AP Psych Modules 60-64

intelligence

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

intelligence test

a method for assessing an individual's mental aptitudes and comparing them with those of others, using numerical scores.

general intelligence

a general intelligence factor that, according to Spearman and others, underlies specific mental abilities and is therefore measured by every task on an intelligence test.

factor analysis

a statistical procedure that identifies clusters of related items (called factors) on a test; used to identify different dimensions of performance that underlie a person's total score.

savant syndrome

a condition in which a person otherwise limited in mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such as in computation or drawing.

multiple intelligences

Gardner's eight intelligences-bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalistic, logical-mathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial

grit

in psychology, grit is passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals.

analytic intelligence

one of Sternberg's three intelligences; academic problem-solving. assessed by traditional intelligence tests, which present well-defined problems having a single right answer. such tests predict school grades reasonably well and vocational success more modestly.

creative intelligence

one of Sternberg's three intelligences; demonstrated in reacting adaptively to novel situations and generating novel ideas. Many inventions result from such creative problem solving

practical intelligence

one of Sternberg's three intelligences; required for everyday tasks, which may be ill-defines, with multiple solutions.

emotional intelligence

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

social intelligence

knowing how to conduct oneself in a variety of situations.

Spearman's general intelligence

a basic intelligence predicts our abilities in varied academic areas. Human abilities are too diverse to be encapsulated by a single general intelligence factor. Strength: different abilities, such as verbal and spatial, do have some tendency to correlate.

Thurstone's primary mental abilities

our intelligence may be broken down into seven factors; word fluency, verbal comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed, numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory. even Thurstones seven metal abilities show a tendency to cluster suggesting an underlying general intelligence factor. Strength: a single general intelligence score is not as informative as scores for seven primary mental abilities.

Gardener's multiple intelligences

Our abilities are best classified into eight independent intelligences, which include a broad range of skills beyond traditional school smarts. Should all our abilities be considered "intelligences"? shouldn't some be called talents? Strength: intelligence is more than just verbal and mathematical skills. other abilities are equally important to out human adaptability.

Sternberg's triarchic theory

Our intelligence is best classified into three areas that predict real-world success: analytical, creative, and practical. These three facets may be less independent that Sternberg thought and may actually share an underlying general intelligence factor. Additional testing is needed to determine whether these facets can reliably predict success.

mental age

a measure of intelligence test performance devised by Binet; the chronological age that most typically corresponds to a given level of performance. Thus, a child who does as well as the average 8-year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.

Stanford-Binet

the widely used American revision (By Terman at Stanford University) of Binet's original intelligence test.

IQ (intelligence quotient)

defined originally as the ratio of mental age (ma) to chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100 (thus, IQ\=ma/ca x 100). On contemporary intelligence tests, the average performance for a given age is assigned a score of 100, with scores assigned to relative performance above or below average.

achievement test

a test designed to assess what a person has learned.

aptitude test

a test designed to predict a person's future performance; aptitude is the capacity to learn.

WAIS (Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale)

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

Flynn effect

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

standardization

defining uniform testing procedures and meaningful scores by comparison with the performance of a pretested group.

normal curve

the symmetrical, bell-shaped curve that describes the distribution of many physical and psychological attributes. Most scores fall ear the average, and fewer and fewer scores lie near the extremes.

reliability

the extent to which a test yields consistent results, as assessed by the consistency of scores on two halves of the test, on alternate forms of the test, or an retesting.

validity

the extent to which a test measures or predicts what it s supposed to.

content validity

the extent to which a test predicts the behavior it is designed to predict; it is assessed by computing the correlation between test scores and the criterion behavior.

cohort

a group of people from a give time period.

crystallized intelligence

our accumulated knowledge and verbal skills; tends to increase with age.

fluid intelligence

our ability to reason speedily and abstractly; tends to decrease during late adulthood.

intellectual disability

a condition of limited mental ability, indicated by an intelligence score of 70 or below and difficulty in adapting to the demands of life. (Formerly referred to as "mental retardation").

down syndrome

a condition of mild to severe intellectual disability and associated physical disorders caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

heritability

the proportion of variability of variation among individuals that we can attribute to genes. The heritability of a trait may vary, depending on the range of populations and environments studied.

stereotype threat

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