Chapter 9 Flashcards
1
Q
Intelligence test
A
a diagnostic tool designed to measure overall thinking ability
2
Q
Abstract thinking
A
- the capacity to understanding hypothetical concepts, rather than concepts in the here and now
3
Q
g (general intelligence)
A
- Charles Spearman
- hypothetical factor that accounts for overall difference in intellect among people
4
Q
s (specific abilities)
A
- Charles Spearman
- particular ability level in a narrow domain
5
Q
Fluid intelligence
A
- Raymond Cattell
- the capacity to learn new ways of solving problems
- used the first time we try to solve a puzzle we’ve never seen
6
Q
Crystallized intelligence
A
- Raymond Cattell
- accumulated knowledge of the world we acquire over time
7
Q
Multiple intelligences
A
- Howard Gardner
- idea that people vary in their ability levels across different domains of intellectual skill
- 8+ types of intelligences
- intelligences appear to be correlated; is this evidence of g?
8
Q
Alfred Binet
A
- goal to identify “slow learners” in school
- developed first intelligence test
- used the idea of “mental age”
9
Q
Stanford-Binet Test
A
- Modified Alfred Binet’s test
- Still one of the most widely used tests for children
- Different questions depending on person’s age
10
Q
David Wechsler
A
- invented Wechsler Intelligence test
- thought the other IQ tests depended too much on verbal skills
- didn’t like how other IQ tests only gave one score
- Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) for adults
- Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC)
11
Q
Wechsler Intelligence Test
A
- invented by David Wechsler
- most common
- contains 4 subscales: verbal communication (ie. recalling information, seeing similarities), perceptual reasoning (blocks and arranging pictures in logical order), working memory (digit span, digit span backwards, arithmetic), and processing speed (digit symbol/coding)
12
Q
Triarchic Model
A
- Robert Sternberg
- model of intelligence proposed by Robert Sternberg positing three distinct types of intelligence: analytical, practical, and creative
- Analytic intelligence: ability to reason logically
- Practical intelligence: ability to solve real-world problems
- Creative intelligence: ability to come up with new answers to questions
- The three types of intelligence tends to be correlated
13
Q
Charles Spearman
A
- believed that there was one ability that underlies overall differences in intellect “g”
- also proposed the existence of “s” (specific skills)
- our abilities depend on both “g” and “s” depending on the skill we are testing
14
Q
Raymond Cattell
A
- Proposed g consists of 2 types of intelligence
- Crystallized intelligence: factual knowledge, specific knowledge
- Fluid intelligence: ability to learn new ways of solving problems; thinking on the spot
15
Q
List the common tests of IQ
A
- Alfred Binet’s test - The original; foundation for current IQ tests
- Stanford-Binet test - Widely used for children
- Wechsler Intelligence Test - Most common; 4 subscales (verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, processing speed)
16
Q
List the difficulties in creating IQ tests
A
- Standardization
- Reliability
- Validity
- Predictive validity
- Construct validity
17
Q
IQ tests - Standardization
A
- defining meaningful scores in comparison to others
- need to know what the average score is for each age
- have to be re-standardized every few years because people’s intelligence test scores keep getting better
18
Q
The Flynn Effect
A
- the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century
19
Q
IQ tests - Reliability
A
- the extent to which a test gives consistent results
- will you get the same score on the test if you take it twice?
- for intelligence tests, short term-reliability is good
- long term reliability is okay
- infant IQ test score not related to childhood/adulthood score)
- child/adult IQ test scores are correlated, but not perfectly
20
Q
IQ tests - Validity
A
- the extent to which the test measures what it’s supposed to be measuring
- predictive validity: the extent to which the test is able to predict future performance/success
- intelligence tests are correlated with future performance in school, income, health, creativity and job productivity
- construct validity: do IQ tests actually measure intelligence?
21
Q
List the 4 main theories of intelligence
A
- Spearman’s g
- Cattell’s 2 types of intelligence
- Sternberg’s triarchic theory
- Gardner’s multiple intelligences
22
Q
Howard Gardner
A
- 8+ types of intelligence
- Different developmental patterns
- Can be disassociated in the brain
- Savants: individuals with mental delay but remarkable abilities in one area
- But are these intelligences or abilities/interests/personality?
- Popular in educational settings
- But controversial, and not much scientific support
- Intelligences still appear to be correlated → evidence of g?
