PPT 2 Flashcards
Four Major Traditions
- Psychometric approaches (based on a model that portrays intelligence as a composite of abilities measured by mental tests)
- Information Processing approaches (an approach to cognitive development studies that aims to explain how information is encoded into memory)
- Neurobiological approaches (focus more on internal vs. external)
- Developmental approaches (study how people grow, develop and adapt at different life stages)
Science is the search for truth, whether we like it or not.
- David Bohm
With assessment, we can back information with evidence and get closer to the truth
General Domains of Psychological Assessment
- Personality assessment (traits and states) ex: emotional, inter-relational
- Intellectual assessment (ex: IQ)
- Neuropsychological assessment (brain behavior) ex: brain injuries, ADHD
- Vocational assessment (career)
Factors that can influence scores (mainly in Cognitive Assessments)
True ability or characteristic can be obscured by:
- Test anxiety
- Willingness to cooperate
- Level of distress (depression or psychosis, hunger, bathroom needs, sleep deprivation)
- Tendency to agree or disagree
- Prior experience with the test or coaching
- Luck
- Examiner skill
- Personal characteristics of examiner in interaction with the test-taker
Be observant for these
Make every effort to minimize these factors and maximize the influence of the intended construct
HOWEVER - research shows that most of these influences usually account for only a small part of the score variance
What is Intelligence?
A construct
- A general label for a group of processes that are inferred from observable behaviors
- Ambiguity has allowed it to become framed in different philosophical assumptions, political agendas, social issues, and legal restrictions
- Numerous attempts to define it (hard to define)
Common Definitional Aspects of Intelligence
General areas of most definitions:
1. Abstract thinking
2. Learning from experience
3. Solving problems through insight
4. Adjusting to new situations
5. Focusing and sustaining one’s abilities to achieve a desired goal
MA - CA = Intelligence
Mental age - chronological age = intelligence
Alfred Binet brought this test to the U.S. and developed it further (Stanford Binet)
Intelligence is MUCH more complicated than previous understandings
There is little question that intelligence is a viable construct
- Intellectually disabled and genius are realities
But it is much more complicated than previous understandings
Important for a psychologist to know the state of knowledge so as not to misuse cognitive testing
Four Major Traditions in Approaching Intelligence
- Psychometric Approaches
- Information Processing Approaches
- Neuro-biological Approaches
- Developmental Approaches
Value of Theories
Allow us to discuss aspects of a construct not previously accessible
Increase depth and breath of understanding
Useful in certain predictions
Motivate effort to operationalize theory
These 4 traditions represent different aspects of investigation, different parts of the elephant (7 Blind Men and the Elephant - everyone is right in a way but no one sees the whole elephant)
Goal of this is to see the state of understanding and direction of each tradition
Psychometric Approaches
Assumes intelligence is a trait in which there are individual differences (normally distributed - curve)
Started with Binet
Spearman (1904) - Proposed a 2 factor model that “g” (general intelligence) or a general factor common to all types of intellectual activity and “s” specific factors to each task
Positive Manifold
Intelligence tests are positively correlated
- Some portion of the variance of scores on each test attributed to “g”
Some regard “g” as the most basic measure of intelligence
Structure of the WAIS-IV
Full scale IQ (aka “g”) - FSIQ
4 Components - VCI, WMI, PRI, PSI
Verbal Comprehension (VCI) - VC-SI-IN-CO
Working Memory (WMI) - DS-PS-AR
Perceptual Reasoning (PRI) - BD-VP-MR
Processing Speed (PSI) - CD-SS-CA
Different Psychometric Models
Horn & Cattel (1963) - Three Stratum Model
Cattell, Horn, & Carroll (CHC Model) (1993 to ~2013)
Horn & Cattel (1963) - Three Stratum Model
3 factor model
1. g
2. Fluid intelligence (Gf) - processing ability, problem solving
3. Crystalized intelligence (Gc) - stored information
Fluid Intelligence (Gf)
Dependent n brains efficiency and intactness
Enables problem solving, perceiving relationships
Primarily non-verbal, culture free
Increases until age 14 then levels off until 20 then gradually declines
Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
Largely environmentally determined (cultural restraints)
Content oriented (Vocabulary, Information)
Relatively permanent and not as susceptible to brain damage
Develops from interaction of Gf and environment
Grows until age 40 then gradually declines
Cattell, Horn, & Carroll (CHC Model) (1993 to ~2013)
Merging of two systems (Wechsler and C & H) incorporated several more specialized functions
Five Factor Model
Johnson & Bouchard’s work is an example of evidence that moved us toward a 5-factor model
Keith factors
- Verbal Comprehension Index
- Working Memory Index
- Visual Spatial Index
- Fluid Reasoning Index
- Processing Speed Index
(VSI and FRI were broken into two from PR)
WISC-V
Information Processing Approaches
Focuses on processes rather than content
How information is received, stored, retrieved, manipulated, transformed:
- Structural (sensory reception, short and long term memory)
- Functional (manipulations and transformations)
Processing Speed and IQ
IQ correlates with speed of certain information processing functions:
- Speed of apprehension, scanning, retrieving, and responding to stimuli
- Correlations increase as tasks become more complex
Choice Reaction Time
Moving finger from home to the button that lights up among 8 target buttons (Jensen, 1987)
- Correlations as high as -0.40 with IQ
More complex tasks (3 of the 8 buttons light each time»_space; choose the most isolated) (Fearson & Eysenck, 1986)
- Even higher correlations with IQ
Inspection Time
The Inspection Time task requires participants to judge which of two lines is the shortest after only seeing them for a very short amount of time.
