Intelligence Chapter 8

1. IntelligenceChapter 8

2. Intelligence is the overall capacity of an individual to act purposefully, think rationally, and deal effectively with the environment What Is Intelligence?

3. A key issue is whether there is one intelligence or many Theories of Intelligence: One Ability or Many

4. Wechsler’s Theory • Wechsler argued that intelligence tests involving spatial relations and verbal comprehension reveal little about someone’s overall capacity to deal with the world • In his view, intelligence is not mathematical functioning or a problem-solving ability, but rather the broad ability to deal with the world

5. Factor Theories • Factor theories use factor analysis to explore what makes up intelligence • Factor analysis is a statistical procedure designed to discover the independent elements (factors) in a set of data • With regard to intelligence, factor analysis attempts to find clusters of items that measure common abilities

6. Spearman used factor analysis to show that intelligence consists of two parts A general factor (g) affecting all tasks Specific factors associated with particular tasks Spearman’s theory is called the two-factor theory of intelligence Factor Theories

7. Thurstone proposes seven basic factors representing unique abilities: Verbal comprehension Word fluency Number facility Spatial Visualization Associative memory Perceptual speed Reasoning Factor Theories

8. Jensen’s Two-Level Theory • Jensen suggests that intelligence consists of associative and cognitive abilities • Associative abilities enable people to connect stimuli and events • Cognitive abilities involve reasoning and problem solving

9. Vygotsky saw intellectual development as occurring in a social context that includes communication with the self and others Vygotsky’s View

10. Gardner proposed that there are multiple types of intelligence and traditional intelligence tests do not measure them Gardner defines intelligence as an ability to solve a problem or create a product within a specific cultural setting Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

11. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • Sternberg asserts that a solid theory of intelligence must focus on successful intelligence • The ability to adapt, shape, and select environments to accomplish one’s goals and those of society

12. Sternberg has proposed a triarchic theory in which intelligence has three dimensions: The analytic dimension involves the ability to use intelligence for problem solving in specific situations where there is only one right answer Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory

13. Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory • The practical dimension has to do with a person’s application of experience in the external world and in everyday tasks • The creative dimension describes the mental mechanisms underlying what are commonly considered intelligent behaviours

14. Golman claims that one’s emotional life can matter much more than one’s intellectual abilities Emotional intelligence includes self-awareness, impulse control, persistence, ability to recognize emotions in others, and social agility Emotions: A Different Kind of Intelligence?

15. A Bit of History • Binet was commissioned to identify children suffering from mental retardation • Binet coined the term mental age to describe the level at which a child is functioning cognitively • Binet and Simon used everyday tasks, such as counting and naming objects, to determine mental age

16. A test is a standardized device for examining a person’s response to specific stimuli, usually questions or problems An elaborate set of guidelines and procedures are used to be sure test questions are developed appropriately Developing an Intelligence Test

17. Standardization • Standardization is the process of developing uniform procedures for administering and scoring a test, and establishing norms • Norms are scores and percentile ranks of a representative sample of individuals for whom the test is designed

18. Standardization • A representative sample matches the population on key variables such as socioeconomic status and age

19. The Normal Curve • On most tests, scores are normally distributed • A normal curve is a bell-shaped graphic representation of data that shows the percentage of the population that falls under each part of the curve

20. Figure 8.2 A Normal Distribution

21. A standard score expresses an individual’s position relative to other test takers A percentile score indicates what percentage of the test population obtained a lower score Scores

22. Intelligence Quotients • In the early 20th century, intelligence was represented by a person’s mental age divided by the person’s chronological age and the result was multiplied by 100 • A problem with the formula is that young children’s answers to test items vary far more than do older children or adults

23. Intelligence Quotients • To simplify measures, deviation IQ is used • Deviation IQ is a standard IQ score whose mean and standard deviation remain constant for all ages

24. Reliability • Reliability is a test’s ability to yield very similar test scores for the same individual over repeated testings • Test-retest reliability involves administering the same test to the same person on two or more occasions • Alternate-form reliability involves using two versions of the same test

25. Split-half reliability involves dividing a test into two parts, and comparing the scores from the two Standard error of measurement is the number of points by which a score varies because of imperfect reliability Reliability

