Psych - intelligence Flashcards
Francis Galton
- First person to look at intelligence scientifically
- Influenced by ideas of evolution
- Book called, “hereditary genius” which claims that people do differ in intellect and intelligence is inherited
Alfred Binet
- Focused on special education
- Came up with the idea of mental age
(mental age=chronological age), mental age>chronological age (advanced), mental age <chronological age (special ed)
Stanford-Binet Test (Terman)
(mental age/chronological age)*100
Example: if you have a mental age of 6, real chronological age is 4, then you have a 150
Test became the standard, many later IQ tests were “validated” by comparing it to the Standard-Binet Test
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS, WISC)
- Single set of subsets suitable for all ages.
- “Deviation IQ”
What is the Deviation IQ?
Score is determined by the number of items correct relative to the “expected” (average) number for people of the same age.
IQ=(actual score/expected score)*100
Example: if expected score is 50, and you get a 40, IQ=80
Properties of IQ’s
Not an absolute score. No absolute zero (like for height or weight) - not a ratio scale. Reflects relative performance
What is the ordinal scale (property of IQ)?
Ranking people from lowest to highest.
Standardization
The process of making the test uniform, or setting it to a specific standard.
Reliability
The extend to which a test yields consistent results over time or using alternate forms
Example: IQ on tuesday=100 and on thursday=150, not a good test
Validity
Extent to which a test measure what it’s supposed to measure
Predictive validity
Future outcomes of the IQ test
Do IQ scores predict success in school?
For the most part yes, higher IQ and they did better in school
Do IQ scores predict job performance?
Correlations are lower than for academic measures
Spearmen’s single factor model (G=general intelligence)
- Give lots of people a variety of intelligence tests–> find positive correlations
- People who do well on one test, tend to do well on most or all of the tests
- People who do poorly on one test, tend to do poorly on most or all tests
So if “g” (general intelligence) exists, what is it?
Researchers have looked for all sorts of physiological correlates of “g”
1. Reaction Time
2. Inspection time
3. Brain size
4. Brain activity
5. Brain waves, EEG patterns, etc.
However this brought modest correlations with “g”
Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory
Linguistic, logical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal
Williams Syndrome
- Number of physical and intellectual effects
- Lead to mental retardation
- Good at language, music, social skills
- Poor at number and spatial skills
Autistic Savants
- People who have low intellectual ability but excel in one or few domains
- Many mono-savants have autism (most people with autism are not savants)
- But, about 10% of people with autism have some exceptional skill
What can autistic savants have impressive skills in?
Music, visual arts, memory, math calculation, calendar calculating, model building
What are autistic savants bad at?
Language/communication, standard IQ scores, social skills, lack theory of mind, practical activities, unusual obsessions
Modern Data of IQ
- Galton’s basic ideas still stand
- People look at iQ scores in different people
Nature’s influence on IQ
The greater the genetic similarity between two individuals, the more similar are their IQ scores. This suggests a genetic component to intelligence
Nurture’s Influence on IQ scores
All other things being equal, two individuals raised together will have more similar IQ scores than those raised apart. This is evidence that the environment shapes intelligence in important ways
What can we say about nature/nurture of intelligence?
There is evidence for both genetic and environmental influences. Heritability of intelligence (as measured by IQ tests) is fairly high, most experts believe its about 60-75%