- Conflated with “learning styles”
23
Q
List the influences on intelligence/IQ test scores
A
- Genetics
2, Poverty and socioeconomic status - Education
24
Q
Influences on Intelligence - Genetics
A
- Intelligence is likely highly influenced by genes, because there’s a higher correlation between intelligence in identical twins than between fraternal twins
25
Influences on Intelligence - Poverty/Socioeconomic Status
- children growing up with less money tend to do worse on IQ tests
- food and nutrition
- education differences
26
Influences on Intelligence - Education
- going to school makes people smarter
- the longer a person has been in school, the higher their IQ scores tend to be
- IQ scores rise during the school year and drop during the summer
27
List the problems and controversies with intelligence/IQ
1. The question of group differences
- Race/Ethnicity
- Stereotype threat
2. Eugenics
28
Culture-fair IQ tests
- abstract reasoning measure that doesn't depend on language and is often believe to be less influenced by cultural factors than other IQ tests
- aim for reduced use of language and to avoid questions based on factual knowledge questions
- test takers who aren't fluent in the native language may do poorly on IQ tests
- cultural factors can affect people's familiarity with test materials and therefore their performance
29
Intellectual disability
- condition characterized by (1) an onset prior to adulthood, (2) an IQ below 70, and (3) an inability to engage in adequate daily functioning
- 2/3 of children with an intellectual disability lose this diagnosis in adulthood because of the adaptive functioning criterion
- some experts have also recently placed heightened emphasis on gullibility
- those diagnosed with intellectual disability qualify for additional government services
- more severe intellectual disability is less likely to be genetic
30
Mental giftedness
- top 2% of the IQ range qualifies for a membership in Mensa
- a large proportion of individuals with IQs at or near this range populate occupations such as doctors, lawyers and engineers
- not true that almost all child prodigies burnout in adulthood; a population of child prodigies has a greater proportion become doctors/lawyers/go to grad school compared to the general population
- not true that there is a link between mental giftedness and madness (ie. depression/suicide)
31
List three major ways that scientists can study genetic influences on psychological characteristics
1. Family studies
2. Twin studies
3. Adoption studies
32
Family studies
- allow us to examine the extent to which a trait runs in intact family (those in which all family members live in the same home)
- intellectually brilliant individuals had many first-degree relatives who were also brilliant, but fewer second-degree relatives
- IQ runs in families, but not sure if it's for genetic reasons or environmental reasons or both
33
Twin studies
- compare correlations in a trait between identical twins and fraternal twins
- identical twins share twice as many of those genes on average as fraternal twins, so we can compare the correlations in IQ between the two types of twins
- higher identical twin than fraternal twin correlations indicate that IQ is influenced by genetic factors
- identical twin correlations for IQ are less than perfect, providing evidence for environmental influences on IQ
- identical twins reared apart vs those reared together scored similarly on IQ tests (and both showed higher correlation than fraternal twins reared together!)
34
Adoption studies
- studies of intact family members are limited because they can't isolate genetic from environment
- adoption studies examine the extent to which children adopted into new homes resemble their adoptive versus biological parents
- one potential confound is selective placement; tendency to place children in homes similar to those of their biological parents
- children from deprived environment adopted into enriched environment had higher IQ compared to children who weren't
- IQs of adopted children tend to be similar to the IQs of their biological parents, supporting genetic influence
- as young children, adoptees tend to resemble the adoptive parents in IQ but the resemblance dissipates in adolescence
35
What are 4 possible explanations for the Flynn Effect?
1. People becoming more experienced at taking tests -- however, the Flynn effect is more pronounced on culture-fair tests, to which people have had the least exposure
2. Increased complexity of the modern world; forced to process more information due to technology
3. Better nutrition -- supported by the fact that the effect is most pronounced for the lower tail of the bell curve
4. Changes at home and school; more emphasis on education
36
Test bias
- tendency of a test to predict outcomes better in one group than another
- does not matter if one group outperforms another group!
37
Controversy: Sex Differences in IQ
- most researchers have found no average sex differences in IQ
- men are more variable in their overall IQ scores than women
- women tend to do better on verbal tasks (ie. spelling, writing, pronunciation), arithmetic calculation (in childhood) and recognizing feelings
- men tend to do better on spatial tasks
38
Controversy: Racial Differences in IQ
- average IQ scores differ between racial and ethnic groups
- no evidence of genetic influence
- social class differences (ie. poverty, education) may play a role
- tests may be written in a way that reflects the culture of the test creators
39
Controversy: Stereotype Threat
- fear that we may confirm a negative group stereotype
| - creates a self-fulfilling prophecy; anxiety increases the likelihood of confirming a negative group stereotype
40
Within-group heritability
- extent to which the variability in a trait within a group is genetically influenced
41
Between-group heritability
- extent to which the difference in a trait between groups is genetically influenced
- ie. remember that environment can play a role on the IQ differences observed between races
42
Emotional Intelligence
- EQ
- ability to understand our own emotions and those of others, and to apply this information to our daily lives
- no evidence that different measures of EQ are highly correlated
- research suggests that EQ does not predict job performance
43
Divergent thinking
- capacity to generate many different solutions to a problem
44
Convergent thinking
- capacity to generate the single best solution to a problem
45
Creativity vs Intelligence
- we shouldn't confuse intelligence with creativity
- measures of these two capacities are only weakly or moderately associated
- many intelligent people aren't especially creative and vice-versa
46
Controversy: Eugenics
- Movement in early 1900s
- Encourage those with “good genes” to reproduce
- Discourage/disable those with “bad genes” from reproducing, immigrating
47
List the pros and cons of IQ
Pros:
1. Identify individuals with very high/low IQ and support
2. Predict some aspects of success
Cons:
1. Don't predict all aspects of success (other skills/abilities matter too!)
2. Scores can be interpreted as a measure of a person's worth
3. Differences in scores can be interpreted as measure of group's worth
