Topic 5: Intelligence & Motivation

Question 1

Why is intelligence a latent thing to define?

Answer 1

It cannot be observed directly and so has to be measured through indirect measures.

Question 2

What did Terman (1916) define intelligence as?

Answer 2

The ability to carry out abstract thinking. Rather than dealing with concrete experiences. Going from the literal to metaphorical, flexibility.

Question 3

What did Calvin (1923) define intellgience as?

Answer 3

Ability to learn, or having learned, to adjust oneself to the environment. Not just knowing stuff but knowing how to use this information accordingly to the environment.

Question 4

What did Boring (1923) define intelligence as?

Answer 4

What intelligence tests measure. Intelligence is something that we measure from tests.

Question 5

What did Wechsler (1953) define intelligence as?

Answer 5

A global concept that involves an individual’s ability to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment.

Question 6

What did Gottfredson (2000) define intelligence as?

Answer 6

General ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, learn quickly and learn from experience.

Question 7

What does IQ stand for?

Answer 7

Intelligence Quotient.

Question 8

What is the IQ test?

Answer 8

Standardised way of quantifying intelligence.
* Originally a measure of deviation of mental age from chronological age:
– IQ = (mental age / chronological age) X 100.
– Not much development in raw intelligence above 17 so this test was not really effective beyond this point.

Question 9

What did Wechsler (1975) redefine IQ test as?

Answer 9

Redefined as a standardised score showing deviation from average score (of 100).
Scores normally distributed with an SD of 15.

Question 10

What percentage of people fall two more/less SDs OUTSIDE the average IQ?

Answer 10

5% (it is a normal distribution curve).

Question 11

What are 5 tests of intelligence?

Answer 11

Digit span test (repeating lists of numbers).
Proverbs (identifying what the proverb means).
Trail making (e.g., join the circles in numerical order as quickly as you can).
Letter number sequencing (e.g., rearrange these items so that you say the numbers first, in ascending order, then the letters in alphabetical order).,
Identifying which shape fits the pattern.

Question 12

What is “G”? (Charles Spearman, 1863-1945).

Answer 12

Major breakthrough.
Factor-analysed people’s performance on multiple different tests.
The intelligence score for each of these tests correlated massively with eachother and this meant that there was a common underlying factor that was referred to as “mental energy.” = G which is the general intelligence.
G represents a general factor, therefore it does not matter which test you use (indicator) because they will all tell you something about the level of that persons underlying intelligence (G).
Individual differences however may cause individuals to perform differently in the tests. E.g., language ability/visuo-motor function etc.

Question 13

What is the hierarchy of intelligence?

Answer 13

Broad domains:
- each of these are thought to represent separable abilities of intelligence.
- These domains include verbal ability, working memory, visual-spatial reasoning and processing speed.

Task level:
- specific tests that are thought to be specific to each of those broader domains.

Non consensus on precise hierarchal structure/content. There are different number and domain categories that researchers argue.

Question 14

Which level of the hierarchal model are individual differences researchers more interested in?

Answer 14

Individual difference researchers are more interested in the general ‘g’ level of intelligence.

Question 15

Which level of the hierarchal model are cognitive psychology researchers more interested in?

Answer 15

Cognitive psychology/neuropsychology researchers are more interested in the lower-level domain areas of intelligence.

Question 16

What did Chamorro-Premuzi (2013) suggest about the connection between IQ and health?

Answer 16

IQ correlates with academic achievement, job performance, and longevity. Predicts lots of life outcomes.

Question 17

What is cognitive epidemiology?

Answer 17

The examination of cognition/ IQ as a correlate of health and mortality (Deary & Batty, 2007). Interested in casual relationships between intelligence and IQ.

Question 18

What are the difficulties in identifying a causal relationship between health and IQ?

Answer 18

Reverse causation (poor health can influence IQ).
Confounding effects e.g., of Socio-Economic Status (SES)

Question 19

What are the Scottish Birth Cohort Studies?

