Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 11
Intelligence
Madrid
Walnut
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Intelligence Test
 a method of
assessing an
individual’s mental
aptitudes and
comparing them
to those of others,
using numerical
scores
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Mental Age
 a measure of intelligence test
performance devised by Binet
 chronological age that most typically
corresponds to a given level of
performance
 child who does as well as the average
8-year-old is said to have a mental age
of 8
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Stanford-Binet
 the widely used American
revision of Binet’s original
intelligence test
 revised by Terman at Stanford
University
Origins of Intelligence
Testing
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 defined originally the ratio of
mental age (ma) to chronological
age (ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma/ca x 100)
 on contemporary tests, the average
performance for a given age is
assigned a score of 100
What is Intelligence?
 Intelligence
 ability to learn from experience,
solve problems, and use
knowledge to adapt to new
situations
What is Intelligence?
 Factor Analysis
 statistical procedure that identifies clusters of
related items (called factors) on a test
 used to identify different dimensions of
performance that underlie one’s total score
 General Intelligence (g)
 factor that Spearman and others believed
underlies specific mental abilities
 measured by every task on an intelligence
test
Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Savant Syndrome
 condition in which a person otherwise
limited in mental ability has an exceptional
specific skill
 computation
 drawing
Are There Multiple
Intelligences?
 Social Intelligence
 the know-how involved in
comprehending social situations and
managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence
 ability to perceive, express, understand,
and regulate emotions
Intelligence and
Creativity
 Creativity
 the ability to produce novel and
valuable ideas
 expertise
 imaginative thinking skills
 venturesome personality
 intrinsic motivation
 creative environment
Brain Function and
Intelligence
 People who can
perceive the
stimulus very
quickly tend to
score somewhat
higher on
intelligence tests
Stimulus
Mask
Question: Long side on left or right?
Assessing Intelligence
 Aptitude Test
 a test designed to predict a person’s
future performance
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 a test designed to assess what a person
has learned
Assessing Intelligence
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale
(WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
 subtests
 verbal
 performance (nonverbal)
Assessing Intelligence:
Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL
PERFORMANCE
General Information
Similarities
Arithmetic Reasoning
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Digit Span
Picture Completion
Picture Arrangement
Block Design
Object Assembly
Digit-Symbol Substitution
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977
Assessing Intelligence
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison
with the performance of a pretested
“standardization group”
 Normal Curve
 the symmetrical bell-shaped curve that
describes the distribution of many physical
and psychological attributes
 most scores fall near the average, and fewer
and fewer scores lie near the extremes
The Normal Curve
Getting Smarter?
Assessing Intelligence
 Reliability
 the extent to which a test yields consistent
results
 assessed by consistency of scores on:
 two halves of the test
 alternate forms of the test
 retesting
 Validity
 the extent to which a test measures or
predicts what it is supposed to
Assessing Intelligence
 Content Validity
 the extent to which a test samples the
behavior that is of interest
 driving test that samples driving tasks
 Criterion
 behavior (such as college grades) that a
test (such as the SAT) is designed to
predict
 the measure used in defining whether
the test has predictive validity
Assessing Intelligence
 Predictive Validity
 success with which a test predicts the
behavior it is designed to predict
 assessed by computing the correlation
between test scores and the criterion
behavior
 also called criterion-related validity
Assessing Intelligence
Football 10
linemen’s 9
success
Greater correlation
over broad range
of body weights
8
7
6
5
Little correlation within
restricted
range
4
3
2
1
0
180
250
290
Body weight in pounds
 As the range of
data under
consideration
narrows, its
predictive
power
diminishes
The Dynamics of
Intelligence
 Mental Retardation
 a condition of limited mental ability
 indicated by an intelligence score below 70
 produces difficulty in adapting to the demands
of life
 varies from mild to profound
 Down Syndrome
 retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s
genetic makeup
The Dynamics of
Intelligence
Genetic Influences
 The most
genetically
similar
people have
the most
similar
scores
Genetic Influences
 Heritability
 the proportion of variation among
individuals that we can attribute to
genes
 variability depends on range of
populations and environments studied
Genetic Influences
Environmental
Influences
 The Schooling Effect
Group Differences
 Group differences and environmental impact
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil
Fertile soil
Difference within group
Group Differences
 The Mental Rotation Test
Which two of the other circles contain a configuration of blocks
identical to the one in the circle at the left?
Standard
Responses
Group Differences
 Stereotype Threat
 A self-confirming concern that one
will be evaluated based on a
negative stereotype