PSYCH 105 - Chapter 10

achievement test

How much you have learned (School tests)

aptitude test

How good you are at learning (IQ tests)

Francis Galton

invented the ideas of correlation, regression, percentile test scores and the nature-nurture debate. One of the first people to study intelligence, he measured things like reaction speed, skull size, etc. in 12,000 people and concluded that intelligence "runs in families" and therefore must be largely inherited. Systematically applied Darwinism theory to human relations, believing that various desirable human qualities were also hereditary ones, although Darwinism disagreed. Considered the "Father of Eugenics."

Alfred Binet

Used objective assessment methods, kids that need extra help should be with their peers.

Mental Age

Coined by William Stern - How their mind is in relation to their physical body

Ratio IQ

a statistic obtained by dividing a person's mental age by the person's physical age and then multiplying the quotient by 100 (works well with children)

Deviation IQ

a statistic obtained by dividing a person's test score by the average test score of people in the same age group and then multiplying the quotient by 100

Stanford-Binet Test

the widely used American revision of Binet's original intelligence test

Charles Spearman

Administered large batteries of tests (discrimination colours, pitch, weight) then correlated them with school performance.

g factor (general intelligence)

General cognitive abilities

positive manifold

Found positive correlations between scores and test performance (if a kid gets an a+ in algebra, performs well in physics and other courses)

S factors (specific intelligences)

Things unique to the test

Two-factor theory of intelligence

Spearman's theory suggesting that a person's performance on a test is due to a combination of general cognitive ability and specific abilities that are uniques to the test

Louis Thurstone

Found that correlation between tests were much stronger when they have something in common

Primary Mental Abilities

Memory, Reasoning, Verbal Skill

Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Statistical technique showed that correlations between scores on different tests are best described by a three-level hierarchy

Three-level hierarchy of intelligence

A general ability like Spearman's (g) at the top; middle level abilities (m) like Thurstone's groups; specific (s) bottom level abilities like Spearman's theory

Approaches to find middle-level intelligence abilities

Data Based - connects intelligence test performance to clusters

Theory Based - broadly surveys human abilities and then determines which intelligence tests measure (or fail to measure)

Problem with data-based approach for middle-level cognitive abilities

Misses Emotional Intelligence. Data-based approach is not reflective of middle-level abilities valued in cultures where intelligence tests are not common

John Carrol 8 Middle level abilities

Memory and Learning

Visual Perception

Auditory Perception

Retrieval Ability

Processing Speed

Cognitive Speediness

Crystallized Intelligence

Fluid Intelligence

crystallized intelligence

Ability to retain and use the knowledge that was acquired through experience; tests vocabulary and factual information

Fluid intelligence

Ability to solve and reason novel problems; ability to see abstract relationships and draw logical inferences

Prefrontal cortex role in intelligence

Distinct Brain Network, damage to this area impairs fluid intelligence more than crystallized intelligence

Sternberg's three intelligences and definitions for each

Analytic Intelligence (problem Solving): academically oriented abilities

Creative Intelligence (novel solutions): Ability to put forward new ideas

Practical Intelligence (everyday): skill in getting around the world; street smarts

emotional intelligence

the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)

the WAIS is the most widely used intelligence test; contains verbal and performance (nonverbal) subtests

VCI (Verbal Comprehension Index)

measure of verbal related activity; Vocabulary, Information, Similarities

WMI (Working Memory Index)

Measure of verbal related activity; Digit Span, Arithmetic

PRI (Perceptual Reasoning Index)

Performance IQ; Block Design, Matrix Reasoning, visual puzzles

PSI (Processing Speed Index)

Performance IQ; Symbol Search, Coding

Influence of genes on intelligence

Behavioural genetics, family members

Influence of environmental factors on intelligence

Strong, home environment, parenting, education, availability of resources, healthcare and nutrition

Fraternal Twins

twins who develop from separate fertilized eggs. They are genetically no closer than brothers and sisters, but they share a fetal environment.

dizygotic twins

fraternal twins

Monozygotic Twins

identical twins formed when one zygote splits into two separate masses of cells, each of which develops into a separate embryo

heritability coefficient

Statistic that describes the proportion of difference between people's IQ scores differences in their genes can explain.

Heritability of IQ is higher than it is for most psychological traits, estimates ranging from 50-70%

shared environment

those environmental factors that are experienced by all relevant members of a household

Non-shared Environment

those environmental factors that are not experienced by all relevant members of a household

Intelligence changes over life span

Genes are not destiny; Intelligence can change considerably overtime

Intelligence changes over time

For most people it increases between adolescence and middle age, then declines thereafter

Ethnic group differences in IQ tests

Cultural Bias in earlier versions of IQ tests, not tied to knowledge base of culture

Sex differences in IQ tests

Same average iq, but distribution of males IQ scores is more variable than the females

Impacts of Socio-economic status on Intelligence

Some research suggest that IQ is more heritable among higher-income children, perhaps due to their similar environments

Malleability of intelligence

Smart people tend to stay in school, school makes people smarter.

Gene-environment interaction

Genes and environments, though separate, have a direct and independent influence on the brain and intelligence (gene expression due to environment)

Normal distribution

a bell-shaped curve, describing the spread of a characteristic throughout a population

Flynn effect

The rise in average IQ scores that has occurred over the decades in many nations

Heritability WITHIN groups vs heritability BETWEEN groups

Within groups - represents individual differences in intelligence with respect to hereditary

Between group - represents variability in intelligence due to differences in environment

Intellectually gifted

People who score well above large middle range (>130)

Intellectually disabled

People who score well below the middle range (<70)

Down Syndrome

Trisomy 21, caused by a third copy of chromosome 21

Stereotype Threat

May create fear of confirming the negative beliefs that others may hold

Cognitive Enhancers

Drugs that improve psychological processes that underlie performance.