26. Validity • Validity is the ability of a test to measure only what it is supposed to measure, and predict only what it is supposed to predict • Content validity is a test’s ability to measure the knowledge or behavior it is intended to measure

27. Predictive validity is the ability of a test to predict future behavior or performance Face validity is the extent to which a test’s appropriateness can be gauged by examining its items Validity

28. Construct validity is the extent to which a test actually does measure the quality or trait is is supposed to measure Validity

29. Criticisms of Intelligence Test Validity • There is no way to measure intelligence because there is no agreed upon definition of intelligence • Test items refer to learned information and reflect quality of schooling, not intelligence • Administration of intelligence tests in school settings may adversely affect test scores

30. Some people are test wise Test taker’s scores depend on motivation to succeed Society creates the correlation between academic success and intelligence Criticisms of Intelligence Test Validity

31. The Stanford-Binet is traditionally a good predictor of academic performance The test yields one overall IQ score and four major subscale scores Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

32. Figure 8.3 The Modern Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

33. Wechsler Scales • The Wechsler is a set of tests for various age groups • WPPSI-R (Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Revised): Ages 4 to 6 1/2 • WISC-R (for Children): Ages 6 to 16 • WAIS-III (for Adults)

34. Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) • The K-ABC uses tasks that tap the experiences of all individuals, regardless of background • The K-ABC consists of mental processing ability (sequential processing, simultaneous processing, and a composite of the two) and achievement scales

35. The Woodcock-Johnson-III • The Woodcock-Johnson consists of a number of subparts • It can be used across the lifespan and measures domain-specific skills and related cognitive abilities, and traditional aptitude/achievement discrepancies

36. A major argument against IQ testing is that the tests are culturally biased There is as great a variability between individuals as between groups Cultural Biases?

37. Environmental and Genetic Impact • Efforts to separate the contribution of genetics to intelligence from the effects of environment require sophisticated research and statistical techniques • Heritability is the genetically determined proportion of a trait in a population

38. Even highly heritable traits (such as height) can still be modified by the environment Estimates of the heritability of intelligence vary widely Environment and Genetics

39. Several researchers have studied adopted children The goal in studying adopted children is to see if their IQ scores are more like the adoptive parents, or biological relatives Environment and Genetics

40. As time passes, the correlation between the IQ of adopted children and their adoptive parents decreases Over time, the correlation of an adopted child’s IQ with the child’s biological parents increases Environment and Genetics

41. Intelligent human behavior can be seen as an adaptation whose purpose is to increase the chances for reproduction Gould asserts that the evolutionary view has failed to appreciate accidental genetic changes due to catastrophic events Evolution and Intelligence

42. Tooby and Cosmides argue that adaptation is affected by both random and purposive events Evolution and Intelligence

43. “The Bell Curve” • The 1994 book, The Bell Curve, by Hernstein and Murray, stirred up a whirlpool of controversy • The Bell Curve argues IQ is largely genetically-determined, and minority groups are trapped in an IQ-lowering environment from which they are unlikely to emerge

44. Hout presents evidence that social factors are the main determinants of social inequality Hall says there is no evidence of a genetically determined race gap in cognitive test scores “The Bell Curve”

45. Stability of Intelligence Test Scores • The IQ scores of infants do not correlate well with their scores when they are school age • Correlations of IQ scores of school-age children and adults also change, sometimes substantially • To a certain extent, infant IQ can predict school-age IQ

46. Some aspects of IQ scores decrease with age more than others People who continue their education throughout their lives show less decline with age Stability of Intelligence Test Scores

47. Are There Gender Differences? • The old consensus about gender differences is at least exaggerated, if not wrong • Hyde has investigated the results of studies on sex differences in a variety of domains

48. Hyde and Linn found only small gender differences The differences also exist in certain special populations Among the brightest mathematics students, boys outscore girls Boys also tend to take more math courses Gender Differences?

49. Defining who is gifted and what is gifted behaviour is a complicated task Giftedness often involves creative talents that are not addressed with IQ tests The gifted often show their abilities in one domain, but not in others Giftedness

50. Mental Retardation • The American Association of Mental Retardation defines mental retardation as significantly sub-average intellectual functioning