PSY1020 - CHAP 9 Intelligence Flashcards
Intelligence
the application of cognitive skills and knowledge to learn, solve problems and obtain ends that a revalued by an individual or culture.
Psychometric Instruments
“ests that quantify psychological attributes such as personality traits or intellectual abilities — to see how people differ from and com- pare with each other on psychological ‘scales’. Although scientists usually design measures to fit the construct they are trying to quantify (e.g. scales to measure weight or mass), almost the opposite has occurred with the Western concept of intelligence, in which the measures came first and the construct largely evolved to fit the measures. “
Intelligenct Tests
“are measures designed to assess an individual’s level of cognitive capabilities compared to other people in a population”
Binet:
Mental Age
Chronological Age
Mental Age: The average age at which children achieve a particular score.
Chronological Age: Actual Age
Intelligent Quotant (IQ)
“IQ = (MA/CA) × 100.”
Wechsler-Bellevue tests
Page 347
Created to minimise bias towards native-born english speakers.
“Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Fourth Edition, or WAIS-IV (2008),”
“Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fourth Edition, or WISC-IV (2003)”
IQ is derived from a number of subtests, which largely attempt to measure four index scales: verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory and processing speed. The subtests within a scale are used to derive the corresponding index score (see figure 9.2). Verbal IQ (VIQ) and Performance IQ (PIQ) from the WAIS-III have been replaced with a Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) and Perceptual Reasoning Index (PRI), respectively. In addition to a single, Full Scale IQ score, the WAIS-IV yields the General Ability Index (GAI) as an optional composite score. The GAI is derived from the sum of scaled scores for the three verbal comprehension and three perceptual reasoning subtests, providing a summary score that minimises the influence of working memory and processing speed.
Intellectual Disability
“refers to significantly below average general intellectual functioning (IQ less than 70), with deficits in adaptive functioning that are first evident in childhood and appear in more than one realm, such as communicating with others, living autonomously, interacting socially, functioning in school or work, and maintaining safety and health. Although low IQ is a component of the definition, IQ is not enough to diagnose intellectual disability”
Gifted (Exceptionally talented)
“Like definitions of intelligence, definitions of giftedness depend on whatever skills or talents a society labels as gifts”
Creativity
Divergent Thinking
Creativity: “the ability to produce valued outcomes in a novel way”
Divergent Thinkning: the ability to generate multiple possibilities in a given situation, such as describing all the possible uses of a paper clip.
Savant Syndrome
Savant Syndrome: “have low overall intelligence but an extraordinary talent in one particular realm of abil- ity”
IQ Tests
Lack of Theoretical Basis: Critics argue that intelligence tests provide little insight into the kind of practical intelligence involved in achieving goals in everyday life
Culturally Biased:
Approaches to Intelligence
Psychometric approach
Information-Processing approach
Centremporal theories of practical and multiple intelligences
Psychometric Approach to Intelligence
“tries to identify groups of items in a test that correlate highly with one another in order to discover underlying skills or abilities”
Factor Analysis: a statistical procedure for identifying common elements, or factors, that underlie performance across a set of tasks.
Psychometric Approach to Intelligence:
Spearman’s Two Factor Theory
Distinguishes two types of factors — general and specific.
G-Factor - General Intelligence
S- Factor : Specific Factor. Reveals specific abilities unique to certain tests or shared only by a subset of tests.
“Individuals vary in overall intellectual ability (the g-factor), but some people are better at mathematical tasks and others are better at verbal tasks (s-factors).”
Psychometric Approach to Intelligence:
Gf-Gc Theory
Gf–Gc theory distinguishes two general intelligence factors — fluid intelligence and crystallised intelligence — and seven more specific factors.
At a lower hierarchical level are seven more specific factors: short-term memory, long-term memory, visual processing, auditory processing, processing speed on simple tasks, decision speed (processing speed on more difficult tasks, such as solving problems) and quantitative knowledge (mathematical reasoning).
Fluid Intelligence
Crystallised Intelligence
Fluid Intelligence: refers to intellectual capacities that have no specific content but are used in processing information and approaching novel problems, such as the ability to draw inferences, find analogies or recognise patterns.
Crystallised Intelligence: referes to people’s store of knowledge, such as vocabulary and general world knowledge.
The Information Processing Approach
The psychometric approach aims to quantify basic abilities and to compare individuals with respect to these abilities. In contrast, the information-processing or cognitive approach tries to understand the processes that underlie intelligent behaviour .
How not How Much.
The Information Processing Approach:
Speed of Processing
Knowledge Base
Ability to aquire and apply congnitive strategies:
Speed of Processing: processing speed is an important aspect of intelligence and a strong correlate of IQ.
Knowledge Base: the information stored on LTM
Ability to aquire and apply congnitive strategies
Current Mutilfactor Theories of Intelligence
Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Stenberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
Identifies three types of intel- ligence: analytical intelligence, creative intelligence and practical intelligence.
Analytical intelligence reflects the ability to put together the mental processing ‘components’ needed when applying intelli- gence to a problem normally measured on an IQ test, and it is needed for success in an academic setting. This type of intelligence relates to the internal processing of information needed for the straightforward tasks and problems that we confront in everyday life.
Creative intelligence is the ability to come up with new ideas and novel solutions to problems.
Practical intelligence is the ability to deal with everyday problems and find practical, commonsense solutions.
Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences
musical, bodily/kinaesthetic, spatial , linguistic or verbal, logical/mathematical, intrapersonal (self-understanding) and interpersonal (social skills).
Subsequent research by Gardner led to naturalistic intelligence (understanding patterns and processes in environments) being added as another basic type of intelligence.
Gardner has also sug- gested the possibility for a spiritual intelligence and an existential intelligence.
Heredity and Intelligence
The heritability of IQ in children is about .45 but reaches about .75 in adulthood; thus, a substantial percentage of the difference in IQ between most individuals is genetic. Heritability does not imply immutability. Every genetic effect acts within an environmental circumstance, and changing the environment, such as placing a poor child in a middle-class home, can have a substantial impact on IQ.