Answer 19

• The Scottish Mental Surveys. Contained IQ test collected from children aged 10-11 years old.
• In 1931, Scotland’s Mental Survey Committee gathered to plan how to measure the mental ability of the Scottish nation’s children.
• They decided to test the entire nation.
• On Wednesday, June 1, 1932, almost every child born in 1921 and attending school in Scotland took the same mental test with the same time limit after hearing the same instructions.
• The exercise was repeated in 1947 with children born in 1936.

Question 20

What is the Moray House Test?

Answer 20

The Moray House Test [this was the test that the Scottish children took].
* 71 items including:
Ø Arithmetic.
Ø Following directions.
Ø Proverbs.
Ø Analogies.
Ø Reasoning etc.
* Scores correlate with Raven’s Matrices and Stanford-Binet. Therefore, we can be fairly confident that it correlates with IQ.
* Valid measures of age 10/11 IQ.
* Can investigate the influence of early life IQ on health and mortality/longevity.

Question 21

How did Whalley and Deary (2001) analyse the Scottish Cohort?

Answer 21

• Traced 2230 (80%) of ABC 1921 cohort.
• Compared childhood IQ scores of survivors (age 76yrs) vs. non-survivors.
• SES estimated by ‘overcrowding’ in childhood and father’s occupation. Devised a measure of SES and considered it within their analysis to control for these confounds.
  Having a higher IQ gave a higher survival advantage.
• Significant correlation between age-11 IQ and age of death after controlling for childhood SES (r=.19).

Question 22

What did Whalley and Deary (2001) find about the gender differences in the Scottish Cohort?

Answer 22

Women: there is no difference at the earlier ages.
Men: slightly different pattern. Apparent difference in later years. Late teens/early twenties  lower IQ men actually had a higher survival rate compared to high IQ men. Looking at the time period can identify why this is the case, corresponds with the second world war. Men with a lower IQ may have been more likely to be rejected from the war and therefore were less likely to die in the war because they were not fighting.
Overall, a higher IQ rate causes increased longevity.

Question 23

What are some examples of other cognitive epidemiology cohort studies?

Answer 23

Swedish conscripts study [49,323 men took IQ test within military service conscription exam ~ 18, 1969/70].

Nun study [linguistic measures from autobiographies of 180 nuns written in 1930 aged ~22.

Danish Metropolit Study [11,376 12 year old boys in Copenhagen given classroom IQ test in 1965 in social mobility study].

Question 24

What was the Batty, Deary and Gottfredson (2007) systematic review?

RESULTS

Answer 24

The 9 studies show that higher IQ in first 20 years of life is linked with lower mortality, even after adjusting for childhood SES.

Question 25

What did Deary (2008) suggest about how strong of a predictor intelligence is?

Answer 25

“Intelligence can predict mortality more strongly than body mass index, total cholesterol, blood pressure or blood glucose, and at a similar level to smoking.”

Question 26

What are the 4 ways (Deary, 2008) suggested about casual mechanisms between IQ-health?

Answer 26

• 1. High IQ = survival advantage. More likely to have better employment prospects and therefore likely to have access to better health etc. Higher IQ benefit from education and therefore more likely to earn a better salary and pay for things that would benefit their health. Adult SES thought to partly explain this link, showing how intelligence can cause longevity.
• 2. High health literacy: better ability to understand health advice and apply it. More likely to follow health regimes etc.
• 3. Early life event that causes suboptimal development. However, not full link because when you control for known correlates of suboptimal neural development such as birthweight, we still see an effect between IQ and health.
• 4. Higher IQ = combination of genetics/environmental factors put together someone having a higher functioning body. This could mean that their brain is able to function better and this would cause them to have a higher IQ. Higher IQ = more symmetrical body, marker of general health and fitness.

Contribution of each mechanism may vary by cause of death.

Question 27

What was the study be Ali et al. (2013) that identified a link between happiness and intelligence?

Answer 27

• Mixed results from previous studies.
• Representative sample of 7403 English adults.
• Measured Happiness.
• Verbal IQ measured with National Adult Reading Test (NART).
• Measured potential mediating variables that may account for any IQ-happiness relationship.
• Known to be biased for certain types of people.
• Seeing if introduction of the mediating variable affected the strength of the correlation between IQ and happiness.

