10: Intelligence Flashcards
What is intelligence?
Intelligence
The ability to acquire knowledge, to think and reason effectively, and to deal adaptively with the environment
Briefly outline the major contributions of Galton, Binet, and Wechsler.
Francis Galton (1870s)
- 1st systematic attempt to measure intelligence
- Said intelligence was hereditary, based on senses
Alfred Binet (1900s)
- French Ministry of Public Education wanted early identification of children who wouldn’t do great in ordinary public schooling
- wanted to arrange special education to help them!
David Wechsler (1939)
- Believed the Stanford-Binet test focused too much on verbal skills and not enough on anything else
- Believed intelligence was made up of verbal and non-verbal skills
What were Binet’s 2 major assumptions? What is Mental Age?
Binet made 2 major assumptions:
- Mental abilities increase with age
- A person’s rate of increase is roughly constant over their development
(i. e. someone lagging at age 5 will still lag at 10)
Mental Age: Devised tests with questions that a typical child of age X could answer
How was IQ initially calculated? When does this not work so well?
William Stern
- Took Binet’s concept of mental age and made it into a relative score – an Intelligence Quotient
- (Mental Age / Chronological Age) * 100
- e.g. an 8-year-old performing at the level of a typical 10-year old → IQ = 125
- e.g. a 16 year old performing at the level of a typical 12 year old → IQ = 75
- Note: current IQ no longer uses idea of mental age
- Works well for kids, but not adults (>16yrs)
- Also, elderly people show an intellectual decline
Who wrote the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test?
Lewis Terman
- Introduced Binet’s test to North America
- Modified the test slightly (translated, made some aspects more relevant to American culture)
- Revised test was known as the **Stanford-Binet Intelligence Test **
- Considered Gold Standard by 1920s
- Consisted mostly of verbal items → single IQ score
Which scales of Intelligence are the most popular tests currently? How do they differ from early tests of intelligence?
Early Tests of Intelligence:
-Standford-Binet Test
-Arthur Otis’ mass-administered tests of intelligence for screening US Army recruits
- Army Alpha – mostly verbal test, based on Stanford-Binet
- Army Beta – non-verbal test (Mazes, picture completion, etc…)
Current Tests:
-David Wechsler (MOST POPULAR)
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
- Most recent revision: WAIS-IV - includes 4 index scales:
- Verbal Comprehension
- Perceptual Reasoning
- Working Memory
- Processing Speed
- Available for children
- Instead of WM, “Freedom from Distractibility”
- Most recent revision: WAIS-IV - includes 4 index scales:
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
- Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI)
-Revised Standford-Binet Test:
- Now includes Verbal, Quantitative, Abstract/Visual reasoning, & Short Term Memory scales
- Woodcock-Johnson (and others)
- Includes specific tests for Crystalized & Fluid Intelligence
- Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test
- Measures Sternberg’s 3 forms of intelligence
(Analytical, Practical, Creative)
Note: Notice Woodcock-Johnson & Sternberg Triarchic Ability Test demonstrates how theories can influence HOW we test intelligence
Briefly describe Factor Analysis, using terms Clusters and Factors.
Factor analysis:
- Reduces a large number of correlated items (tests, questions) to a smaller number of “clusters”
- Clusters: groups of variables (e.g. scores on different tests) that are highly correlated with one another
- Factors: the underlying characteristic that is assumed to account for the link between these variables
- Used often in personality and cognitive research
- e.g. Lots of words can describe someone’s personality. But, some words are highly correlated with others
- e.g. kind, genuine, nice, compassionate, caring
Explain how Factor Analysis in Intelligence Testing can be used to support both claims of Single & Multiple Intelligences (mental abilities)
- Factor analysis of IQ tests tend to have clusters
- Thurstone suggested 7 Primary Mental Abilities:
- __Verbal
- Comprehension
- Number Facility
- Space
- Word Fluency
- Perceptual Speed
- Rote Memory
- Reasoning
- __Verbal
- Helps identify the skills needed for different tasks and increase certain aspects of mental abilities esp in education
Spearman’s “g Factor”
- Intellect is partly based on a “General Intelligence” factor (g) that influences all tasks;
- i.e. kids that do well in school usually do so in many subjects
What is the basic idea of Spearman’s g?
Is there evidence that g exists?
Spearman’s “g Factor”
- Intellect is partly based on a “General Intelligence” factor (g) that influences all tasks;
- i.e. kids that do well in school usually do so in many subjects
Is ‘g’ real?
