Intelligence and Psychology Flashcards

Intelligence and Psychology

Joke of the Day

  • A psychotherapist attended a conference in the Rocky Mountains and upon returning, told her husband, "I've never seen so many Freudians slip," highlighting the prevalence of Freudian slips, a humorous play on words, among the psychologists.

Intelligence and Society

  • Society's view: Intelligence is a fixed trait with a defined range.
  • Intelligence is reliably assessed using valid tests and brain teasers.
  • The historical and cultural role of society in shaping the concept of intelligence is often ignored.

Problem #1: Defining Intelligence

  • How Psychologists Define Intelligence:
    • The ability to learn effectively.
    • The ability to recognize problems.
    • The ability to solve problems.

Section 1 — Find the Figure Like the First Two

  • Instructions:
    • Identify a figure from a set of five that is most similar to the two figures provided on the left.
    • Example and questions with multiple choice answers, testing pattern recognition.

Problem #2: Intelligence and Race

Origins of Modern Race

  • Pre-1700s: Human differences were primarily defined by language and religion.
  • Cornelus Linneas:
    • Categorized humans into 4 types, integrating them into the 'natural' world.
    • This classification created conflict with theological views on the creation of humans.

Mismeasure of Man (Gould, 1981)

  • Morton vs. Gould:
    • Debate on racial bias in measuring skulls and intelligence.
    • Gould argued Morton's measurements were biased due to pre-existing societal biases.
  • Recent Findings:
    • MRI scans and retesting of Morton’s data suggest some differences.
    • Strong correlation between general intelligence factor 'g' and cranium size.

Problem #3: Heritability

  • Natural variability in human eye colors example.

Nature, Nurture, and Medicalisation of Intelligence

  • DNA tests can predict intelligence.
  • News article: Genes linked with problem-solving powers were linked to how well brain cells communicated.
  • A combined analysis of genetically correlated traits identifies 187 loci and a role for neurogenesis and myelination in intelligence (Hill et al.).
  • Eugenics Movement:
    • Traits such as feeblemindedness, epilepsy, criminality, insanity, alcoholism, pauperism were considered inherited.
    • Advocated for eugenic marriages to breed out "unfitness" in a few generations.
    • Triangle of Life: Heritage, Environment, Education
    • Emphasized that while education and environment can be improved, inherent traits are determined at birth.

Francis Galton

  • Focus on heredity of human abilities was the focus of research.
  • Believed in a link between status and 'natural' ability to justify the existing social strata.
  • Advocated for eugenics, where only successful people should breed.
  • Considered the beginning of mental testing and "brass" psychology.

Educational Needs and IQ

  • Initially influenced by Galton’s hereditary theory of IQ.
  • Abandoned craniometry in favor of Galton & Cattell’s tests.
  • Tests could not account for individual differences.
  • Devised his own tests supported by the French government.

Binet’s Own Concerns

  • Worried that a single score might not be the best approach and doesn't provide a definition of intelligence.
  • Intelligence is not superposable and therefore not linear.
  • Feared misuse as a label rather than a guide, difficult to remove once applied.

IQ in the United States

  • The invention of morons regarding the study of intelligence.

Henry Goddard’s Popularisation of IQ Test

  • Scores on the Binet test were attributed to innate intelligence.
  • Believed education could not change a feeble-minded individual into a normal one (1913).
  • Advocated managing feeble-minded individuals to avoid them being a burden.
  • The scale was used to classify degrees of mental disability.

Kallikak Family (the good-bad family)

  • Study of a family to demonstrate the inheritance of feeblemindedness.
  • Comparison between descendants from lawful wife and a feeble-minded girl.

Goddard, Immigration, and IQ

  • Used IQ tests to assess immigrants.

  • Example question: "A young woman’s body is found in a room, cut into 18 pieces. The police say she committed suicide. Is this likely?”

  • Typical responses: "I was not there", “It’s a sin for her to kill herself”.

  • Goddard reduced rate diagnosed to 40% - but still high. He concluded that previous immigrants were superior, and a new type of immigrant is arriving.

  • In re-test of successful immigrants, he found them to have adapted well socially.

Militarisation / Industrialisation of IQ Tests

Standford-Binet Scale

  • Distribution of IQ scores:
    • Graph showing the normal distribution of IQ scores, with values ranging from 55 to 145.

WWI - 1917

  • IQ tests were used extensively during World War I for military personnel assessment.

Is This Knowledge in the Genes?

  • Examples of test questions:
    • "Washington is to Adams, as first is to ….. (president, second, last, or bryan)"
    • "Indiana is to the US, as part is to …. (hair, China, Ohio, or whole)"
    • "Yes is to affirmative, as no is to ….. (think knowledge, yes, or negative)"
  • Tests included culturally specific items that only American middle-class individuals would know (e.g., knowledge of bowling).
  • Some individuals had never drawn anything (Army Beta Test) due to lack of schooling.

Legacies of Early IQ Testing

Weschler Scales

  • Introduction of the Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC).

Historical Reflection on IQ

  • Nature of intelligence and its assessment.
  • Relationship between individuals, politics, and wider societal factors (zeitgeist).
  • Based on ‘natural’ categorization of humans to justify the class and divide of the time.
  • Still a large debate about the genetic basis and existing gap between races.

Summary

  • Intelligence construction was an outcome of popular Galton’s Darwinism ideas and an appetite to measure it to justify the social strata of the time.
  • We can see how influential individuals’ preconceived ideas about innateness of IQ informed development by looking for confirmation for his superior stock theory.
  • Binet developed IQ tests out of concern for those with learning difficulties, despite being led by a government initiative.
  • Goddard was using Binet’s tool for political and social purposes to identify feeble-mindedness. His work was to influence immigration policy.
  • Culturally biased tests favored the white middle class.
  • David Weschler starts to undermine previous thinking and questions previous conceptualisation.

Additional Resources

  • Race and Intelligence: Science's Last Taboo on Channel 4.
  • URL: https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/012354FF?bcast=35805982

Jason Padgett Discusses His Brain Injury

  • Example of retrophrenology?