Information Processing Model - Sternberg
Triarchic Theory
Intelligence involves:
1. Metacomponents - planning, monitoring, evaluating
- Performance components - administering instructions of metacomponents
- Knowledge- acquisition components - learning how to do something in the first place
Neurological-Biological Approaches
Search for anatomical and physiological underpinnings of intelligence
Neurological-Biological Approaches - Thorndike
“g” equals the total number of modifiable neural connections
Does g depend on “neural efficiency” of the brain?
Is the “quality of protoplasm” effect IQ?
- The colorless material comprising the living part of a cell, including the cytoplasm, nucleus, and other organelles
Does neural efficiency promote IQ OR does IQ help people find faster ways OR both?
Genetic Basis to Intelligence?
Plomin, DeFries, Knopik & Neiderhiser (2013)
- Parent-Child correlations of IQ seem to be between .40 and .50
Of course families share an environment too
BUT as children get older, the correlations between parent and offspring increase
Heritability estimates range .30 to .50 (and higher)
- The heritability estimates increase as people get older
Alexander Luria (1980)
Brain is differentiated systems of functional units coordinated to form integrated whole
3 main units
1. Arousal (brain stem and midbrain)
2. Sensory input (temporal, parietal, occipital)
3. Executive (frontal)
Luria’s PASS system
Cognitive functions involve
- Planning - Attention - Successive processing - Simultaneous professing (PASS)
Naglieri and others have worked to develop a measure of intelligence based on these fundamental brain functions
Future Directions Neuro-Biological Approaches?
Exciting discoveries that are revolutionizing our understanding of cognitive functions
Epigenetics
Evidence that DNA as well as environmental factors may both be important considerations in our focus
Research has demonstrated that portions of DNA are deactivated or activated by experience
These chemical processes modify gene activity without altering the genetic information itself
A type of “long term memory” preserving environmental effects/cues on genes long after those cues have disappeared
Nurture Meets Nature!
This is effectively how stem cells are guided to develop into different types of tissue - by having only a portion of the DNA active
Each type of tissue has characteristic methylation patterns
Possibilities
Could this process be involved in intelligence?
If so, how might that happen?
Developmental Approaches
Concerned with the quality of response or reasoning behind answers
Piaget (1950)
Vygotsky (1978)
Piaget (1950)
Studied children
- Not concerned so much with right or wrong as WHY right or wrong
- Noticed patterns of responses related to different age groups (as did Binet)
Piaget’s Conclusions:
1. Mental growth follows definite patterns and is nonrandom
2. There are qualitative differences in thinking among ages
3. Development leads to new cognitive structures and abilities
4. Mental growth complete in late adolescence
As a person grows, they continually reorganize structures to adapt to environment
- Assimilation - fitting things into our schema
- Accommodation - adjusting our schema to accommodate facts
Intelligence is a developmental phenomenon of adaptation in which we must construct reality in increasingly symbolic terms
Vygotsky Theory (1978)
Argued all intellectual abilities are social in origin
“Zone of proximal development” - level of performance attainable with help from adult
Static testing - measures only the intelligence already developed
**Dynamic testing - examiner provides guided and graded feedback - indicates child’s latent potential
Dynamic Testing
Vygotsky (1978): ability to profit from guided instruction could serve as a measure of one’s “zone of proximal development” (difference between their developed abilities and their latent capacities)
May reveal cognitive skills not revealed by static testing
How much can they learn vs. how much they know
Dynamic Testing Process
Children are given feedback to help them improve their performance [scaffolding], so testing and teaching are treated as continous
Thus, directly measuring one’s ability to learn, not the product of past learning
Especially important when unequal opportunity to learn in the past
BUT dynamic testing is very labor intensive and has not made much progress in the last 40 years
Therapeutic Assessment
Scaffolding
