Intelligence

Question 1

Define Intelligence

Answer 1

Indicator of how well a person processes information, solves problems and think, “a very general mental capability that among other things involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly, and learn from experience…” - Gottfredson (1997)

Question 2

Francis Galton (1869)

Answer 2

Individual differences and eugenics. Movement that argued for selective reproduction and immigration laws based on IQ

Question 3

Alfred Binet (1905, 1916)

Answer 3

Created the first intelligence scale, the Binet-Simon scale, to identify low achieving students. Focused on attention, memory and problem solving NOT taught knowledge/facts in school

Question 4

William Stern (1912)

Answer 4

Developed the ‘intelligence quotient’

Question 5

How to Calculate IQ

Answer 5

IQ = (mental age divided by chronological age) x 100

Question 6

Lewis Terman (1916)

Answer 6

Revised the Binet-Simon test into the Stanford-Binet.

Now incorporates…
1. Quantitative reasoning
2. Abstract/visual reasoning
3. Verbal reasoning
4. Short-term memory

Children whose mental age and chronological age were equal would have an IQ of 100 (average intelligence)

Question 7

The g factor

Answer 7

Charles Spearman (1904). Verbal ability, image rotation, processing speed, problem solving, vocabulary, pattern sorting, memory, task switching, definitions, spatial ability, pattern sorting. Underlying all of the positively correlation IQ sub tests is a “general” factor of intelligence or “g factor”

Question 8

David Wechsler (1955)

Answer 8

WAIS-IV (Wechsler adult intelligence scale). 10 subtests with 5 supplementary tests. 4 areas – verbal comprehension index, perceptual reasoning index, working memory index, processing speed index and general ability index. Compares scores of test-taker to those of others in their general age group (standardised) - average is 100. 2/3 of all scores fall within 85 to 115 (normal scores) aka normal distribution

Question 9

Define Fluid Intelligence

Answer 9

Problem solving ability

Question 10

Define Crystallised Intelligence

Answer 10

Known things

Question 11

What is the Flynn Effect?

Answer 11

IQ increases over time (generationally) so IQ tests must get re-normed regularly

Question 12

Scottish Mental Surveys (1932)

Answer 12

1Scottish Council for Research in Education started testing all the country’s 11 year olds for intelligence, the ONLY dataset of a whole nation’s children for intelligence, about 95% of the target population was tested (87,498 people), the aims were to measure rates of “mental deficiency” and to look at distributions of intelligence in a community sample

Question 13

Plomin and Spinath (2004) heritability

Answer 13

Identical twins IQs are more similar than those of fraternal twins

Question 14

McGue, Bouchard, Iacano and Lykken (1993) genetics

Answer 14

Siblings reared together in the same home have IQs that are more similar than those of adopted children (different biological parents) raised together in the same environment. Therefore there is a genetic influence

Question 15

What is the Socialisation Effect?

Answer 15

Parents who socialise with their children (reading/family dinners often) have children who are smarter than children whose parents do not do those things – may just be down to genetic transmission of intelligence to their children

Question 16

Harris (2009) interactionist

Answer 16

Twin studies showed that the shared environment appears to have a very small effect on intelligence. Almost all variance is explained by a combination of genes and the non-shared environment.

Question 17

Why does IQ matter?

Answer 17

IQ test scores are strongly correlated with 2 measures of education:
1. Achievement, exam results (Deary, Strand, Smith and Fernandes)
2. Duration, how long you stay at school
BUT Having a high IQ doesn’t ensure educational success, there are other characteristics. CORRELATION does not mean causation. Education might also improve intelligence. Findings do not apply to people with specific learning disabilities.

Question 18

Deary (2008) IQ and death

Answer 18

Lower intelligence not a cause, but an INDICATOR of poorer health.

Genes that give some people generally healthier bodies than others also give the healthier brains, genetic correlation.

Higher IQ people tend to have slightly more symmetrical faces (Bates, 2007), an indicator of healthier development in the womb and early life.

Higher IQ people are better at noticing and responding to risks (Batty et al, 2008).

Lower IQ people have a greater chance of being murdered.