 High IQ predicted likelihood of being happy.

Question 28

What can the relationship between happiness and intelligence be mediated by?

Answer 28

• Dependency in Activities of Daily Living: part of the reason why having a low IQ could produce happiness is due to having less dependence on daily activity.
• Income.
• Neurotic Symptoms: higher in people with lower IQ.
• Self-reported Health: worse in people with a lower IQ.
• Marital status: higher IQ was more likely to be married and therefore more likely to be in a relationship and be happy.
• Social participation.

Question 29

What are limitations of the study that was used to determine the relationship between happiness and intelligence?

Answer 29

Further studies needed to test mechanisms longitudinally. This study is a cross-sectional study.

Question 30

What did Chamorro-Premuzic (2013) suggest that motivation is?

(5)

Answer 30

– Drives people into action.

– This force Energizes, directs, and perpetuates behaviour. Determines what you and keeps you doing it.

– Is directed towards the satisfaction of needs/drives.

– If unsatisfied, will generate a state of physiological or psychological arousal (or both) – feel irritated if we don’t eat for example.

– Is dynamic rather than static – vary & change over time. Need for certain things change dependent on the circumstances/requirements.

Question 31

What is motivation linked with?

Answer 31

Important life outcomes.

Question 32

What is the relationship between personality and motivation?

Answer 32

– Is unclear (& debated)

– some say models of motivation are better able to describe our personality. In the sense that it will better be able to explain patterns of thoughts, feelings or behaviour than personality can explain it.

– Most see motivation as complementary to personality.

Question 33

When can motivation be seen to out weigh personality?

Answer 33

E.g., if someone was offered a job role and they were motivated by money and this job offered them more money, even if the job is not suited to their personality, they may be inclined to take the job.

Question 34

What did Murray (1938) propose as a model for motivation?

Answer 34

Needs –> Motive –> behaviour.

Motivation aries from percieved needs, which are discerepancies between actual and desired states

Motives drive behaviour directed towards satisfying these needs

Press (situational conditions/external events effects the motive).

Question 35

In Murray’s (1938) model of motivation, what is “Press”

Answer 35

External situational conditions/events/factors that can influence the nature or strength of a persons motive.

Press can increase or decrease the strength of a motivation

(e.g living in poverty increases motivation to earn money, being an only child increases need to make friends)

Question 36

What is the definition of a primary need?

Answer 36

Primary needs: biological in nature e.g., air, food, pain, avoidance, sex.

Question 37

What are secondary/psychogenic needs?

Answer 37

Derived from biology and/or psychological e.g., nurturance and achievement.

Question 38

What do more recent models of motivation include?

Answer 38

• More recent models include goals.
• Especially to distinguish motivation from mood – someone who is high in extroversion may choose not to socialise not because of their goals but because they don’t feel like it (not in right mood).
• Important to consider changes in behaviour due to changes in mood vs motivation. I.e., the behaviour is not due to motivation but due to the particular mood that the individual is in.

Question 39

What did Murray (1938) identify after examining interviews, observations and childhood memories from 50 participants

Answer 39

Identified 20 Psychogenic Needs (plus 7 provisional needs) proposed on basis of extensive data collection

Question 40

What are three needs identified by Scheffer + Heckhausen (2018)?

Answer 40

Need for Achievement.
Need for Affiliation.
Need for Power.

Question 41

What is need for achievement?

Answer 41

The desire to master skills, do things well, and accomplish goals etc.

Question 42

What is need for affiliation?

Answer 42

The desire to form relationships and spend time with others.

Question 43

What is need for power?

Answer 43

The desire to influence and control others.

Question 44

What is the Thematic Apperception Test?

Answer 44

Requires people to tell stories about ambiguous stimuli – and content of these stories are interpreted to generate ideas about underlying motivation.

Question 45

Why are projective measures appropriate for measuring motivation?

