Problem 4: Brainpower Flashcards
is it hard to define intelligence? why, why not? how do we define if someone is intelligent or not?
it is hard to define intelligence, as it cannot be directly observed, however, judgements are made about someone’s intelligence based purely on whether their behvaiour is more or less clever, complex or efficient than others. (Vernon, 1979) → these judgements are usually made based on their own beliefs about intelligence.
2 types of theories of intelligence
implicit theories of intelligence: the judgements that are based on non-expert or layperson’s beliefs.
explicit theories of intelligence: judgements that are more formally derived. usually theta re proposed by researchers and can be more readily tested emprically .
2 views on intelligence
achievement view of intelligence: the definition of intelligence is associated with educational attainment, how much knowledge a person has acquired relative to others in his or her age cohort.
aptitude view of intelligence: intelligence is defined less as the product of education and more as an ability to become educated, as the ability or aptitude to learn.
3 implicit theories
incremental theory (intelligence is malleable)
entity theory (intelligence is fixed)
cultural: definitions of intelligence differ between cultures
3 approaches to intelligence (within explicit theories)
psychometrics: measurement of psychological functions and processes. It forms an approach that is used extensively in intelligence testing.
biological approach
cognitive experiential approaches: actual construct
first psychometric approach, theory? by who, when, what was postulated?
→ 1869 – Galton
considered to be the beginning of the field of study individual differences/ differential psychology.
In the UK, Galton was interested on the individual differences in physical attributes and complex mental attributes
proceeded to measure the sensory threshold of individuals by measuring their ability to detect subtle changes in weights, testing their visual acuity and measuring their reaction time.
postulated that: individuals who can detect very subtle changes have better mental ability than those who can only detect changes that are more obvious or less subtle
first person to come up with psychometrics
relates with perception capacity → something that was hereditary
who came after? when, what was postulated?(2)
→ 1905 – Binet
credited as founder of intelligence testing
commissioned by the French Ministry of Public Instruction to devise method to identify weaker primary school children that might benefit from special education:
with Theodore Simon he devised the Binet-Simon Scale of Intelligence (consisted of a series of 30 tasks related to everyday life and were arranged in order of increasing difficulty)
children of a younger age were therefore not expected to complete tasks that children of an older age were capable
a range of tasks was put togetehr, such that the level at which the task was completed gave an indication of the mental age of the child.
each child’s performance was after compared to the performance of other similar aged children.
started to define the norm group
IQ = (mental age + chronological age) x 100
- and then..
→ 1916 – Lewis Terman
adopted Binet scale and adapted it for use with californian children
Standford-Binet scale
performance of each child was compared against the performance of other children in the same age group
standardized testing became more important
- then
→ 1912 – Wihelm Stern
introduced the concept of Intellegence Quotient (IQ):
IQ = (mental age/ chronical age) x 100
– while IQ test was very useful in children’s mental ability it does not work for adults because the cognitive development of adults does not increase at the same time as children over time.
- then
→ 1927 – Charles Spearman : theory of general intelligence
factor analysis (Spearman): a technique that examines correlations between subtests. Reduces the correlated score to smaller groups, called factors, goal is to discover the minimum number of factors/abilities that explain the correlation theory of intelligence.
underlying all the human intelligent behaviours is g: he refers to the mental energy possessed by each person. this energy can be transferred from one mental operation to another
when people were administered dif intelligence tests they tended to also score high in other intellectual tasks. → person’s scores on a range of intellectual tests tended to be intercorrelated → positive manifold
in addition to factor g there also numerous specific abilities, factor s these can account for a person’s performance on specific tasks
ex: dancing– ( being good at every task including dancing is factor g), (factor s is more like a talent, being specifically good at dancing is factor s)
Criticism: controversial because more statistically than psychologically driven.
then came a new type of theory
multifactor theories
6.what was the first multifactor theory?by who?
→ 1938 – Louis Thurstone
instead of g being the main factor of intelligence → there are 7 more important factors ‘primary mental abilities’ → first multifactor theory of intelligence
the 7 primary abilities were:
Verbal Comprehension
Word Fluency
Number
Space
Associate Memory
Perceptual Speed
Reasoning
highlights the importance of specific abilities when describing a person’s ability, instead of using a single entity, g that provides only a global indication of a person’s intelligence
7.after?
