Is this Intelligence?

2. Is this Intelligence?

3. Intelligence An individual’s ability to understand complex ideas, to adapt effectively to the environment, to learn from experience, to engage in various forms of reasoning, and to overcome obstacles through mental effort.

4. Intelligence • g Factor • Spearman’s term for a general intellectual ability that underlies all mental operations to some degree • People who are bright in one area tend to be bright in others • s factor • Specific intellectual abilities • Spearman’s influence seen in intelligence tests such as Stanford-Binet that yield one IQ score to indicate the level of general intelligence

5. Components of Intelligence • Working Memory • Working memory can predict “g” • Some equate working memory with “g” • Speed of Processing • Not always the best predictor in anomalous individuals • Other components • Inhibition • attention

6. Intelligence • Primary Mental Abilities • Thurstone’s seven relatively distinct capabilities that singly or in combination are involved in all intellectual activities • Verbal comprehension • Numerical ability • Spatial relations • Perceptual speed • Word fluency • Memory • Reasoning • All intellectual activities involve one or more of these areas • Believes a single IQ score obscures more than it reveals • Suggests a profile indicating strength and weak areas

7. Howard Gardner’s EightFrames of Mind

8. Gardner’s Study’s of Intelligence • Developed theory by studying patients with different types of brain damage affecting some forms of intelligence but left others intact • Studied savant syndrome • A combination of mental retardation and unusual talent and abilities • Believes all forms of intelligence are equally important • Cultures assign varying degrees of importance to types of intelligence • Various abilities and skills have been valued differently in other cultures and periods of history • No empiric evidence supports this general theory

9. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

10. Sternberg • Argues that IQ-test performance and real-world success are based on two different types of knowledge: • Formal Academic Knowledge • Knowledge acquired in school • Tacit Knowledge • Action oriented and acquired without direct help from others • Educators use teaching methods designed to tap into all three types of intelligence • Effective with low achievers in school • Teachers emphasize the practical relevance of formal academic knowledge and help students apply it to real-world problems

11. Measuring Intelligence • Binet-Simon Test • The first IQ test • Developed to aid schools in France • Used a scored called mental age • Based on number of items a child got right compared with the number right of various ages • If number right equaled the average of 8 year olds was assigned the mental age of 8 regardless of chronological age

12. Measuring Intelligence • Stern devised Intelligence quotient • A simple formula for calculating an index of intelligence • Terman perfected Intelligence quotient and published Binet-Simon Scale with items adapted for American children • Norms • Standards based on the range of test scores of a large group of people who are selected to provide the bases of comparison for those who take the test later • Intelligence Quotient (IQ) • An index of intelligence, originally derived by dividing mental age by chronological age and then multiplying by 100, but now derived by comparing an individual’s score with the scores of others of the same age.

13. The Range of Intelligence • Bell Curve AKA normal curve • The majority of scores cluster around the mean • The further away from the mean score the fewer there are • Less than 2% are classified as genius or mentally retarded

15. Mental Deficiencies Subnormal intelligence reflected by an IQ below 70 and by adaptive functioning severely deficient for one’s age. (Old terminology) • Mildly retarded: IQ 55-70 • Moderately retarded: IQ 40-55 • Severely retarded: IQ 25-40 • Profoundly retarded: IQ below 25 • Inclusion or Mainstreaming • Educating mentally challenged students in regular rather than special schools • Placing them in regular classes for part of the day • Or having special classrooms in regular schools • Rely heavily on behavior modification techniques

16. The IQ Controversy By what degree can variations in intelligence be accounted for by genetics, biology, and inheritance? • Nature-Nurture controversy • The debate over whether intelligence and other traits are primarily the result of heredity or environment • Sir Francis Galton initiated the debate and concluded intelligence was inherited • Environmentalists insist that intelligence is influenced primarily by one’s environment • The results of nurturing by parents, teachers, friends, etc.

17. Nature-Nurture Controversy • Heritability • An index of the degree to which a characteristic is estimated to be influence by heredity • some research using the adoption study method supports that genes/heritability influence IQ scores

18. Nature-Nurture Controversy • Enriched Environment • IQ scores can be modified with an enriched environment • The earlier children are adopted, the higher their IQ’s • Infants and children of low IQ, low income mothers who attend education programs scored higher on IQ tests. • Advantages persist into adulthood

19. Nature-Nurture Controversy Race and IQ • Historically Blacks score about 15 points lower than whites on IQ tests • 1969 Jensen attributed the IQ gap to genetic differences and that environment would not change test scores • Mid 1990s Hernstein & Murray - lower IQ scores are • 60% genetic and 40% environmental • due to social ills of modern society • Poverty, welfare dependency, crime, and illegitimacy

20. Ramey and others suggest that racial differences are more likely due to • Results of poverty and lack of access to educational opportunities • Dynamic assessment supports environmental effects on IQ • Examinees are taught the goal and format of each IQ subtest before testing • Children from middle class already have exposure to these concepts and thus demonstrate competency • Stereotype threat • Minority individuals assume inferiority and testing becomes self-fulfilling prophecy as they disengage

