Chapter 9: Intelligence and Creativity

Psychometric Approach

Research tradition that spawned the development of standardized tests of intelligence

Fluid Intelligence

The ability to use your mind actively to solve novel problems such as recognizing relationships among geometric figures

Crystallized Intelligence

The use of knowledge acquired through schooling and other life experiences

Factor Analysis

A statistical technique in which test items are correlated to identify groups of items that correlate highly with each other but not with other groups of items

Mental Age (MA)

The level of age-graded problems that the child is able to solve

Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

To diagnose development or intellectual deficiencies in young children; measures fluid reasoning, knowledge, quantitative, visual-spatial, and working memory

Intelligence Quotient (IQ)

MA divided by CA and multiplied by 100 (IQ= MA/CA x 100)

Test norms

Standards of normal performance expressed as average scores and the range of scores around the average

Wechsler Scales

David Wechsler developed a set of intelligence test

Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-IV) is for children between 3-8

Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-V) is for children between 6-16

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-IV) is used for adults

Measures vocabulary, general knowledge, arithmetic reasoning, ability to assemble puzzles, solve mazes, reproduce shapes with blocks, and rearrange pictures to tell a story

Normal Distribution

Scores on the Stanford-Binet and Wechsler Scales form a symmetrical, bell-shaped spread around the average score of 100

Standard Deviation

A measure of how tightly the scores are clustered around the mean score

Savant Syndrome

The phenomenon in which extraordinary talent in a particular area is displayed by a person otherwise intellectually challenged

Prodigies

People endowed with one or more extraordinary abilities, similarly suggest that their skills are related to their exceptional working memory abilities as well as their elevated attention to detail and not to exceptional intelligence

Triarchic Theory of Intelligence

Emphasizes three components that jointly contribute to intelligent behavior: practical, creative, and analytic intelligences

Practical Component (first kind of intelligence of the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence)

Intelligent behavior varies from one sociocultural context to another

Creative Component (Second kind of intelligence of the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence)

When a person first encounters a new task their intelligent is not the same as what it was after extensive experience with that task

Automatization

Increased efficiency of information processing with practice

Culture Bias

Giving people of two different cultural groups an intelligence test whose items are familiar to one group and novel to the other

Analytic Component (Is the third kind of intelligence of the Triarchic Theory of Intelligence)

Focuses of the information-processing skills that produce answers to questions in traditional intelligence tests

Successful Intelligence

Establish and achieve reasonable goals consistent with your skills and circumstances

Optimize your strengths and minimize weaknesses

Adapt to the environment through a combination of selecting a good environment and making modifications to yourself or the environment to increase the fit

Use all three components of intelligence-analytic, creative, and practical

Creativity

The ability to produce novel responses appropriate in context and valued by others

Convergent Thinking

IQ test measure convergent thinking; “converging” on the best answer to a problem

Divergent Thinking

Coming up with a variety of ideas or solutions to a problem when there is no single correct answer

Ideational Fluency

Sheer number of different (including novel) ideas that a person can generate

Investment Theory

People’s thoughts, beliefs, and perceptions about themselves and their situation are the main factors that influence their choices, activity levels, and persistence

Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID)

The best-known and most widely used infant test; is used for infants and toddlers ages 1 month to 42 months, collects information on social-emotional skills and adaptive behavior from parents

Motor Scale: measure the infant’s ability to do such things as grasp a cube and throw a ball

Cognitive Scale: assesses how the young child thinks and reacts to various typical events such as reaching for a desirable object, searching for a hidden toy, and following directions

Language Scale: rates the child’s preverbal communication and budding vocabulary skills

General Adaptive Composite (GAC)

Summarize how well or how poorly the infant performs in comparison with a large norm group of infants and toddlers the same age

Child Poverty

Involves more than one parent with a low income and low levels of meeting children’s basic needs

Flynn Effect

A phenomenon where the average IQ scores have increased in all countries

Dysrationalia

The inability to think and behave rationally despite having adequate intelligence

Terminal Drop

Diseases contribute to a rapid decline in intellectual abilities within a few years of death

Wisdom

A constellation of rich factual knowledge about life combined with procedural knowledge such as strategies for giving advice and handling conflicts

Cumulative-deficit Hypothesis

Describe how impoverished environments inhibit intellectual growth and how these negative effects accumulate over time

Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment Inventory (HOME)

A widely used assessment of the intellectual stimulation of the home environment

Predict the IQs of black and white children at age 3. It continues to predict IQ scores between ages 3-6

Stereotype Threat

Fear that they will be judged to have a qualities associated with negative stereotypes of blacks

Intellectual Disability

A significant below-average intellectual functioning with limitations in areas of adaptive behavior such as self-care and social skills

Giftedness

Involves having a high IQ or showing special abilities in areas valued in society