Stereotypes, Cognition & Intelligence Flashcards
Explain the study by Levy et al. about countering the effects of age stereotypes on physical function
Participants were told to hit a button if a word appeared above fixation and another if it appeared below. It is implicit priming because they see a flash but can’t process the word.
They were randomly assigned to either positive age stereotypes (intervention) or neutral (control) words.
Those in the intervention showed improvement in the self-perception of aging as well as much more positive age stereotypes than the control.
There was a similar improvement in physical function for the intervention group than the control.
The amazing thing is this effect lasted a number of weeks.
Rarely is something process pure, so rarely when you bring someone into a lab to measure memory are you…
actually measuring memory
What are the 2 objectives in the study of adult intelligence?
- determine whether adults at different ages also differ in intellectual performance at a particular moment in time
- how intelligence changes within individuals over the course of their lifetimes.
What did Schaie do in 1996 to spark the big data collection debate?
Measures the same cognitive abilities over the same ages with longitudinal and cross sectional data.
What does Schaie’s data from the longitudinal design show? (4)
- tend to see growth up until late 30s and early 40s.
- After this, there is stability over the course of a few decades
- 60s is when decline begins but often in abilities that are not central to their lives anymore (numerical ability, perceptual speed)
- No decline seen by anyone in all measures until the age of 88
- the decline is not as severe as we once thought.
What does Schaie’s data from the cross-sectional design show? (3)
- Most abilities you see a gradual, steady decline after late 20s
- even when there is stability it is different from the longitudinal data
- Perceptual speed does decline in both
Why could there be such a difference across these data sets?
cohort effects. If you were interested in cognitive development you would be in error to use cross- sectional due to the cohort effects.
What was salthouse’s response to Schaie? (4)
- Dismissed Schaie’s arguement
- believes cognitive decline starts early and is steep over the lifespan.
- Dismissed the cohort effects - says they are more of a generational effect so nbd, we don’t know what contributes to cohort effects.
- Says practice effects explain the longitudinal data and that performance is being inflated. Says decline would be more extreme without them (BUT HOW BC 7 YEARS BETWEEN EACH TEST TIME)
What is schaie’s response to Salthouse’s comments other than being heavily pissed off? (2)
- said age changes are different than age differences! That they could only identical with a stable environment and level of performance between successive birth cohorts at the same age.
- Test re-test data are inadequate
- 5 of salthouse’s 12 tests didn’t show practice effects
What was Nilson’s take on the whole debate between Schaie and Salthouse? (3)
- Says they are generalizing across cognitive domains inappropriately
- If you squint your eyes there is stability, Salthouse wants to see a rapid decline but there is relative stability.
- the declines are starting to happen later than Salthouse wants to admit. he’s over claiming that there are these rapid declines in cognitive abilities.
What is spearman’s G?
The overall quality of a person’s mental abilities
What did spearman think he could do? Was he kind of right ?
Thought he could come up with one measure “G” to define someone’s intelligence. Yes… it works for kids but not adults
What needs to be a part of intelligence testing in adults?
something the is multidimensional
What scale do we use to measure intelligence
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
What two things made up older versions of the WAIS?
Verbal IQ & Performance IQ
What was the purpose of having performance IQ on the older WAIS?
Since language is so deeply imbedded in culture, its hard to translate without having some disadvantage. So, he tried to compromise by including a performance section.
The Modern IW test contains subsets?
10 “core” subsets
5 “supplemental” subsets
What are four indices in these subsets?
o Verbal comprehension
o Perceptual reasoning
o Working memory
o Processing speed
What 2 broad scores does the modern IQ test give?
o Full scale IQ
o General ability index
“in what way are a radio and a television alike?” is a question for which indices?
Verbal comprehension
For perceptual reasoning, block design evaluates?
visual spatial processing; visual motor construction
For perceptual reasoning, matrix reasoning evaluates?
nonverbal abstract problem solving; inductive reasoning
For perceptual reasoning, visual puzzles evaluates?
visual spatial reasoning
For perceptual reasoning, figure weights evaluates?
ability to quickly perceive visual details
How do you evaluate working memory? (3)
- Arithmetic
- Digit span (forward, backwards)
- Letter-number sequencing
“Are either of these symbols in this list of symbols?” is measuring what?
processing speed
Cattell divided G into two distinct abilities:
Crystallized and Fluid intelligence
What is Gc?
Based on education training, ability to use learned knowledge, skills and experience
What is Gf?
Based on education training, capacity to reason and solve novel problems independent of any knowledge from the past.
What tests are used for fluid intelligence?
Many tests designed specifically to measure Gf
o Ex: WAIS “performance” IQ
o Ex: Raven’s Progressive matrices
Based on physiological efficiency?
o Ex: motor skills?
What tests are used for crystallized intelligence?
- Education and culture-dependent knowledge
- WAIS “verbal comprehension index”
- Based on personal qualities and life experience?
Gf and Gc interact to produce…
G
Someone with high Gc probably has high
Gf at some point
In longitudinal and cross sectional studies, how do Gc and Gf look?
- Gc is a gain early in life and then stability
- Gf seems to show a steady decline throughout the lifespan
Theres a lot of _____ _____ in intelligence, so its not all bad
individual difference
There is a lot of variability in (2)…
scoring across individuals and number of abilities showing losses
Virtually no one showed losses on all…
5 abilities
There are likely losses but it is not …
widespread across all functions
In a 7 year study on individual difference what was found?
o There is decline, stability and gains in each of the age groups tested
o So there is huge overlap in individual differences
Is there massive individual difference that underlies cognitive ability? T or F
TRUE
What are the individual differences in relation to white matter?
- there are people at 50 showing decline but those that are also showing increases
- obviously there is a trend of decline but there’s major individual difference