(Hint: implicit)

Answer 45

Projective tests considered appropriate for motivation research due to implicit nature of motives e.g. Schultheiss (2008) – for example behaviour measure of taking part in football match could be a desire to win or master skills or affiliate – we don’t know which one. A behaviour does not specifically link to one particular motivation.

Question 46

What are potential subcomponents of motives (e.g n-Ach , n-Pow) (Schultheiss, 2008)?

Answer 46

Hope and Fear Components of motives – essentially distinguishing hoping for and avoidance.
Need for achievement: hope for success vs fear of failure.
Need for power: hope for power vs fear of weakness.

Question 47

What were the 4 subtypes that Hill (1987) identified n the need for affiliation?

Answer 47

Need for emotional support - need for other people’s support to get rid of negative feelings

Need for positive stimulation - feed off other people to gain positivity

Need for attention from others- get recognition and be seen as important as others

Need for social comparison - can compare how well they’re doing when compared to others

Responses load onto separate factors.
Scores show differential correlations with ratings of behavioural intentions – responses to various items laid onto items - supporting idea that these separate components exist.

Question 48

In the experiment, re maths problems, which problem was most indicative of need for high achievement?

Answer 48

Preference for work settings with frequent feedback on current vs previous performance – those with high need for achievement show a preference for working in environment where they can get feedback on their performance.
High need for achievement would most likely go for option 2 (hard but not too hard) as it is enough of a challenge but not too hard that they can see themselves getting it wrong.

Question 49

What are the correlates for high Need for Achievement at an individual level?

Answer 49

Entrepreneurial success and innovation.
Poor leadership and managerial skills.

Question 50

What are the correlates for high Need for Achievement at a societal/historic level?

Answer 50

Economic growth and innovation.
Civil war and ineffective leadership.

Question 51

Why are people with a need for high achievement often not as good leaders?

Answer 51

With leadership, you need to be able to delegate whereas people with a high need for achievement are less likely to be able to delegate because they want to achieve highly and carry out the task themselves.

Question 52

What experiment did Bradburn and Berlew (1961) do in regards to need for achievement? (Hint: authors).

Answer 52

Estimated societal level of ‘need for achievement’ in England from 1501-1830 using content analysis of popular literature.
‘Projection’ of author’s values, needs, and motives. Use of data that has not been specifically used for this purpose.
Took sample of popular, ‘imaginative’ and ‘fanciful’ literature from each time period – to get generalisable result. They suggested that looking at the motivations from the authors at that time can indicate the general motivations at that time.
Scored extracts for ‘achievement imagery’ (inter-rate reliability ~ .96). Words/phrases that were associated and showed a need for achievement. Estimated economic activity through coal imports.
Activity at the same timepoint – level of coal imports plotted as well as level of need for achievement.
In line with idea – increased in need to achieve in society leads to increase in economic growth (through the coal imports increasing in the same pattern as the high need for achievement).

Question 53

How did Schultheiss (2008) suggest that a desire for power (i.e. N-Pow) may not be all about dominance/control?

Answer 53

Can reflect desire to influence and have impact, not necessarily just dominate and control. Not necessarily about dominance/control. Can be positive but can also be negative.
Can also be expressed through generativity

Question 54

Which type of jobs are individuals with a high in need for power usually attracted to?

Answer 54

Individuals high in Need for Power more attracted by jobs involving teaching – influence over others through teaching. Allowing them to have a positive influence on others. (Winter, 1973).

Question 55

What jobs are women with a high need for power usually attracted to?

Answer 55

Peterson and Stuart (1996): High Need for Power (in females) correlated with larger families, and greater involvement in parenting – increase need for power guide and nurture the next generation.

Question 56

What are the correlates of high need for power at the individual level? (Schultheiss, 2008)?

Answer 56

Higher testosterone levels, higher sexual activity and aggression. Managerial, leadership and career success.

Question 57

What are the correlates of high need for power at the societal/historic-level? (Schultheiss, 2008)?

Answer 57

Increase in war and arms. Effective leadership.

Question 58

What is the experiment by Spangler and House (1991) about presidential success and high need for power?

