Unit 3 - Chapter 10 - Evolution and Individual Differences

Question 1

Briefly describe the work of Jean Lamarck (1744–1829).

Answer 1

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Question 2

Briefly describe the life and work of Herbert Spencer

Answer 2

• introduced term intelligence into psychology
• coined term survival of the fittest

Question 3

survival of the fittest

Answer 3

organisms with traits conducive to survival under the circumstances will live and reproduce.

Question 4

Briefly describe the life and work of Herbert Spencer including his view of evolution

Answer 4

• evolutionary associationism = contiguity + voluntary behaviour

Question 5

contiguity + voluntary behaviour explans why some behaviours perist.

Answer 5

evolutionary associationism

Question 6

Briefly describe the life and work of Herbert Spencer including his view of social Darwinism.

Answer 6

social darwinism states that if given freedom to compete in society, the ablest individual will succeed and the weaker ones will fail.

Question 7

Difference between Spencer and Darwin

Answer 7

To Spencer, evolution = progress, purposeful, mechanism by which perfection is approximated.

Darwin didnt believe this.

Question 8

Describe the Spencer-Bain principle

Answer 8

probability of some behavior increases if it is followed by a pleasurable event and decreases if it is followed by a painful event.

Question 9

Describe the following aspects and elements of Charles Darwin’s work: his voyage on the Beagle &

Answer 9

observed that tortoises, plants, insects, etc differed somewhat from island to island.

applied Malthus principle to animals, plants and humans.

Question 10

Describe the following aspects and elements of Charles Darwin’s work: his theory of evolution

Answer 10

• struggle for survival (more offspring than environmental resources) results in survival of the fittest & natural selection.
• natural selection –> nature allows those with characteristics most conducive to survival to reproduce
• no direction/purpose for evolution
• fitness + adaptive features
• applied to earth & humans

Question 11

bility to survive and reproduce determined by organism’s environment and features

Answer 11

Fitness

Question 12

Darwin - Evolution as Applied to Earth

Answer 12

conflict with the church over the age of the earth because he believed the process of evolution occurred over millions of years

Question 13

Darwin - Evolution as Applied to Humans

Answer 13

• humans are product of evolution
• humans and great apes share distant ancestor
• human emotions are remnants of past animal emotions
• expression of emotions is culturally universal

Question 14

Describe the following aspects and elements of Charles Darwin’s work: his influence on science and psychology.

Answer 14

• launched modern comparative & animal psych
• stimulated study of individual differences
• studying behaviour as important as studying mind
• gave birth to sociobiology/evolutionary psych

Question 15

Sociobiology

Answer 15

modern extension to the explanation of human and non-human social behavior

• refered to as evolutionary psych.
• fitness refers to perputation of ones genes in sociobiology.

Question 16

Sir Francis Galton

Answer 16

• mission in life = to measure and catalog individual differences.
• invented weather map
• suggested use for fingerprints for person ID
• studied composite portraiture

Question 17

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to the measurement of intelligence

Answer 17

• know the world only through the senses.
• more acute senses = more intelligent.
• intelligence is inherited.
• high eminence is an accurate indicator of high intellectual ability.

Question 18

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to eugenics

Answer 18

• eugenics is the improvement of living organisms through selective breeding.
• advocated for this
• said couples should be scientifically paired

Question 19

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to nature versus nurture

Answer 19

• extreme nativist
• potential for high intelligence was inherited but must be nurtured by a proper environment.
• viewpoint supported by first use of questionnaire, and twin studies

Question 20

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to word association test

Answer 20

• first word association test in psych
• made 3 important observations (constant responses, drawn from childhood, revealed hidden aspects of the mind).

Test
- wrote 75 words on sheets of paper
- glanced at each word and noted his response to it on another sheet of paper
- did this four times, randomizing the words each time.

Question 21

What did Galton observe from word association test?

Answer 21

1) responses to stimulus words tended to be constant

2) responses were often drawn from childhood experiences.

3) procedure revealed aspects of the mind never revealed before.

Question 22

What did Galton’s work with word association anticipate?

Answer 22

two aspects of psychoanalysis; free association & unconscious motivation

Question 23

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to mental imagery,

Answer 23

asked people to imagine scene from when thay had breakfast

found that ability to image was normally distributed

Question 24

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to anthropometry

Answer 24

• created anthropometric lab
• measured head size, arm span, standing height, reaction time, lung capacity in 9000 humans
• effort to measure intelligence

Question 25

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to statistical correlation (as well as regression toward the mean)

Answer 25

correlation –> systematic variation between two variables.

regression toward the mean –> tendency for extremes to become less extreme in offspring.

scatterplots –> visually determine the strength of a relationship

introduced median bc less influenced to extreme scores

Question 26

Karl Pearson

Answer 26

coefficient of correlation (r) –> formula that produced a mathematical expression of the strength of a relationship

Question 27

Describe Sir Francis Galton’s work and beliefs with respect to his contributions to psychology.

