspects of self and give up in face of failure
   - entity theory: person’s level of intelligence is fixed & unchangeable

Question 41

What are the 2 different patterns of achievement motivation? (2nd)

Answer 41

2. incremental/mastery orientation: attribute success & failure to amount of effort expended and persist in face of failure
   - incremental theory: person’s intelligence can grow as function of experience