PSYC101: CH9- Intelligence & IQ Testing

General Intelligence (g)

a hypothetical factor that accounts for overall differences in intellect among people

• Charles Spearman (1927)

• he thought that some people have “more g” than others

Specific Abilities (s)

a particular ability in a narrow domain

• according to spearman, our ability to perform well on a given task not only depends on our general intelligence (g) but also on our particular skills in narrow domains (s).

Intelligence Test

• Diagnostic tool designed to measure overall thinking ability

Abstract thinking

capacity to understand hypothetical concepts

Fluid Intelligence

capacity to learn new ways of solving problems

• More tightly linked to physiological processes, hereditary

• seems to decline with age

Crystalized Intelligence

accumulated knowledge of the world over time

• seems to go up with age

• “crystallized” kind of implies that it’s knowledge set in place once it’s been acquired.

Francis Galton

tried to link sensory capacities with intelligence

• Research showed that there was no connection between sensory discrimination and academic grades

• Different sensory capacities are only modestly correlated

multiple intelligences

people vary in their ability levels across different domains of intellectual skill

howard gardeners theory of multiple intelligences

• Linguistic: ppl able to speak and write well

• Logico-mathematical: use logic and mathematical skills to solve problems, such as scientific questions

• Spatial: Think and reason about objects in 3-dimensional space (artist, cab driver, not just visual, spacial awareness, blind–daredevil via sound)

• Musical: Perform, understand, and enjoy music (picking out tones)

• Bodily-kinesthetic: Manipulate the body in sports,, dance, or other physical endeavours (athletes, dancers, also need spatial)

• *Interpersonal: Understand and interact effectively with others (salesperson)

• *Intrapersonal: Understand and possess insight into self (within the person, uncovering bias, reflect, philosophers)

• Naturalistic: Recognize, identify, and understand animals, plant, and other living things (biologist, veterinarian)

• (Existentialist) how we grapple with the big questions, meaning in life, were all going to die

gardeners criteria

• Dissociation evidence (brain damage damaging 1 while leaving rest in tact)

• Exceptionalities (savants, prodigies)

• Definable end-state performance/profession

• Support from psychometric findings– shouldnt correlate too highly

sternbergs triarchic model of intelligence

• analytical intelligence-reasoning logically

• practical intelligence-solve real world problems

• creative intelligence-develop novel and effective answers to questions

brain size,

correlates with intelligence across species when corrected for body size, weakly assocaited with intelligence

Cortical density

Tighter packing of neurons in the cerebral cortex and specific locations related to intelligence

Processing efficiency

Intelligent brains process information quicker, intelligent brains desplay less activity for some tasks

Working memory

People hold some information in mind while doing mental operations

We need to test intelligence for

• Educational placement

• Diagnosis and support for cognitive disorders

• Prediction of academic and occupational success

• Research on the nature of intelligence

Are people good at estimating their own intelligene?

NO, poor metacognitive skills, people can not mentally represent what they do not know.

Intelligence Quotient

systemic means of quanitgying differences among people in their intelligence

Deviation IQ

expression of a person’s IQ relative to their same-aged peers

Henry Goddard

Interested in difentifying intellectually inferioir indivuals and groups

• Hierarchy of idito to moron

Problematic uses of intelligence tests

• tests developed for children were adapted to adults without enough rigor

• misapplied to people, people who didnt speak english very well

Eugenics

movement in the early 20th century to improve a populations genetic stock by encouraging those with good genes to reproduce, discouraging those with bad genes from reproducing, or both.

• Immigration from low intelligence countries restricted

• Sterilization of low-IQ individuals

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

• 15 subsets to assess different types of mental abilities

• Overall IQ score

• Domain scores for: verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed

• Norms exist for the overall score and all subscales

WPPSI & WISC

• Primary & Preschool (2 ½ -7)

• Children (6-16)

• Identify children who are cognitively delayed/advanced, not necessarily predictive of long term IQ

Culture fair IQ tests

Anstract reasoning measure that doesnt depend on language and is often believed to be less influenced by cultural factors

IQ scores in adults

• should be reliable, consistent

IQ scores in children

• are not reliable across time

Habituation paradigms

• give a child a stimulus, how long do they look at it, does it show a preference for a novel one? How fast do they habituate to it?

• Faster habituation has a modestly higher prediction for IQ, but still imprecise

Criterion Validity

Addresses the relation between scores on a measure and an outcome

• Concurrent Validity

• Predictive Validity

Concurrent Validity

The realtion between scores on a measure and an outcome are assessed at the same time (concurrently)

• Relationship between IQ and current academic performance

Predictive Validity

A measure taken at one time predicts a criterion that occurs in the future

• IQ at age 11 predicts future academic outcomes

• IQ predicts social class, health lietaracy, and crime

Convergent Validity

scores on a measure should correlate highly (i.e., converge) with scores on other measures of the same construct

• One IQ test correlates highly with others