21. Gender Differences • Girls from 18 months on have a larger vocabulary • 17 year olds from 1971-1992 on the National Association of Ed. Progress (NAEP) • Females outperformed males in reading and writing • Males out performed females in science and math • Males were nearer the bottom in writing and reading comprehension • Hormonal differences may contribute to boys higher math scores

22. Social differences, a greater contributor to math score differences • Parental expectations – boys are expected to do better in math • Boys who do well at math are considered ‘talented’ • Girls who do well at math are considered ‘hard workers’ • Parent’s beliefs about their children’s talents by age 6 predict the child’s belief about their own abilities at age 17 • This belief is smaller today than in previous years • Spatial tasks - Males tend to perform better on some than females. • Spatial abilities may be enhanced by prenatal exposure to androgen • High blood levels of testosterone are associated with good performance on spatial tasks

23. Creativity • The ability to produce original, appropriate, and valuable ideas and/or solutions to problems. • Snow, genuine creativity “is an accomplishment born of intensive study, long reflection, persistence, and interest. • A weak to moderate correlation between creativity and IQ • High intelligence does not necessarily mean high creativity

24. Creativity • Genuine creativity rarely appears in sudden flashes • Four stages in creative problem-solving process • Preparation–searching for information to help solve the problem • Incubation-letting the problem “sit” while the relevant information is digested • Illumination-being suddenly struck by the right solution • Translation-transforming the insight into useful action

25. Divergent Thinking The ability to produce multiple ideas, answers, or solutions to a problem for which there is no agreed-on solution • Is novel, original, and involves the synthesis of an unusual association of ideas; • Is flexible, switching quickly and smoothly from one stream of thought or set of ideas to another; • It requires fluency, the ability to formulate an abundance of ideas. • High degree of divergent thinking demonstrated by creative thinkers • Both brain hemispheres highly active during creative thinking

26. Creativity • Convergent Thinking • The type of mental activity measured by IQ and achievement tests • Consists of solving precisely defined, logical problems for which there is a known correct answer • Demonstrated by greater activity in the left frontal cortex

27. Creativity Highly creative thinking is associated with activity in both hemispheres, but with significantly higher levels in the right hemisphere (a). During thinking that is not creative (b ) activity is largely restricted to the left hemisphere.

28. Creativity • Measuring individual differences in creativity • Tests emphasize original approaches to arriving at solutions for open ended problems or for producing artistic works • Unusual Uses Test • Asks respondents to name as many uses as possible for an ordinary object (such as a brick) • Consequences Test • Asks test takers to list as many consequences as they can that would be likely to follow some basic change in the world (gravity being reduced by 50%) • Remote Associations Test • The essences of creativity is the thinker’s ability to fit together ideas that to the noncreative thinker might appear remote or unrelated

29. Creativity • Exceptionally creative individuals • Have a great deal of expertise in a specific area build up by years of discipline and practice • Open to new experiences and ideas – even those that seem odd to others • Inherently curious and inquisitive • Independent thinkers less influenced by the ideas of others • More likely to be motivated by the anticipation, excitement, and enjoyment of their work than by a desire to please others. • Creative endeavor requires hard work and persistence in the face of failure • Albert Einstein published 248 papers on theory of relativity • Mozart created 609 musical compositions before death at 35 years of age.

30. The upper 5 %

31. Who are the Gifted and Talented

32. TYPE I – THE SUCCESSFUL • 90% of identified gifted students • Have learned the system. • Many believe they will "make it on their own." • They tend to go through the motions of schooling. • May underachieve in college and later adulthood.

33. TYPE II – THE CHALLENGING • Type II's are the divergently gifted. • Systems fail to identify Type II gifted children • Possess a high degree of creativity • Feel frustrated because the school system has not affirmed their talents and abilities. • Struggle with self esteem • Poor SOCIAL COGNITION • Type II's may be "at risk" • eventual dropouts - for drug addiction or delinquent behavior- if appropriate interventions are not made by junior high.

34. Type III - The Underground • Known as "the underground gifted.“ • Generally, want to hide their giftedness. • Sometimes it is not acceptable to stand out in one’s culture. • In general, are gifted girls • Sometimes males dominate • Need Support for transition.

35. Type IV- The Dropouts • Type IV gifted students are angry. • have interests that lie outside the realm of the regular school curriculum • Were identified very late, perhaps not until high school. • School has failed them

36. Type V - The Double-Labeled • Gifted children who are physically or emotionally handicapped in some way, or who have learning disabilities. • The vast majority of schools do not identify these children, • Do not exhibit behaviors that schools look for in the gifted.. • These children may deny that they are having difficulty • These students are ignored

37. Type VI The Autonomous Learner • Few gifted children demonstrate this style at a very early age although parents may see evidence of the style at home. • Like the Type I's, these students have learned to work effectively in the school system. • They have learned to use the system to create new opportunities for themselves. They do not work for the system; they make the system work for them. • They are well respected by adults and peers and frequently serve in some leadership capacity within their school or community. • Type VI students are independent and self-directed. They feel secure designing their own educational and personal goals.

38. Is intelligence culturally dependant? • What constitutes “intelligence” in other cultures? • Is one kind of “intelligence” better than another? • Can we change “intelligence”? • Do our tests really measure “intelligence”? • How can we do it better?