Reaction time can account for the majority of the association between intelligence and mortality (Deary & Der, 2005).

Intelligence at age 11 could predict mortality in men and women up to the age of 76 – Whalley and Deary (2001).

Question 19

Brain Training (improve IQ?)

Answer 19

Useful tool for cognitive intervention in at least normal old age (Karbach and Verhaegen 2014)

Question 20

Nutrition (improve IQ?)

Answer 20

Level of iodine plays a crucial role in the intellectual development of children (Qian et al 2005).

Prenatal or early postnatal (alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, radiation, lead-based paint, dust/petrol fumes) affect IQ (Huang et al 2012, Neisser et al 1996).

Question 21

Education (improve IQ?)

Answer 21

Education occurring even as late as in the middle teenage years can indeed have a statistically significant and sizeable effect of IQ scores (Brinch and Galloway 2012).

Intensive educational projects for disadvantaged children (e.g. Perry preschool project, Abecedarian project).

Early childhood education produce persistent effects on achievement and academic success but not IQ (Barnett 1998).

Question 22

Socio-economic Status (improve IQ?)

Answer 22

Heritability of IQ is higher in high SES group (0.72) than low SES groups (0.1).

It’s likely due to variance of environment, high SES groups have similar environments so genetics looks like a more important factor…

Could mean environmental interventions in low SES groups useful

Could be problematic if research uses these groups disproportionately because it might give you misleading results.

Question 23

Big Brain (improve IQ?)

Answer 23

Brain size is related to intelligence (Pietschnig 2014).

A predominantly negative correlation between intelligence and cortical thickness in early childhood to a positive correlation in late childhood and beyond (Shaw et al 2004).

But when you compare within-family (siblings) to between-family relationships between brain size and cognitive performance, the effect is negligible (Schoenemann et al 2000).

Question 24

Gender Differences (improve IQ?)

Answer 24

The average IQ scores of girls and boys was exactly the same (Johnson, Carothers and Deary, 2008).

BUT there are differences in more specific abilities (Miller and Halpern)… women do better than men on verbal measures… men do better than women on spatial ability.

Males tend to be over-represented at the very high and the very low levels of intelligence.

Question 25

Race/Culture (improve IQ?)

Answer 25

Black children’s IQ scores were 1 standard deviation lower than those of white children on the Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence test (Brooks-Gunn, Klebanov and Duncan 1996).

There are 3 potential reasons for this…
1. IQ tests measure social advantage not intelligence
2. The difference is real and due to social factors
3. The difference is real and due to genetics

Cattell’s (1940) Culture Fair Intelligence Test relies on mainly non-verbal test items e.g. mazes, classification tasks and mirror-images.

Question 26

Multiple Intelligences (Gardener, 1983)

Answer 26

Pluralistic view of mind recognising many different and discrete facets of cognition acknowledging that people have different cognitive strengths and contrasting cognitive styles - Gardener 2006.

1.Verbal
2.Mathematical
3. Spatial
4. Bodily-kinaesthetic
5. Musical
6. Interpersonal
7. Intrapersonal
8. Naturalist

Contrasts with theory of a general Intelligence Quotient (IQ), intelligence is judged by one’s ability to answer items on certain standardised tests.

Question 27

Penke et al. (2010) age and intelligence

Answer 27

Brain and white-matter lesions and white-matter integrity are associated with intelligence in old age, after adjustment for intelligence in childhood

Penke et al (2010): the integrity of the brain’s principal white-matter tracts are positively correlated, producing a general white-matter integrity factor that is correlated with processing speed

Penke et al (2009): men with more symmetrical faces have more successful cognitive ageing

Question 28

Sternberg (1985) triarchic view of intelligence

Answer 28

1. Analytical intelligence – score high on standard IQ tests, maths and verbal problems
2. Creative intelligence – novel solutions to standard questions
3. Practical intelligence – good at many kinds of things not taught at school, ‘streetwise’, good with people, good with their hands

Question 29

Cattell (1940) culture intelligence test

Answer 29

Culture Fair Intelligence Test relies on mainly non-verbal test items e.g. mazes, classification tasks and mirror-images