Intelligence

1. Intelligence

2. What exactly is intelligence? • Where does intelligence come from? • Can we use relatively simple tests to reliably and validly measure intelligence? • Are there ethnic or gender differences in intelligence test scores, and if so, what do these differences mean?

3. These are questions that have become important in our society. While we may not be able to answer them completely, the use of intelligence testing has become more widespread in our world. • You and most other students have probably taken IQ tests many times as you’ve worked through school.

4. Albert Binet set out to design a test that would identify which kids in the French school system needed special attention.  • He set benchmarks to where a child's intelligence should be at (mental age).  If a five year old took his test, and had the mental age of a three year old, then the school would work harder with him to raise his intelligence. 

5. Louis Terman, a Stanford professor, brought this idea to the United States and created the Stanford-Binet IQ test.  • IQ stands for intelligence quotient.  A person's IQ score is computed by dividing a person's mental age by their chronological age and multiplying by 100.  So if a 7 year old takes an IQ test and scores the mental age of a 7 year old; 7/7=1 times 100= an IQ of 100. 

6. David Weschler came along and constructed a different type of IQ test, actually three different tests.  • One for adults called the Weschler adult intelligence scale (WAIS), one for children called the Weschler intelligence scale for children (WISC) and one for really young kids called the Weschler preschool and primary scale of intelligence (WPPSI). 

7. All three of these tests are widely used today.  What you should really know about the Weschler tests is that they test intelligence on many different subtests (accounting for multiple types of skills) and that your score is placed on a normal curve against the rest of the population. 

8. One problem with these intelligence tests is that people are scoring higher on them every year and we do not know why.  We are constantly changing the tests to keep the scores in an average range (we cannot all be geniuses).  • The phenomenon that we are scoring better on these tests and becoming more intelligent year after year is called the Flynn effect. • By age 4, children’s performance on IQ tests begin to predict their adolescent and adult scores.

9. It is really hard to define intelligence, but there is some consensus among some key terms.  • For example most psychologists recognize crystallized intelligence as accumulated knowledge over time and fluid intelligence as our ability to quickly solve abstract problems.  Crystallized intelligence goes up over time while fluid intelligence declines in old age. 

10. One of the main arguments in the field is whether intelligence refers to a singular ability or a group of abilities.  • Charles Spearman argued that intelligence can be expressed by a single factor.  He used factor analysis to show that intelligence can be a single number he simply called g (generalized intelligence). 

11. Howard Gardner believes that there exist multiple intelligences and if you are not good at one aspect, you may be gifted in others.  He came up with seven specific types of intelligences, but believed there could be even more:

12. 1.Linguistic intelligence involves sensitivity to spoken and written language, the ability to learn languages, and the capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. • This intelligence includes the ability to effectively use language to express oneself rhetorically or poetically; and language as a means to remember information.

13. 2.Logical-mathematical intelligence consists of the capacity to analyze problems logically, carry out mathematical operations, and investigate issues scientifically. • In Howard Gardner's words, in entails the ability to detect patterns, reason deductively and think logically. This intelligence is most often associated with scientific and mathematical thinking.

14. 3.Musical intelligence involves skill in the performance, composition, and appreciation of musical patterns. It encompasses the capacity to recognize and compose musical pitches, tones, and rhythms. • According to Howard Gardner musical intelligence runs in an almost structural parallel to linguistic intelligence.

15. 3.Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence entails the potential of using one's whole body or parts of the body to solve problems. It is the ability to use mental abilities to coordinate bodily movements. Howard Gardner sees mental and physical activity as related. • 4.Spatial intelligence involves the potential to recognize and use the patterns of wide space and more confined areas. 

16. Interpersonal intelligence is concerned with the capacity to understand the intentions, motivations and desires of other people. It allows people to work effectively with others. Educators, salespeople, religious and political leaders and counselors all need a well-developed interpersonal intelligence.

17. Intrapersonal intelligence entails the capacity to understand oneself, to appreciate one's feelings, fears and motivations. In Howard Gardner's view it involves having an effective working model of ourselves, and to be able to use such information to regulate our lives.

18. Robert Sternberg took a moderate approach when looking at intelligence that he called Sternberg's triarchic theory.  He stated that three types of intelligence exist.  The first type, analytical intelligence, is what we commonly think of as school smarts (like the basic Binet IQ). 

19. The next type he called experiential intelligence, which is the ability for one to use their knowledge in creative ways.  • The final type Sternberg labeled practical intelligence, which is what we call street smarts or the ability to apply what you know in the real world.  It is practical intelligence that makes Sternberg so unique. 

20. Daniel Goleman is a big advocate of what people are calling EQ or emotional intelligence.  • EQ is kind of like a combination of Gardner's intra and interpersonal intelligences.  EQ is the ability to understand and regulate your emotions.  • Many studies suggest that a high EQ has a greater correlational with financial success than IQ, but both a high IQ and EQ probably works best.

21. Intelligence Tests • All tests, from the SAT to IQ tests to personality tests have to be standardized, which means the questions have been piloted (tested) on a population of people who are similar to those who are going to take the test. 

