intelligence Flashcards
How has intelligence been conceptualized and measured historically?
Intelligence has been conceptualized as a general ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, learn quickly, and learn from experience. It is measured using the Intelligence Quotient (IQ), which was originally a measure of deviation of mental age from chronological age:
What formula was used originally to calculate IQ?
o IQ = (mental age / chronological age) X 100
What are some of the tests used in an IQ test?
o Trail-Making – join the circles in numerical order as fast as you can (RT tells you about neural processing speed)
o Letter Number Sequencing – Rearrange these items so that you can say the numbers first, in ascending order, then the letters in alphabetical order e.g if I say 7G4R, you would say 47GR
o Reasoning task – understanding the pattern
Define intelligence.
- A latent construct defined as:
o Gottfredson – General ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, learn quickly and learn from experience
Outline cognitive epidemiology, and the aims of its research.
Cognitive epidemiology the examination of IQ as a correlate of health and mortality.
Longitudinal studies help establish causality of the link between IQ and longevity (after controlling for SES, and reverse causation effects)
Outline Spearman’s G (general) intelligence.
Common ‘mental energy’ or fundamental property underlying performance on all tests – has been labelled ‘g’
Indifference of the indicator of intelligence - sits at the top of a ‘hierarchy of intelligence’ and allows good performance in broad domains which translates to good scores on a task level
What role do confounding variables play in the study of IQ and health/longevity?
Confounding variables, such as socioeconomic status (SES), can impact both IQ and health. For example, childhood SES might influence health behaviors as well as educational opportunities and cognitive development, thereby confounding the direct relationship between IQ and health outcomes.
Describe some findings from the Scottish Birth Cohort Studies regarding IQ and longevity.
The Scottish Mental Surveys, starting in 1931, tested nearly all schoolchildren born in 1921 and 1936 using the Moray House Test. Longitudinal follow-up found that higher IQ scores at age 11 were significantly correlated with increased longevity, even after controlling for factors like childhood SES (r = .19)
More men were alive in the follow up, but the effect size was larger for women (5.6 point difference) then men (3.6 point difference - may be due to military service from war)
What are the 4 causal mechanisms Deary proposed to account for the links between longevity and IQ?
- IQ - education - employment prospects - adult SES status
- IQ - health literacy and health behaviours - medication adherence, healthy eating etx
- suboptimal neural development - lower IQ - association with psychiatric disorders/reduced longevity
- body system integrity - higher IQ (healthy body and brain development) - fewer health problems - longevity
Ali et al found that high IQ predicted happiness. What were the mediating factors found to influence this correlation?
Dependency in Activities of Daily Living (needing help of others to conduct life, low IQ linked with higher dependency)
Income
Neurotic Symptoms (higher in low IQ = unhappiness)
Self-reported Health (lower levels of health associated with low IQ = happiness
Marital status (people with high IQ more likely to be married = happiness)
Social participation (higher IQ = higher social network, and social participation = happiness)
= more longitudinal research needed
Outline the findings from cohort studies in terms of IQ and longevity and the conclusions made.
9 Cohort studies - Studies found that higher IQ in the first 20 years of life even after controlling for childhood SES
Deary - intelligence stronger predictor of mortality than weight, cholesterol, blood pressure and is as accurate as smoking