Answer 58

Do previous findings of links between high need or power with effective managerial, political, and leadership success extend to presidential performance?
* Motives estimated from previous coding of US Presidents’ coding their inaugural speeches – 3 main motives (the ones talked about before).
* ‘Presidential Performance’ indicators measured by e.g. war entry; war avoidance; perceived ‘greatness’; great decisions cited etc.
* Indicators of ‘Presidential Performance’ predicted by high Need for Power (and lower Needs for Achievement and Affiliation).
* Not always good leaders with high achievement because the high levels of personal achievement may negatively impact the achievement of the presidential success and making decisions for the country that are effective as a whole.
* Authors argue that results unlikely due to e.g. reverse causation, bias in coding (maybe existing knowledge of the president’s performance) motives or presidential performance etc.

Question 59

What are the correlates of high need for affiliation at an individual level?

Answer 59

Like similar others, but dislike dissimilar others.
Potentially dislike those different to them in an attempt to avoid conflict.

Question 60

What was the experiment by Langer and Winter (2001)

(hint - students & Cuban missile crisis)

Answer 60

• Undergraduates responded to letter relating to Cuban Missile Crisis. Crisis between America and the Soviet Union. They were asked if they were in the situation, how would they respond.
• Letters coded for concessions and Needs.
• Need for Affiliation positively related to concessions.
• Need for Power negatively related to concessions.

Question 61

What did Schultheiss (2008) suggest about the link between power and health?

Answer 61

High need for power, associated with testosterone and this people often search out to engage in power-challenge situations. Which further then increases their testorone levels further fuelling this need for power. This engagement in power-challenge situations leads to activation of the sympathetic nervous system stress response –> linked to chronic high blood pressure, lowered immune function, increased susceptibility to illness.

Question 62

What are the negative health effects of need for power? (Experiment with prisoners).

Answer 62

• 133 male prison inmates participated. More controlled environment compared to other studies (usually done on students).
  – Thematic Apperception Test (4 brief stories in response to ambiguous pictures). Coded for Need for Power and Need for Affiliation
  – Number of stressors experienced.
  – Number and severity of illnesses in past 12 months (1-100 rating per illness).
  – Saliva sample to measure salivary immunoglobulin-A (S-IgA) as an indicator of immune functioning. Higher level of S-IgA = better immune system functioning.
  High need for power and higher stress = lower immune functioning = poorer health.

Question 63

What are the two different divisions of need for power?

Answer 63

Influence and impact others OR dominate/control others.

Question 64

Does the need for power through teaching lead to bad health?

Answer 64

No.
McClelland (1989): It is the ‘Stressed power motive’ that is associated with poorer health. Gaining power by itself is not necessarily associated with poorer health.
Schultheiss (2008, pp 616): High need for power per se is “not a general vulnerability for impaired health.”
Combination of the motive and the way that motive is achieved that leads to stress/poor health.

Question 65

What type of health is parasympathetic activation associated with?

Answer 65

• Associated with parasympathetic activity and increased immune functioning.
• Generally positive effects on health.

Question 66

What is the experiment about Mother Teresa and WW2?

(Hint: S-IgA)

Answer 66

132 student participants.
Needs measured using TAT before and after watching one of two short films.
Need for affiliation group primed further in post-film writing task about love and caring.
Levels of S-IgA measured before and after the film.
Also measured illness experienced that year.
Mother Teresa – prime need for affiliation
2nd clip - WW2 prime need for power.

Question 67

What were the results from experiment with Mother Teresa and WW2?

Answer 67

• Evidence for protective effects of need for affiliation.
• No overall effect of change in need for power. Little change in SI-gA, even though we would expect their to be a decrease (lower immune functioning).
• But, sub-group with ‘inhibited power motive syndrome’ (high in need for power; low in need for affiliation; high in inhibition) did show reduction in SIG-A after WWII film. Effects may be there but only to a subgroup.
• No link between reactive increase in SIG-A and illness history.
  Mother Teresa – improvement in immune functioning.
  WW2 – expect to see decrease but there wasn’t much change.