22. Let's look at the SAT as an example.  When you take the SAT, there is always an experimental section that will not count towards your score.  That section is given to you to make sure those questions achieve a norm or fall on a normal distribution. 

23. In really simple terms, the Educational Testing Service (the people who run the SAT and AP Test) hope that just a few of you get ALL the answers in that section right, just a few of you get most of the answers wrong and most of you get somewhere in the middle.  They hope, as in IQ scores that the range looks like this:

25. As you can see, the majority of scores should fall in the middle.  If you take the SAT (or any type of test) and everyone scores at the top- then the test is NOT standardized and they would throw out those questions. • So let's say that we make an IQ test and come up with a bunch of questions that we think measure intelligence. 

26. We give them to many people and their scores follow a normal curve (few get them all right, few all wrong, most in the middle) and we can now say that the test is standardized.  • Does that mean it is a good IQ test?  Nope, the test must also have what we call reliability and validity.

27. Reliability refers to the consistency of a test.  • Think about the last couple of times that you’ve taken the ACT. Your scores should have come within a few points of each other. • If you made a 22 the first time you took the math section, then a 12 the second time, and then a 30 the third time, that test would be unreliable.

28. There are some common ways to see if a test is reliable. • The split halves method to measure reliability just means that the fist half of the test is scored, then the second half is scored- if both halves yield (have) similar scores then the test is reliable.  • The test-retest method is just when you take a test and then take a similar version of the test later.  If your scores are similar, then the test is reliable.

29. A test has validity when is measures what it is supposed to measure.  Sometimes validity is referred to as how accurate the test is.  • For example, some say the ACT is supposed to measure how successful you will be your first year of college (this is called predictive validity).  Content validity measures pertinent behavior ( a driving test).

30. If on the next Psychology test, I gave you questions on American Idol trivia, that test would have no validity. • The American Idol test would have validity if we were testing TV knowledge, but not psychology.  • This stuff gets kind of confusing, but if you can at least grasp that reliability measures the consistency of a test and validity measures its accuracy, then you on the right track.

31. A test can be reliable, but not valid. • There are many different types of tests that exist that measure various things.  First, there are aptitude tests, which measure ability of potential, or what you can learn. • The problem with many tests considered to be aptitude tests is that if you can prepare/study for them, then they are NOT true aptitude test, even though the SAT is considered an aptitude test!

32. Most tests are achievement tests that measure what you have learned or accomplished.  • The AP test, any psychology quiz, in fact almost every test you take in school, is an achievement test because you can study for it.

33. Another way to divide up tests is by labeling them power or speed tests.  • Speed tests consist of a large amount of questions in a finite amount of time.  The goal of a speed test is to see how quickly you can solve problems.  • In power tests, people are given significant amounts of time to finish the work, but the questions become increasingly more difficult.

34. Finally, there are individual and group tests.  • Group tests are where many people are given the test at the same time and there is little interaction between the proctor and the test takers.  (Most tests that you take in school.)   • Individual tests require much interaction between the proctor and test taker.  The Rorschach inkblot test is an example of an individual test. 

35. Intelligence has genetic and environmental factors. • Down syndrome is a form of retardation with a physical cause – an extra copy of chromosome 21. • Prior to the last half of the 20th century, parents of mentally retarded children were encouraged to put their children away in institutions.

36. Because the US Supreme Court ruled (2002) that the execution of people with mental retardation is “cruel and unusual punishment, IQ testing can be high stakes. • Today, people with IQ scores of less than 70, are living more active, productive lives.

37. Intelligence runs in families. Studies of twins, family members, and adopted children together support the idea that there is a significant genetic contribution to IQ scores. • These same studies also provide evidence of environmental influences on intelligence.

38. As a group, white Americans tend to have an average IQ score about 8 – 15 points higher than their Hispanic or African-American counterparts. • Environmental differences are largely responsible. It is important to note the six following points, however: • 1. The races are remarkably alike genetically.

39. 2. Race is a socially, not biologically, defined category. • 3. Asian students outperform North American students on math achievement and aptitude tests. • 4. Intelligence test performance of today’s population exceeds that of the 1930’s population, by the same margin that the score of the average white exceeds the average black.

40. 5. White and black infants tend to score equally well on tests predicting future intelligence. • 6. In different eras, different ethnic groups have experienced periods of remarkable achievement. • There are also gender differences in abilities.

41. Girls are more verbally fluent, better spellers, better at locating objects, and are more sensitive to touch, taste, and color. • Women detect emotions more easily than men do. • Boys outnumber girls in counts of underachievement, and they outperform them at math problem solving. Girls do better in math computation, however.

42. Some intelligence tests are necessarily biased because they are sensitive to performance differences caused by cultural experience. • Bias can also mean that a test less accurately makes predictions for one group over another. In this sense of the term, most experts agree that major intelligence tests are not biased.

43. To predict school performance accurately, an aptitude test must mirror any gender or racial bias in school teaching and testing. • A study by Steele, Spencer, and Aronson in 2002 observed a self-fulfilling effect of negative racial stereotypes in black students’ verbal aptitude scores.

44. Their scores were lower when they took tests under conditions designed to make black students feel threatened. This is known as stereotype threat. • It may also explain why women score higher on math tests when there are no male test-takers in the group.