WEEK 1 - HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE

Question 1

who developed the idea of IQ

Answer 1

Stern

Question 2

what did Yerkes develop

Answer 2

intelligence tests for adults, triggered by WW1 roles ‘the alpha army test’ and the ‘army beta test’ where individuals were assigned grades

Question 3

who are the main people interested in the heritability of intelligence

Answer 3

Galton who coined the term nature v nurture, Galton was an advocate for eugenics. Ridley who estimated higher concordance rates between twins.

Question 4

what are the environmental influences (4)

Answer 4

• biological e.g pre-natal factors and nutrition
• family e.g economic status, family size, birth order etc
• school and education, chance of success and higher IQ
• culture e.g differing ideas of what ‘intelligence’ is

Question 5

what was the bell curve book, what did it state

Answer 5

Herrnstein and Murray - book analyst IQ tests, looked at environmental factors. The book proposed IQ was largely biological (genes) with the order of asian then white then black people. (using WAIS test) also stated lower status individuals are reproducing at a higher rate and lowering the average IQ.

Question 6

Criticisms of the bell curve

Answer 6

Gould - there are different types of intelligence and different cultural definitions of intelligence. (not fixed as the book suggests)
Kamin - correlation isn’t causation
Collins - race at a biological level is a human construct
also issues in ethics - led to sterilisation under Hitlers eugenics policy

Question 7

who supported sex differences, what support was shown

Answer 7

SUPPORT
-Terman - girls scored higher than boys on Stanford-Binet
-Lynn & Erwing - meta analysis shown men scored 3-5 points higher than women on Raven’s matrices.
- Maccoby & Jacklin - men scored better on spatial ability
WHY MEN MAY SCORE BETTER
- Lynn - mens brains are bigger
- Sterotypes & stereotype threat
- evolution & testosterone