Ch.10: Evolution and Individual Differences

PSYCH 304

Which country embraced Darwinian evolutionary theory most enthusiastically, eventually shifting the center of psychological research there?

The United States.

Who was the first person to postulate a specific mechanism for evolution, known as the inheritance of acquired characteristics?

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck.

According to Lamarck, what causes structural changes in plants and animals that are then passed to offspring?

Environmental changes.

Who applied evolutionary principles not just to biology, but to the human mind and whole societies?

Herbert Spencer.

How did Herbert Spencer define intelligence?

The number of associations an organism can make based on the complexity of its nervous system.

The principle that behavior followed by a pleasurable event increases and that followed by a painful event decreases is the _.

Spencer-Bain principle.

Herbert Spencer's synthesis of evolutionary theory and the principle of contiguity is called _.

Evolutionary associationism.

What term did Herbert Spencer introduce in 1852 that was later adopted by Charles Darwin?

Survival of the fittest.

The application of the 'survival of the fittest' concept to human social competition and laissez-faire government is known as _.

Social Darwinism.

How did Spencer's view of evolution's purpose differ from Darwin's view?

Spencer believed evolution had a purpose (progress toward perfection), while Darwin believed it had no ultimate direction or goal.

What was the name of the ship on which Charles Darwin served as a naturalist for five years?

HMS Beagle.

Whose essay on population provided Darwin with the principle that more offspring are born than can survive on a limited food supply?

Thomas Malthus.

Who sent Darwin a letter in 1858 describing a theory of evolution almost identical to his own?

Alfred Russell Wallace.

How does Darwin define 'fitness' in an evolutionary context?

An organism's ability to survive and reproduce.

In 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals', Darwin argued that human emotions are remnants of _.

Animal emotions once necessary for survival.

Which modern field attempts to explain social behavior, such as altruism or mate selection, in terms of perpetuating one’s genes?

Evolutionary psychology (or sociobiology).

Who is considered the founder of the eugenics movement and the first to systematically measure individual differences?

Sir Francis Galton.

Galton assumed that intelligence was primarily a matter of _ because knowledge enters the mind through this medium.

Sensory acuity.

Concept: Eugenics

Definition: The use of selective breeding to increase the general intelligence or desirable traits of a population.

Galton's 1874 study using questionnaires to investigate the backgrounds of scientists was the first to formalize the _ controversy.

Nature-nurture.

What did Galton discover about the distribution of mental imagery ability in the general population?

It is essentially normally distributed, ranging from detailed imagery to none at all.

Galton's 'Anthropometric Laboratory' in 1884 was designed to measure 9,337 humans to catalog their _.

Individual differences (or sensory/physical traits).

What statistical phenomenon did Galton discover when correlating the heights of parents and children?

Regression toward the mean.

Who devised the mathematical formula for the coefficient of correlation ($r$) based on Galton’s work?

Karl Pearson.

Which measure of central tendency did Galton prefer because it was less influenced by extreme scores than the mean?

The median.

Who was the American psychologist, a student of both Wundt and Galton, who first coined the term 'mental test'?

James McKeen Cattell.

What did Clark Wissler's research reveal about the validity of Cattell's sensory-based mental tests?

The tests had very low intercorrelations and did not predict academic success.

What is the primary difference between a 'nomothetic' and an 'idiographic' approach to psychology?

Nomothetic looks for general/common laws; idiographic looks for individual differences.

Alfred Binet's early work on hypnotism was discredited because the effects he observed were actually due to _.

Suggestion (subjects knowing what was expected).

How did Alfred Binet's 'Individual Psychology' differ from the work of Galton and Cattell?

Binet focused on higher mental processes (cognitive) rather than sensory acuity.

The 1905 Binet-Simon scale was originally commissioned by the French government to identify _.

Children with learning difficulties who needed special education.

The 1908 revision of the Binet-Simon scale introduced the method of assigning tests to specific _ levels.

Age.

Who first suggested the calculation of an Intelligence Quotient by dividing mental age by chronological age?

William Stern.

What is the standard formula for IQ as popularized by Terman and Stern?

$IQ = \frac{MA}{CA} \times 100$

What was Alfred Binet's stance on using a single number (IQ) to represent intelligence?

He opposed it, believing intelligence was too complex to be captured by a single number.

What term did Binet use for exercises designed to improve a child's attention, discipline, and 'will' to learn?

Mental orthopedics.

Who developed factor analysis and proposed a two-factor theory of intelligence involving $g$ and $s$?

Charles Spearman.

In Spearman's theory, what does 'g' represent?

General intelligence, an overriding inherited factor.

What was the major controversy surrounding the psychologist Sir Cyril Burt after his death?

He was accused of fabricating or falsifying data in his twin studies on intelligence.

Who translated the Binet-Simon scale into English and conducted the 'Kallikak' family study?

Henry Herbert Goddard.

What fictional name did Goddard use to represent the 'good' and 'bad' branches of a family's ancestry?

Kallikak.

What term did Goddard coin to describe 'high-grade defectives' with a mental age of approximately 9?

Moron.

What was the primary impact of Goddard’s testing of immigrants at Ellis Island?

A massive increase in the rate of deportations for those labeled 'mentally defective'.

Who developed the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale and conducted a famous longitudinal study of gifted children?

Lewis Madison Terman.

