Week 7 Flashcards
What is intelligence?
What is an argument for why intelligence can’t be defined as some particular ability?
(e.g. reason to abstract, executive function, reframe problems, etc.)
- Wall Street Journal published a book called ‘The Bell Curve’
- Statements around what was currently known about intelligence and what it was defined as
- Helpful because the statements gave a clear definition on what intelligence is
- Defined intelligence as a very general capability that, among other things, involved the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, etc.
- Counters the prompt as this argues intelligence as a general ability, not limited to a particular ability
How would we argue that intelligence isn’t “book smarts” and isn’t something that can be taught?
- Intelligence isn’t limited to book learning, academic skills or test-taking smarts
- Intelligence reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending our surroundings
Can intelligence be measured?
- Yes
- Measured with intelligence tests
Are there multiple intelligences?
No. There is only a single general variable underpinning intelligence (psychology’s consensus view)
Is intelligence testing a pseudo-science?
No
Francis Galton
- Made the first attempt at creating a standardised test for rating a person’s intelligence
- Created the statistical concept of correlation and was first to apply this to the study of human differences and the inheritance of intelligence
What did Francis Galton hypothesise?
That intelligence should correlate with observable traits such as reflexes, muscle grip, and head size
Define Francis Galton’s ‘eugenics’
- Concerned with “race betterment” and conscious efforts to “improve the race” (State involvement)
- First by encouraging healthy, capable people of above-average intelligence to bear more children (so called ‘positive eugenics’)
- A eugenics office was founded in New York by Davenport - with the aim to “improve the natural, physical, mental, and temperamental qualities of the human family”
- Resulted in policies that targeted least-powerful people (i.e. minority women, immigrants, the physically and mentally ill, and the poor)
Charles Spearman
- Noticed that there were positive correlations between students’ performance in lots of very different subjects
- These correlations went beyond scholastic performance and also correlated with abilities like discriminating weights
- Used Factor Analysis to address the question of “What is underlying these correlations?”
What is a factor analysis (FA)?
- A method of dimension reduction
- Seeks to identify underlying unobservable variables (i.e. latent variables) that are reflected in the observed variables
- You are looking for the simplest structure in your data
- Starting point is a correlation matrix (i.e. the inter-correlations between the observed variables)
- Essentially, looking for variables that correlate highly with a group of other variables but correlate badly with variables outside of that group
Factor Analysis & Intelligence
- Many positive correlations between tasks that possess an element of cognitive difficulty
- A latent factor exists that explains these correlations
- Spearman’s analysis confirmed this
- Latent factor is known as g (or Spearman’s g)
What is a latent variable?
A variable that has been inferred through a mathematical model, as opposed to a variable that has been directly observed
Different names of Spearman’s g
Also known as:
- IQ (intelligence quotient)
- General intelligence
- General cognitive ability
- General mental ability
- g factor (g = general)
Function of Spearman’s g
- Summarises positive correlations among different cognitive tasks
- Reflecting the fact that an individual’s performance at one type of cognitive task tends to be comparable to his or her performance at other kinds of cognitive tasks
- Approx. accounts of 50% of the variance in IQ test performance
Alfred Binet
- “How is intelligence measured?”
- Sought to find an objective way to identify children who needed additional help
- Simon-Binet Intelligence Scale (Mental Age vs Chronical Age)
- Also founded a lab to train teachers for special needs children
Explain how the Simon-Binet Intelligence Scale works
- It gives you a score for a child’s mental age, to then be compared to their chronological age
- The discrepancy between these two ages are what will identify children who would need additional help/resources/teaching
Wechsler Scales: WAIS
- WAIS: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
- A comprehensive measure of adult cognitive ability
Wechsler Scales: WISC
- WISC: Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children
Wechsler Scales: WPPSI
- WPPSI: Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence
- Has subtests to determine a child’s variables in performance, IQ and persistent speed
