Week 9: Intelligence Testing Flashcards
List the three overarching themes regarding intelligence
- the capacity to learn
- the total knowledge a person has acquired
- successful adaptation to new situations/environments
Briefly describe Spearman’s theory of intelligence
- concerned with underlying intelligence structure
- heavy use of FA
- intelligence consists of a general factor used to perform mental tests and numerous specific factors
List Thurstone’s 7 mental abilities
- verbal comprehension
- verbal fluency
- inductive reasoning
- spatial visualisation
- number
- memory
- perceptual speed
Fluid intelligence
- non verbal
- culture reduced
- a person’s inherent capacity to learn and problem solve
Crystallised intelligence
- develops through the use of fluid intelligence
- culturally dependant
- used for tasks requiring learning or habitual response
How does crystallised intelligence progress
Declines or tapers in late adulthood
How does fluid intelligence progress
Declines in early adulthood
What are the defining characteristics of Gardner’s model?
- potential isolation by brain damage
- existence of savant individuals
- identifiable core information processing operations
- distinctive developmental history
List Gardner’s dimensions
- linguistic
- logical-mathematical
- spatial
- musical
- bodily-kinaesthetic
- interpersonal (relating to others)
- intrapersonal (relating to self)
- naturalistic
- spiritual
What is the main difference between the intelligence quotient and the deviation IQ?
The intelligence quotient is mental age / actual age x 100, and is not useful past the age of 17. Deviation IQ can be used for adults and revolves around how much IQ deviates from the mean of 100.
Preformationism
All living organisms are preformed at birth
Predeterminism
Abilities are predetermined by genetic inheritance; the genes for your intelligence level are set, and develop only to this level
What kind of perinatal influences may affect intelligence (nurture)
- maternal health during pregnancy
- birth process
- gestation e.g stress
- birth weight
How may education effect intelligence
- quality/type of education
- number of years of school
- older generations spend less time in education system
Thurstone’s verbal comprehension
Vocab, reading, comprehension and verbal analogies
Thurstone’s verbal fluency
Measured by anagram, or quickly naming words in a category
Thurstone’s inductive reasoning
The best measure involves finding a rule as in a number series completion test, or in drawing analogies
Thurstone’s spatial visualisation
Mental manipulation of visuospatial material
Thurstone’s number
Synonymous with the speed and accuracy of simple commutation and math problem solving
Thurstone’s memory
Skill at rote memory tasks such as paired associate learning picture and word recall
Thurstone’s perceptual speed
Simple clerical tasks such as visual ‘spot the difference’ or visual search
Stability of children’s IQ
Remains stable after 5 years, but can change
Factors that can affect IQ change
- development growth
- environmental factors
- diversity in learning experiences
- parent-child dynamics
Factors that influence the stability of intelligence test performance
- invariance of genetic factors
- cumulative nature of intelligence development
- environmental stability
- sequential nature of learning
Birth order
Explains very little IQ variation
SES
Moderate correlation with child’s IQ
Home environment variables
Correlate significantly with IQ
Childhood illness
No link to later IQ
How can intelligence be measured in infancy
- sensorimotor development
- nonverbal motor development
How can intelligence be measured in children
- cognitive knowledge
- reasoning
How can intelligence be measured in adults
- Weschler
- subtests
- global nature of intelligence
Define culture loading
The degree to which a test incorporates the vocab, concepts, and traditions associated with a certain culture
Describe the origins of formal intelligence testing
- roots in England and France in the early 1900’s
- early approaches focussed on either psychophysical abilities or judgemental abilities
Galton
Psychophysical approach, used sensorimotor tests but found no consistent links between tests
Binet
- In France, changing attitudes toward the mental unwell and intellectually disabled
- mental judgement was regarded as the key to intelligence
- his modern approach argued that intelligent behaviour involved direction, adaptation and criticism
Binet & Simon
The ability to judge well, understand well and reason well
Terman
Capacity to form concepts and to grasp their significance
Thurstone
Capacity to inhibit instinctive adjustments, flexibly imagine different responses, and realise modified instinctive adjustments into overt behaviour
Spearman
General ability which involves mainly the education of relations and correlates
Weschler
Aggregate or global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think rationally and to deal effectively with the environment
Eysenck
Error free transmission of information through the cortex
Culture free tests
Try to remove any cultural influence by being completely nonverbal
Culture fair tests
Incorporate new aspects to procedures to minimise culture specific advantage
