Chapter 10: Intelligence Practice

How does the existence of savant syndrome support Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences?

People with savant syndrome have limited mental ability overall but possess one or more exceptional skills. According to Howard Gardner, this suggests that our abilities come in separate packages rather than being fully expressed by one general intelligence that encompasses all of our talents.

How does the Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory of intelligence integrate the idea of having general intelligence as well as specific abilities?

Intelligence is composed of both a broad ability factor as well as other specific abilities, such as reading ability, memory capacity, and processing speed.

What did Binet hope to achieve by establishing a child’s mental age?

Binet hoped that determining the child’s mental age (the age that typically corresponds to a certain level of performance) would help identify appropriate school placements.

What is the IQ score of a 4-year-old with a mental age of 5?

125 (5/4 × 100 = 125)

An employer with a pool of applicants for a single available position is interested in testing each applicant’s potential. To determine that, she should use an _____ (achievement/aptitude) test. That same employer wishing to test the effectiveness of a new, on-the-job training program would be wise to use an (achievement/aptitude) test

aptitude; achievement.

What are the three criteria that a psychological test must meet in order to be widely accepted? Explain

A psychological test must be standardized (pretested on a representative sample of people), reliable (yielding consistent results), and valid (measuring and predicting what it is supposed to).

Correlation coefficients were used in this section. Here’s a quick review: Correlations do not indicate cause-effect, but they do tell us whether two things are associated in some way.

A correlation of −1.00 represents perfect ______ (agreement/disagreement) between two sets of scores: As one

score goes up, the other score goes _____ (up/down). A correlation of _____ represents no association. The highest correlation, +1.00, represents perfect ______ (agreement/disagreement): As the first score goes up, the other score goes ____ (up/down).

disagreement; down; zero; agreement; up

Researcher A wants to study how intelligence changes over the life span. Researcher B wants to study the intelligence of people who are now at various life stages. Which researcher should use the cross-sectional method, and which the longitudinal method?

Researcher A should develop a longitudinal study to examine how intelligence changes in the same people over the life span. Researcher B should develop a cross-sectional study to examine the intelligence of people now at various life stages.

A check on your understanding of heritability: If environments become more equal, the heritability of intelligence will

a. increase.

b. decrease.

c. be unchanged.

increase (Heritability—variation explained by genetic influences—will

increase as environmental variation decreases.)

The heritability of intelligence scores will be greater in a society marked by equal opportunity than in a society of peasants and aristocrats. Why?

Perfectly equal opportunity would create 100 percent heritability, because genes alone would account for any human differences

What is the difference between a test that is culturally biased and a test that is scientifically biased?

A test may be culturally “biased” (unfair) if higher scores are achieved by those with certain cultural experiences. That same test is not scientifically biased as long as it has predictive validity—if it predicts what it is supposed to predict. For example, the SAT may favor those with experience in the U.S. school system, but it does still accurately predict U.S. college success.

What psychological principle may help explain why women tend to score higher on math tests when none of their fellow test-takers are men?

stereotype threat.