Answer 27

First to study nature-nurture question, the use of questionnaires, the use of word association test, the study of imagery, intelligence testing, and development of correlational technique.

Question 28

Summarize James McKeen Cattell’s role in psychology.

Answer 28

founded the first lab designed for undergrad students in Pennsylvania.

used term mental test for first time in article

Question 29

Who is James McKeen Cattell?

Answer 29

• Wundt’s first experimental assistant

Question 30

Describe Alfred Binet’s work in individual psychology

Answer 30

examine the differences between one person to another.

study cognitive abilities directly instead of indirectly via sensory acuity.

differences are complex, higher order processes that vary according to age.

low inter-correlation between his tests.

Question 31

Describe Alfred Binet’s work in assessing deficiencies in intelligence

Answer 31

tests to distinguish between children with mental deficiencies and children without them;

1) isolate one group of normal children, and another group of subnormal children.

2) test both groups to discover measurements that would consistently distinguish members of one group from the other.

Question 32

Describe Alfred Binet’s work in developing the 1905 Binet-Simon scale of intelligence

Answer 32

original version;

• way of distinguishing between normal children and children with mental deficiencies.
• included 30 mini-tests, with each test passed, the tests would become more difficult.
• medium deficient children could often pass most of the tests, highly deficient children only passed a small number of the tests.

Question 33

Describe Alfred Binet’s role in developing the intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 33

• opposed the use of IQ
• believed intelligence couldnt be represented by a simple number/term
• Stern used results of Binet-Simon test to determine concept of mental age

Question 34

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

Answer 34

mental age divided by chronological age times 100.

• Stern + Terman

Question 35

Describe Alfred Binet’s notion of mental orthopedics.

Answer 35

mental orthopedics are exercises used for growing ones’ intellect.

enhance determination, attention and disclipline

Question 36

Describe Alfred Binet’s legacy

Answer 36

• said intellectual abilty isnt fully inherited –> notion of mental orthopedics
• said poor test scores don’t always mean deficiencies.

Question 37

Briefly describe the life and work of Charles Spearman including his work in factor analysis

Answer 37

• used factor analysis to investigate nature of intelligence
• found 2 factors that can measure intelligence; specific factors and general intelligence

Question 38

Briefly describe the life and work of Charles Spearman and his two-factor theory of intelligence.

Answer 38

specific factors –> individuals differ in their competence in such things as math, language, and music, etc.

general intelligence –> overriding kind of intelligence, determined almost exclusively by inheritance.

Question 39

Contrast Spearman and Binet’s views regarding the nature of intelligence.

Answer 39

Spearman
- emphasized unitary nature of intelligence.
- viewed intelligence as largely inherited.

Binet
- emphasized diversity of intelligence.
- viewed intelligence as modifiable by experience.

Question 40

Briefly describe the life and work of Cyril Burt (1883–1971), including the scandal associated with his work.

Answer 40

studied identical twins, but was believed that his data was invented & fraudulent.

Question 41

Briefly describe the life and work of Henry Herbert Goddard (1866–1957), including his involvement in the testing of immigrants to the United States during the early 20th century.

Answer 41

said many immigrants were mentally defective, increased rate of deportation

• used phrenology & Binet-Simon scale.

Question 42

Briefly describe the life and work of Henry Herbert Goddard (1866–1957), including his study of the Kallikak family

Answer 42

• research supported claim that intelligence was genetically determined
• coined term moron
• led to sterilization laws

Question 43

Briefly describe the life and work of Lewis Madison Terman including his (a) work in developing the Stanford-Binet tests, (b) beliefs regarding the inheritance of intelligence, and (c) study of gifted children.

Answer 43

a) validated stanford-binet test by correlating test performance with grades, academic performance, etc

b) believed iq is inherited and valid measure, low intelligence causes antisocial behaviour.

c) results = the gifted child becomes a gifted adult.

Question 44

Briefly describe the life and work of Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886–1939), including A) her work in dispelling myths regarding women and b) people classified as mentally defective and c) her work with gifted children.

Answer 44

a) said social factors influence how women’s intelligence is viewed.

b) said social and personal adjusment problems may make person seem defective.

c) mistreatment of gifted children in schools.

Question 45

Briefly describe the life and work of Robert M. Yerkes (1876–1956), including his work in testing soldiers.

Answer 45

test to classify men in terms of their intelligence level and to select individuals for special training.

demonstrated practicality of psychology.

Question 46

How did Yerkes work rekindled nativists’ views of intelliegence and what was the response?

Answer 46

• rekindled eugenic concerns about the deterioration of the nation’s intelligence level.
• response = low mental ability ppl should not be able to vote.

Question 47

Summarize the research question around intelligence as a single general factor or multiple factors.

Answer 47

is intelligence one generalized factor or a collection of many different attributes?

Question 48

Briefly describe the work of David Wechsler (1896–1981) and his contribution to modern intelligence testing.

Answer 48

Produced the WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale) and WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children).