Chapter 7 Cognitive Development II: Individual
Differences in Cognitive Abilities
Measuring Intellectual Power:
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Intelligence is a set of ability defined in various ways by different psychologists but
generally agreed to include the ability to reason abstractly, the ability to profit from
experience, and the ability to adapt to varying environmental contexts.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) is originally defined in terms of a child’s mental age and
chronological age, IQ is now computed by comparing a child’s performance with that of
other children of the same chronological age
Stanford-Binet is the best known U.S intelligence test. It was written by Lewis Terman
and his associates at Stanford University and based on the first test by Binet and Simon
The old equation used to calculate IQ score:
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Now, IQ score calculation is based on a direct comparison of a child performance with
the average performance of a larger group of children with the same age
Secular trend in IQ score is the historical shift upward in scores on cognitive ability. This
trend indicates that children today can solve more difficult problems then children 60
years ago with the same age
The three test most frequently used today by psychologist are the Standford-Binet V, the
third edition of the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence (WPPSI-III),
and the fourth edition of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (WISC-IV).
WISC-IV is the most recent revision of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales for the Children,
a well known IQ test developed in the U.S that includes both Verbal and performance
subtest, it is designed for child with age of 6 to 16
Infant Tests
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Bayley Scale of Infant Development is the best known and most widely used test of infant
intelligence, it measures primarily sensory and motor skills
Achievement Tests
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IQ score = mental age / chronological age x 100
Test designed to assess a child’s learning of specific material taught in school, such as math,
vocabulary, and grammar
IQ test evaluate a person’s intelligence and achievement test evaluates a person ability to learn
new materials
Reliability is the term used by psychologists to define the stability of a test score
Infant don't get consistent IQ scores, children at about age 3 began to get more consistent
IQ scores
Validity measures whether a test is measuring what it is designed to measure
Explaining Individual Difference in IQ Scores :
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Inborn intelligence of a child do have some influence on the child's IQ score, but the
environment and people shape the child's mental development the most
Identical twins are more like one another in IQ scores than are fraternal twins
Evidence showed that the IQ scores of adopted children is clearly influenced by the
environment they grow up in not the intelligence of birth parents
If a lower class child is adopted by a middle class parent, the child’s IQ scores is
generally 10 to 15 points higher than those who stayed with birth mothers
An individual’s social status or social class in North America is typically defined or
measured in terms of three dimensions: education, income and occupation
The average IQ score of children rises as the family’s social class rises and as the
mother’s education rises
Parents of children who have higher IQ scores tend to do several things:
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They provide an interesting and complex physical environment for their children (includes play
materials that are appropriate for child’s age and development level)
They are emotional responsive to and involved with their children
They talk with their children using language that is diverse, descriptive, and accurate
They use zone of proximal development when interact with their children
They avoid over restrictiveness, instead fiving their children room to explore and make mistakes
On average, first born children have the highest IQ scores, with average score declining
steadily down the birth order. The reason for this trend is that the oldest child interact
with adult (parents) when he was born, and second or third child interacts with both
parents and other children in the household which will affect their thinking process
Children in special program such as the Head Start Program had the highest IQ scores,
followed by those who had had some kind of day-care experience, with those reared
entirely at home having the lowest
Explaining Group Differences in IQ or Achievement Test Scores:
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Asian and Asian American students typically test 3 to 6 points higher on IQ tests and do
consistently better on achievement tests than do Caucasian children
African American children consistently score lower than Caucasian children on standard
measure of intelligence
Studies also showed that Asian family emphasis more on academic achievement, which
can explain why Asian student tend to do good on IQ tests
Psychologists pointed out that the study of cross culture IQ differences is pointless
because different culture emphases different strength
In general, girls are better at verbal tasks and boys are better at numerical problems
Researchers showed that boys and girls are good at different tasks, but those aspects
should not greatly affect their IQ score
For examples, boys tend to be better in math and engineering, but that does not mean no
girls is qualified for the jobs
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Specifically, boys show greater coherence in brain function in areas of the brain devoted
to spatial tasks, while girls display more organized functioning in part of the brain where
language and social information are processed
Alternative Views of Intelligence:
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Developmentalists believe that psychologist have placed too much emphasis on defining
intelligence in correlation between IQ scores and achievement tests
Several alternative approaches to defining and measuring intelligence have been
proposed in recent years
Speeding of Information Processing
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Other Links between IQ and Information Processing
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Comparing the information processing strategies used by children with normal intelligence and
those used by retarded children
E.g. Looking for a hidden object (the two group did not in search strategies and skills)
Evaluating the Information-Processing Approach
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Difference in processing speed may also underline individual difference in IQ scores
Participants with faster reaction times or speed of performance on a variety of simple tasks also
have higher average IQ scores on standard tests
Some studies have even directly linked central nervous system functioning and to IQ
Looking at things such as inborn intelligence
Practice makes perfect
Triarchic theory of intelligence is a theory advanced by Robert Sternberg, proposing the
existence of three types of intelligence: analytical, creative and practical
Analytical intelligence one of three types of intelligence in Sternberg’s triarchic theory of
intelligence; the types of intelligence typically measured on IQ tests, including the ability
to plan, remember facts, and organizing information
Creative intelligence is the second types of intelligence described by Stermberg in his
triarchic theory of intelligence; including insightfulness and the ability to see new
relationships among events or experiences
Practical intelligence is the third intelligence in Sternberg’s triarchic theory of
intelligence; often called “street smart”, this types of intelligence include skill in applying
information to the real world or solving practical problems
Multiple intelligence is eight types of intelligence proposed by Howard Gardner
The Eight Types include:
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Linguistic → good readers, speakers and who can learn language easily
Logical/mathematical → learn math and generate logical solutions to various kinds of problems
Spatial → painting and sculpture
Bodily kinesthetic → profession athletes
Musical → singer and song writer
Intrapersonal → good at identifying one’s own strength
Naturalistic → recognize patterns in nature