AP Psych - Intelligence and Testing

intelligence

mental quality consisting of the ability to learn from experience, solve problems, and use knowledge to adapt to new situations

general intelligence (g)

* general intelligence factor that underlies mental skills (many who score highly in one area often score highly in others (so underlying level of intelligence))


* intelligence is one general mental ability

Charles Spearman

* People have **g factor** (general intelligence) (so if they score highly on one factor, they will often score highly on others)
* **factor analysis**

factor analysis

identifying clusters items (factors) on a test that have a common ability

L. L. Thurstone

* Disagreed w/ **Spearman**
* Identified 7 clusters of mental abilities (so said intelligence = *multiple* distinct abilities)

Howard Gardner

* Believes conventional concept of intelligence was too narrow and that measuring only IQ ignores other “intelligences” an individual has
* Argues that we have multiple (8) intelligences

savant syndrome

condition where a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill

Robert Sternberg

Agrees w/ Gardner’s idea of *multiple* intelligences, but says there are 3 (*triarchic* theory)

creativity

ability to produce novel and valuable ideas

emotional intelligence

ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

John Mayer, Peter Salovey, David Caruso

developed a test that assesses emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and use emotions

Alfred Binet

* Hired by France’s minister of public education to identify the abilities of children who had never attended school
* Along with **Theodore Simon**, assumed all children follow same course of intellectual development, just at different speeds. Thus, they wanted to measure **mental age**
* Believed intelligence tests didn’t measure anything fixed or innate, that it should just be used to identify the needs of French school children. Feared it would be used to label and limit opportunities

mental age

* devised by **Alfred Binet**
* chronological age that frequently corresponds w/ a given level of performance

Stanford-Binet

widely used revision (by **Lewis Terman** at Stanford University) of **Binet’s** intelligence test

Lewis Terman

Revised **Binet’s** intelligence test

intelligence quotient (IQ)

originally, IQ = (mental age/chronological age) x 100

achievement tests

designed to assess what a person has learned

aptitude tests

designed to predict future performance

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

* Created by **David Wechsler**
* Gives both overall intelligence score and separate scores for subcategories

standardization

defining scores by comparison w/ the performance of a pretested group

normal curve

symmetrical, bell shaped curve

reliability

extent to which a test yields consistent results

validity

extent to which a test measures or predicts what it is supposed to

content validity

extent to which a test tests relevant material

predictive validity

extent to which a test predicts the behavior it is supposed to predict

intellectual disability

condition of limited mental ability

Down syndrome

A condition of intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21

Steven Pinker

* Evolutionary psychologist
* Argues that biological and social factors affect gender differences in life priorities, risk-taking, and math reasoning/spatial abilities

heritability

proportion of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes

stereotype threat

self-confirming concern that one will be evaluated based on a negative stereotype