In Terman's longitudinal study of 'Termites', what happened to the gifted children as they reached adulthood?

They remained successful, healthy, and high-achieving, debunking the 'early ripe, early rot' myth.

Who challenged the 'variability hypothesis' and showed that menstruation did not impair women's cognitive performance?

Leta Stetter Hollingworth.

Leta Stetter Hollingworth argued that women were underrepresented in prominent positions due to _ rather than intellectual inferiority.

Social roles and domestic tasks.

Who led the American army's psychological testing program during World War I?

Robert Yerkes.

What was the difference between the Army Alpha and Army Beta tests?

Alpha was for literate recruits; Beta was for illiterate or non-English speaking recruits.

Robert Yerkes contributed to testing by moving away from 'mental age' in favor of a _ scoring method.

Point-scale.

The 1994 book 'The Bell Curve' by Herrnstein and Murray reignited controversy by suggesting that intelligence is largely _.

Inherited (heritable).

Who proposed that intelligence consists of 120 (and later more) discrete abilities in a 'Structure of Intellect' model?

Joy Paul Guilford.

Who developed the WAIS and WISC scales, using 'deviation IQ' rather than a mental age ratio?

David Wechsler.

How does 'inclusive fitness' differ from Darwin's original definition of 'fitness'?

It focuses on the perpetuation of one's genes (including via kin) rather than just the individual's own offspring.

Which psychologist is famous for his 'watchdog' role in psychological methods and for critiquing the use of 'constructs' like intelligence?

Paul Meehl.

What is 'Cronbach’s alpha'?

A statistical measure of the relationship between an item and a scale (reliability).

Louis Thurstone identified seven _ that he believed were more useful than a single 'g' factor.

Primary mental abilities.

What did Binet find regarding the relationship between head measurements (craniometry) and intelligence?

The differences were so small and unreliable that he abandoned the method.

In Spencer's view, how are instincts formed?

As habits that were conducive to survival for preceding generations and then inherited.

What was the title of Darwin’s 1859 book that revolutionized biology and psychology?

On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

Who was known as 'Darwin’s Bulldog' for his fierce public defense of evolutionary theory?

Thomas Henry Huxley.

Which US industrialist famously used Social Darwinism to justify business monopolies as 'merely the working-out of a law of nature'?

John D. Rockefeller.

Galton used his 'word-association test' to explore _ strata of mental operations below the level of consciousness.

Deep (or unconscious).

What was the title of Galton's 1869 book that argued 'eminent' individuals have 'eminent' offspring?

Hereditary Genius.

Why did Binet and Henri's initial 'Individual Psychology' project fail to produce a quick practical test?

It took too many hours to administer and interpret the results.

The 1911 revision of the Binet-Simon scale added how much to the score for each extra test passed beyond the age norm?

One-fifth of a year.

Spearman's 'two-factor theory' includes 's' factors, which refer to _ abilities.

Specific.

Goddard's recommendation for dealing with 'feebleminded' individuals included segregation and _.

Sterilization.

What did Walter Lippmann criticize about Terman's intelligence testing claims?

The pretentiousness of classifying a human's fitness for life in fifty minutes.

Leta Stetter Hollingworth's 1926 book 'Gifted Children' became the standard text for identifying and educating _.

Intellectually superior children.

How did Wechsler define the average IQ score on his tests?

He set the average score at 100 based on standard deviations from the group mean.

According to the text, what is the 'legacy of Darwin' found in every modern psychology student's statistics class?

Correlational techniques and analysis of variance ($F$ for Fisher).

What did Terman conclude about the relationship between IQ and morality?

He believed morality was a function of intelligence and that 'stupid' people could not be moral.

Which psychologist studied his two daughters, Alice and Madeleine, to investigate cognitive development before Piaget?

Alfred Binet.

Which researcher’s work focused on how experience and environment impacted development and is known for psychometric validity?

Anne Anastasi.

Lamarck's theory of evolution is often summarized by the phrase: 'Inheritance of _ characteristics.'

Acquired.

In the context of evolution, what determines which traits are 'adaptive'?

The specific environment in which the organism lives.

What was Galton’s primary mission when he became aware of Darwin’s theory?

To measure and catalog important individual differences among people.

Who was the first person to use the questionnaire method in psychology?

Sir Francis Galton.

What did Goddard observe about the children at the Vineland Training School that supported his belief in heredity?

They often had brothers and sisters who were also labeled 'feebleminded'.

What was the average IQ of the group of gifted children in Terman’s study?

151

Yerkes's work in animal psychology focused primarily on which group of animals after World War I?

Apes.

Spearman’s 'g' factor was believed to be determined almost exclusively by _.

Inheritance (or heredity).

What was the significance of the year 4004 B.C. in the debate against Darwin?

It was the date of creation estimated by Archbishop Ussher based on Biblical study.

What did Binet discover regarding the ability of 5-year-olds to pass tests meant for 4-year-olds in his 1908 scale?

It allowed for the determination of whether a child was performing above or below their chronological age norm.

Galton discovered that his respondees often gave the same response to word-association stimuli on different occasions, suggesting mental _.

Constancy.

Cattell offered his children $1,000 if they would marry the child of a _.

College professor.

What percentage of white males tested in the Army during WWI had a 'mental age' of 13 or lower according to Goddard's evaluation?

About half (50 percent).