→ 1963 – Raymond Cattle
proposed a two-factor theory, splitting g into 2 factors of intelligence:
crystallized intelligence (gc)
factual knowledge that has been acquired from school and through life
it is accumulative and so it increases over time
it is less affected by brain damage
fluid intelligence (gf)
ability to see relationships between ideas and objects
decreases as the person becomes older
‘connecting pieces of a puzzle’
fluid intelligence can become crystalized, they are linked
8.after
→1960s – Guilford: 3 dimensions
proposed there are 120 elementary abilities that can be organized or described using 3 dimensions
Operations: type of mental processing that the person carries out
includes tasks such as:
evaluation
convergent production
divergent production
memory
cognition
Contents: materials which are being processed
includes tasks such as:
visual
auditory
symbolic
semantic
behavioural
Products: how information is stored or processed
includes tasks such as:
units
classes
relations
systems
transformation
implication
increased to 180 later
theory was not well embraced by psychologists
Guilford made attempts to test his theory, his theory has been described as very detailed and precise which means it can be tested
then came another type of theories
Hierarchical theories
9.first hierarchical theory
→ 1950 – Philip E. Vernon
intellgence can be organised using hierarchy with multiple levels at which various abilities can be described.
the hierarchy is characteristic of how mental abilities are structured
Vernon acknowledged the contribution of Spearmans’ g adn thurstone’s primary mental abilities
g as the apex of the hierarchy and Sperman’s specific factors, s, at the lowest, most basic level.
between g and s there are 2 levels:
below g is the ‘major group’ factors:
verbal-educational (v:ed)
spatial-mechanical (k:m)
below is the ‘minor group’ factors:
v:ed divided in
verbal
fluency
number
k:m divided in
perpetual
physical
psychomotor
mechanical information
spatial factors
lowest level: specific factors
10…
1992 – John Caroll
Three-Stratum Model of cognitive ability
instead of major or minor group factors, he called them stratum
Stratum I: 69 different narrow abilities
including lexical knowledge, reaction time abilities and visualisation abilities
Stratum II: 8 broad factors
Fluid Intelligence (Gf)
Crystallized Intelligence (Gc)
General memory and learning (Gy)
Broad visual perception (Gv)
Broad auditory perception (Gu)
Broad retrieval ability (Gr)
Broad cognitive speediness (Gs)
Processing speed (Gt)
Stratum III: the apex, consists of a single g factor
from general (stratum III) to specific (stratum I)
each stratum does not imply dominance over a factor in a lower stratum.
then another type of theories
multiple intelligence theories
- first one ?
1983 – Howard Gardner
→ definition of Intelligence: it is the application of cognitive skill and knowledge to solve problems, learn, and achieve goals that are valued by the individual and the culture.
theory of multiple intelligences
includes 7 forms of intelligence that are independent from each other:
intrapersonal
interpersonal
logical-mathematical
musical
bodily-kinesthetic
spatial
linguistic
and later 8: naturalistic
according to Gardner, having a high score in one test doesn’t mean scoring high in another.
doesnt have empirical support, does not make an impact on psychometrics
- last ?
→1997 – Robert Sternberg
triarchic theory of intelligence
3 abilities
analytical - evaluating, contrasting, comparing, information processing components
creative - exploring, discovering and imagining
practical - applying and implementing
dif from other theories because includes environmental factors
perspective on iq: distinction between book and street smart
what are cognitive-experiential approaches? in what way are they different from psychometric approaches? most known experiment?
examines intelligence in terms of the associated cognitive processes
consists of use of elementary cognitive tasks
involves the study of mental and perceptual speed, working memory nad attention
use of elementary cognitive tasks to study intelligence is reductionist: attempt to explain a complex concept such as intelligence by reducing it to smaller components
focuses on the cognitive processes that form the foundation of intelligence, rather than describing the structure or organization of intelligence like most psychometric approaches.
Arthur Jensen - Jensen box
how quickly it takes for someone to make a decision → choice reaction time
biological approaches?
Biological approaches:
relation between abilities and functions
different parts of the brain
to what extent is intelligence heritable?
Heritability of intelligence:
around 0.4 to 0.6
The environment has more effects on intelligence rather than genetics. (is more visible in adulthood compared to children), it is the environment that encourages our genetics to show up in adulthood
what are some environmental effects on intelligence?
Parents education
socioeconomic status (SES)
nutrition and breastfeeding
cognitive stimulation
cognitive enhancing pharmaceuticals
socialization
socioeconomic statuses (if you socialize more your IQ can improve more as wll for example)
what is the Flynn effect?
increase in population intelligence over time
what is the reverse Flynn effect?
decrease in population intelligence over time
