PSYU3332- Intelligence Flashcards
Final exam
How was intelligence defined historically:
Historically: the concept was very much ‘expert driven’
- knowing things (Thorndike)
- ability to adapt (Pinter)
- bringing together complex information in a unified ways (Peterson)
- capacity to understand and retain knowledge (Henman)
How did they define intelligence in the 80s?
Stenberg sent questionnaires to 142 modern experts: the consensus was that there was 3 different fields of intelligence
Verbal Intelligence
- general learning and comprehension
- good vocabulary
- reads with high comprehension
- intellectual curiosity
Practical Intelligence
- real world adaptive behaviours
- judges situations well
- determine how to achieve goals
- displays awareness of the world
Problem Solving Ability
- abstract thinking or reasoning
- can apply knowledge to tasks at hand
- plans ahead
- good at problem solving
What is positive manifold? How are factors defined?
Positive manifold is the way that tasks correlate with one another in assessments.
If you do well on one cognitive task, you tend to do well on the other (when they are more correlated).
Factors are the task form ‘subgroups’ where the correlations are the strongest.
What was Charles Spearman’s Model of Intelligence?
Spearman was recognized as the inventor of ‘factor analysis’ and one of the first intelligence theorists.
He discovered
‘g’: positive manifold, something that underlies
positive manifold - and referred to it as ‘g’ –> something that is common to all our cognitive function, and ‘s’ referred to specific
Had the idea that people with higher IQ would have more ‘g’ available to them.
What is J.P. Guildford’s Model of Intelligence?
- proposed that there are > 120 independent factors underlying intelligence (referred to as a ‘cube’)
Measured by 3 categories:
- Operations (e.g. cognition, memory)
- Contents (e.g. symbol, visual information, behaviour)
- Product (change in unit, perspective, predictions, consequences, implications)
- So this model aims to break down everything into smaller categories
- theory explains that these categories operate independently from one another - but does not explain how they interact with each other –> but this theory does not explain positive manifold
What is Thurstone’s models of intelligence?
How we understand intelligence impacts the tests that we use:
- V: verbal comprehension and meaning
- W: word fluency
- N: number facility
- S: space
- M: memory
- P: perceptual speed
- I: induction
There are still used but we acknowledge now that they are interacting
Models with hierarchies:
- Hierarchical models of intelligence are mroe efficient and accurate
- Acknowledges ‘g’ as the major factor, with minor group factors and specific factors
- from 1950s onwards, was deemed the best
Vernon’s hierarchical model of intelligence:
Vernon was the most well-known person to produce a hierarchical model of intelligence.
He built upon Spearman’s work, acknowledging ‘g’ as a major factor, but with a hierarchy of minor and then within that, specific, factors.
Describe Carroll’s 3-tier model of intelligence:
- Carroll conducted a meta-analysis of research examining human intelligence to find a ‘universal model of intelligence’ –> factor analysis gave rise to his hierarchical model
Key arguments;
- intelligence is largely cognitive ability
- there are 8 ways to capture general IQ
- other skills (e.g. music, dance) need to be defined and measured separately.
Uses 8 ways of capturing general IQ
What is fluid intelligence:
- fluid can be applied to any problem
- is the reasoning and ability to see patterns and apply that knowledge in a later circumstance –> considered reflective of someone’s capacity to learn and apply new skills
an example of this is matrix reasoning
What is crystallized intelligence?
- rather than a general reasoning ability, it reflects acquired education
- is very culturally loaden
- an example of this is a picture test
- crystallized intelligence increases with age
What factors impact intelligence?
It is an interaction of external(environmental) and internal(genetic) factors.
We can observe this by correlation of intelligence between groups:
- identical twins reared together = 0.85
- identical twins reared apart = 0.67
- fraternal twins reared together = 0.58
- siblings reared together = 0.45, etc
What are some other factors that impact intelligence?
- prenatal and early developmental influences: complications during labour, birth weight, anoxia
- malnutrition, famine
- family background: income, education, parent occupation, family atmosphere
- psychosocial factors: quality of language, opportunities for enlarging vocab, appreciation of achievement
- amount of schooling
What are the advantages of group tests?
- Easy to administer and score
- Less skill and training is required for examiners
- Usually reliable and standardized with well-developed normative information.
What are the disadvantages of group tests?
- Difficult to manage motivation by examinees, especially if experiencing anxiety
- limited response options (multiple choice)
- often incorrectly assumes that questions and answers are equally applicable for everyone –> so if a person is finding the quiz too easy, their performance will be impaired by boredom. if a person is finding the quiz too hard, their performance will be impaired by frustration.
What are the advantages of Individual tests?
- gives us critical information about:
–> how the person answers each question
–> how the person performs (test behaviour - do they persevere on difficult tasks?) - and allowances can be made for fatigue
What are the disadvantages of individual testing?
They take a lot of time and cost a lot of money
