chapter 8 intelligence and creativity

psychometric approach

• Spawned the development of standardized tests of intelligence

• Intelligence

  • Trait or a set of traits that characterizes some people to a greater extent than others

• Goal

  • To identify these traits precisely and measure them

fluid intelligence

• Ability to use your mind actively to solve novel problems

• Believed to represent raw information processing power

crystallized intelligence

Acquired through schooling and other life experiences

aptitude tests

• designed to assess a person’s potential for future learning

  • Example: IQ tests

achievement tasks

• designed to assess acquired knowledge

  • Example: SAT or ACT

validity

the degree to which an assessment measures what it intends to measure

reliability

the ability of a test to provide consistent, reproducible results

fairness

Are these tests biased in favor of people of a certain gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class?

differences

• IQ scores consistently differ across certain groups of people.

• There is no evidence to support a “genetic hypothesis”; there is more support for environmental influence and socioeconomic status (SES).

Culture-fair intelligence tests

Assessments are designed to minimize cultural bias.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll theory

• Intelligence is a hierarchy

  • Top general ability factor

Broad dimensions of abilities

fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, memory capacity, and processing speed

Factor analysis

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

binets test

• Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale

• After Lewis Terman (Stanford University) translated and published for use with American children

Intelligence quotient (IQ)

IQ = MA/CA × 100

test norms

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

• Based on the performance of a large, representative sample

standard deviation

Measure of how tightly the scores are clustered around the mean score

Intellectual disability

Have significantly below-average intellectual functioning (score of 70 or below on an IQ test)

gifted

Have an IQ score of 130 or higher or they show special abilities in areas valued by society

Gardeners theories of intelligence

• Linguistic intelligence

• Logical-mathematical intelligence

• Musical intelligence

• Spatial intelligence

• Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence

• Interpersonal intelligence

• Intrapersonal intelligence

• Naturalist intelligence

savant syndrome

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

prodigies

Children who display ability levels comparable to adult professionals

stern bergs triarchic theory

• practical

• creative

• analytic

Practical intelligence

What is defined as intelligent behavior varies depending on sociocultural context

Creative intelligence

• What is intelligent when a person first encounters a new task is not the same as what is intelligent after extensive experience

• Automatization

• Culture bias

Analytic intelligence

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

• Thinking critically and analytically

creativity

• Ability to produce novel responses appropriate in context and valued by others

• Some have concerns about what is useful to others

stern bergs investment theory

• Creativity emerges from a confluence of six factors:

  • Intellectual skills comprising Sternberg’s theory of intelligence

  • Knowledge of a field

  • Enjoys mentally toying with ideas

  • Flexibility personality style

  • Motivation

  • Supportive environment

Cumulative-deficit hypothesis

• Describes how impoverished environments inhibit intellectual growth

• Negative effects accumulate over time

• Describes how impoverished environments inhibit intellectual growth and how these negative effects accumulate over time.  

• Under conditions of marked social and environmental deprivation growth and development deficits in children will augment as children grow older.

Flynn effect

• Phenomenon over the twentieth century: average IQ scores have increased in all countries studied

• In the U.S., increase is 3–4 IQ points per decade

• Children today are better educated

• Improved nutrition and living conditions