What is Intelligence? Flashcards
What is intelligence?
Generally agreed that individuals differ from one another in their ability to:
- learn facts and skills, and apply them to situations
- understand complex ideas
- adapt effectively to their environments
- learn from experience
- use various forms of thinking and reasoning to solve problems and overcome obstacles
How was intelligence originally defined?
Operationally - procedures researchers go through to measure a specific variable, rather than conceptually or theoretically - explaining a construct in terms of underlying psychological processes
Who introduced the concept of reliability?
Spearman (1963-1945)
What are the most commonly used intelligence tests?
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS); first devised in 1955 but now in its fourth edition, released in 2008.
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children – Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) and Fifth Edition (WISC-V) 6-16 years
Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) 2-7 years
Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scales (5th Edition)
Raven’s Progressive Matrices (RPM) – a non-verbal test, designed to be ‘culture fair’
What is the basic genetic assumption of intelligence?
If intelligence/personality traits are influenced by genes:
- Intelligence will be highly correlated across closer genetic relatives than across more distant ones
- Intelligence out to be more highly correlated across identical MZ twins than DZ twins
- Adoption studies - no genetic heritability between adoptive parents and their children
What is computed to relect genetic influence?
Heritability coefficient
What did the APA Taskforce summarise in 1996 (Neiser et al) around genetic influences?
- Heritability estimates of intelligence vary greatly ranging from 40-80%
- 50% is the commonly accepted estimate
What other factors can influence intelligence?
Between 20-60% can be accounted to environment
How can data be misinterpreted?
Heritability of IQ is a measure of the contribution of genes to the differences between individuals (Variance) in a given environment - can’t be applied between groups
What has been argued about heritability of traits?
Can vary dramatically depending on population and environment that’s being studied
What did Turkheimer find about families and IQ (2003) ?
From 48,000 mothers and children from 0-7 y/o, found that in poor families, children in the same household tended to have very similar IQ scores, regardless of genetic similarity