- g predicts success in high school, university
- g predicts years of education, later earnings
- g predicts who gets hired
- g predicts on-the-job success better than measures of specific abilities tailored to individual jobs
- g is a better predictor of on-the-job success than level of education, or how well the interview went
- g predicts likelihood of divorce (within 5 years)
- g predicts likelihood of incarceration
How do hierarchical models combine the idea of the g factor and different mental abilities?
Hierarchical Models:
- Combine aspects by “nesting” specific abilities under g
- By far the most common approach, currently
What are the differences between crystallized and fluid intelligence?
- Which type of intelligence is predominant early in life? Late in life?
Cattell-Horn Model divides ‘g’ into 2 sub-types:
-
Crystallized Intelligence (gc):
-
Being able to apply previous knowledge (mostly LTM)
- Includes facts, problem-solving schemas
-
Being able to apply previous knowledge (mostly LTM)
-
Fluid Intelligence (gf):
-
Ability to deal with novel situations (mostly WM)
- Inductive reasoning, creative problem solving…
- Depends on efficient CNS, not knowledge bank
-
Ability to deal with novel situations (mostly WM)
Note: Fluid intelligence may crystallize! Over lifetime, more experience is gained with more problem types, more knowledge gained ∴ use gf to more gcin adulthood, and remains strong; gf declines in late adulthood.
Briefly describe Carrol’s 3 Stratum Model of Intelligence.
Carrol’s 3 Stratum Theory:
- Establishment of 3 levels of mental skills - general, broad, narrow - arranged in a hierarchical model
-
g underlies 8 Intellectual Factors (I.F.’s) - different than Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
- underlie ~70 specific cognitive abilities
- more a factor is influenced by g, the farther to the left it is in the model (i.e. nearer to g)
Briefly describe Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
- What are the 3 Types of intelligence, according to this model?
- What are the 3 cognitive components underlying them? Relate to gc/gf
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence:
3 major Cognitive Components:
-
Metacomponents: higher-order, complex processes
- planning, framing problem, formulating strategies
- related to Fluid Intelligence (gf)
- more time spent framing, planning than jumping right in
-
Performance components: processes to actually perform the task
- retrieving appropriate memories, schemas from LTM, perceptual processing, etc
- execute strategies specified by metacomponents
- related to Crystallized Intelligence (gc)
-
Knowledge-Acquisition components: ability to learn from experiences, store info, and combine new & old info
- related to Crystallized Intelligence (gc)
3 “types” of Intelligence:
-
Analytical Intelligence: academic, traditional intelligence
- “book smart”
-
Practical Intelligence: skills needed to cope in everyday life; managing of self/others
- “street smart”
-
Creative Intelligence: mental skills needed to deal adaptively with novel problems
- “creativity”
What are Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences? Briefly describe each.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence:
- “current definitions of intelligence are too limited”
- 8 (now 9) Intelligences:
- Linguistic
- eg. writer
- Logical/Mathematical
- Naturalistic
- eg. zoologist, meterologist
- Visuospatial
- eg. architect
- Musical
- Bodily-Kinesthetic
- eg. athlete, surgeon
-
Interpersonal
- Understand & related well with others
- eg. salesman, talk-show host, manager, therapist
-
Intrapersonal
- Understand self
- Typically quiet, focused, little peer pressure
- Existential
- Philosophical, spiritual, cosmic intelligence
- Linguistic
What are the 4 major abilities associated with Mayer & Salovey’s Emotional Intelligence (E.I.)?
Mayer & Salovey’s EI:
4 major abilities:
- Perceiving emotions
- Using emotions to facilitate thought:
- Understanding emotions
- Managing emotions
Some claim positive/high E.I. results in…
- Better careers, marriages, child-rearing,
- Less depression, anger, anxiety,
- Better at setting and sticking to long-term goals
- More life satisfaction
Others criticize EI:
- Not a true intelligence (mental ability); prefer the term, “Emotional Competence”
- Little scientific back-up on above positive claims
What is the biggest factor in changing IQ?
What are 2 theoretical views on changing IQ?
What did Dweck’s study show?
Belief that you can change your IQ!
Entity theory: idea that intelligence is fixed, innate
Incremental theory: idea that intelligence can be shaped by experiences, practice, effort
Dweck (2002):
- compared grades, scores of children who held on of these beliefs:
- “Incremental” kids improved their grades - more likely to keep trying when experiencing difficulties (don’t give up)
Other factors in school-related IQ gains:
- Less emphasis on fact memorization ⇒ more on how to learn, critical thinking, application
- Teach specific cognitive and problem-solving skills that underlie success in a given subject
- Teach “learning to learn” (eg. memory-enhancement techniques) from the beginning, even with the most basic content
