Intelligence
AP PSYCH
MYERS – CH. 11
Intelligence Wars
 Intelligence – mental quality consisting of the
ability to learn from experience, solve problems,
and use knowledge to adapt to new situations.
Socially constructed by a culture
 Usually referred to as “school smarts”

 Several intelligence theories
 Do we have an inborn mental capacity?
 Can it be quantified with a number?
Spearman’s General Intelligence or g
 A basic intelligence predicts our abilities in varied academic
areas
 Factor analysis - A statistical procedure that identifies
clusters of related items (called factors) on a test

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Mental abilities tend to form clusters
People tend to show about the same level of competence in all abilities in
a certain cluster
 General intelligence (g) – a
general intelligence factor
that underlies all of our abilities
 CRITICS - Human abilities are too diverse to be encapsulated
by a single general factor
Thurstone’s Primary Mental Abilities
 A single g score is not as informative as scores for
seven primary mental abilities
 7 intelligence factors: word fluency, verbal
comprehension, spatial ability, perceptual speed,
numerical ability, inductive reasoning, and memory
 CRITICS – 7 factors show tendency to cluster,
suggesting an underlying g score.
Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
 Intelligence is more than just
verbal and mathematical skills as
other abilities are equally
important.
 8 intelligences
 Multiple intelligences theory has the
most effect on the educational system.
 Some teachers agree while others do
not.
 CRITICS - Should all abilities be
considered intelligences?
Shouldn’t some of them just be
talents instead?
Sternberg’s Triarchic Theory of Intelligence
 3 areas that can be
tested reliably
 CRITCS - These three
factors are related and
can have an
underlying g factor.
Also, additional testing
is needed to determine
whether these facets
can reliably predict
success.
Other Intelligences
 Social intelligence - the know-how involved in
comprehending social situations and managing
oneself successfully
 Emotional intelligence - the ability to perceive,
understand, manage, and use emotions.

Found to be higher in women
Creativity
 The ability to produce novel and valuable ideas
 Exceptionally creative people do not score higher on
intelligence tests than their noncreative peers.
 Convergent thinking vs. divergent thinking
 5 components
 Expertise
 Imaginative thinking skills
 A venturesome personality
 Intrinsic motivation
 A creative environment
Big Brains = Big Smarts?
 Some studies have found a correlation between
brain size and intelligence scores.
 More educated, therefore defined intelligent,
people have more connections between neurons
(more synapses) than less educated people.

Chicken or the egg?
Savant Syndrome
 A condition in which a person otherwise limited in
mental ability has an exceptional specific skill, such
as in computation or drawing.
4/5 savants are male
 Many savants have autism as well… However,
AUTISM ≠ SAVANTISM

 Crash Course – Intelligence 1
Assessing Intelligence
Origins
 Intelligence test – a method for assessing an
individual’s mental aptitudes and comparing them
with those of others, using numerical scores.

Aptitude – capacity to learn
 Alfred Binet (1857-1911), French intelligence
researcher

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Hypothesized that all children develop intellectually in the
same way but some develop quicker
Mental age – a measure of intelligence; the chronological
age that most typically corresponds to a given level of
performance
Origins
 Stanford professor Lewis Terman (1877-1956) revised
Binet’s test  Stanford-Binet (American version)

adapted some questions, established new age norms, and extended
the upper end of the test’s range from teenagers to “superior” adults
 German researcher William Stern (1871-1939) developed
the intelligence quotient (IQ)
mental age
x 100
chronological age
 IQ no longer computed with intelligence tests; now used
as a term to refer to a score on an intelligence test

IQ refers to the test-taker’s performance relative to the performance
of others of the same age.
Misuse of IQ and Intelligence Tests
 Historically, IQ tests have been used to label certain groups of
people as inferior.
 Terman promoted the widespread use of IQ tests to “take account of
the inequalities in original endowment” – believed intelligence was
innate and some people were naturally inferior/superior

Envisioned that the use of IQ tests would “ultimately result in curtailing the
reproduction of feeble-mindedness and in the elimination of an enormous
amount of crime, pauperism, and industrial inefficiency.” (essentially advocating
for eugenics)
 In the early 20th century, the US experienced a massive immigration
wave  new immigrants were given American IQ tests…

intelligence tests assess intelligence which is culturally defined
…therefore it is no wonder immigrants did poorly on American
intelligence tests and were classified unfairly.
Modern Tests
 Aptitude tests – designed to predict the
ability/potential to learn a new skill.

Ex: SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test, formerly called the
Scholastic Aptitude Test – seeks to predict your ability to
do well in college)
 Achievement tests – designed to assess what a
person has learned.

Ex: EOC (End of Course exam – seeks to assess what you
learned in the course)
Modern Tests
 Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale
(WAIS) – developed by
David Wechsler, the most
widely used intelligence test;
contains both verbal and
nonverbal subtests

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11 subtests
Yields an overall intelligence
score, and also scores for
verbal comprehension,
perceptual organization,
working memory, and
processing speed.
Results are important to
identify learning disabilities or
brain disorders (important for
teachers, employers, and
therapists)
Also a version for children
Principles of Test Construction
 To be widely accepted, psychological intelligence
(aptitude and achievement) tests must be:



Standardized
Reliable
Valid
Principles to Test Construction:
Standardization
 Standardization – defining meaningful scores
by comparison with the performance of a
pretested standardization group


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The number of correct responses on an intelligence would
reveal almost nothing… your performance must be compared
others’ performances
First the test is given to a sample population, then later given
with the same procedures to other groups  compare scores to
the sample group to determine your position in relation to
others
Tests need to be constantly restandardized to properly assess
different generations – Flynn effect = intelligence scores have
been rising over time.
Principles to Test Construction: Standardization
 When a test is standardized, the results when graphed typically
form a normal curve – symmetrical bell-shaped curve that
describes the distribution of many psychical and psychological
attributes; most scores fall near the average and fewer and fewer
scores lie near the extreme.
 On an intelligence test, the average score is 100.
Principles to Test Construction: Reliability
 The extent to which a test yields consistent
results


Retest the same people, split the test in half and see if scores
are consistent  higher the correlation between scores, higher
the reliability (WAIS and Stanford-Binet IQ have a +.9
correlation coefficient)
People should generally score the same when the test is taken
multiple times
Principles of Test Construction: Validity
 the extent to which a test measures or predicts
what it is supposed to

Content validity – the extent to which a test samples the
behavior that is of interest


Ex: a driving test assess driving tasks
Predictive validity – the success with which a test predicts
the behavior it is designed to predict
Criterion – the behavior a test is designed to predict
 Ex: the SAT is designed to predict future college performance
which is the criterion

Extremes of Intelligence – Below 70
 Mental retardation – a condition of limited
mental ability , indicated by an intelligence score of
70 or below and difficult in adapting to the
demands of life; varies from mild to profound.
 Mental retardation can sometimes have a physical
cause – Down syndrome – a condition of
retardation and associated physical disorders
caused by an extra chromosome in one’s genetic
makeup.
Mental Retardation Severity
 Many with intelligence scores just below 70 have been
integrated into regular education classrooms and mainstream
society  more happiness and dignity.
Extremes of Intelligence – Above 130
 Some extraordinarily intelligent children are more
isolated and introverted, but most thrive and
continue on to higher education.

Chicken or the egg?
 Controversy over gifted children programs: not as
many children labeled as gifted are actually
extraordinarily gifted
 “Tracking” children of different abilities can cause
them to live up or down to a perception of their
intelligence/abilities (self-fulfilling prophecy)
Nature and Nurture
Genetic
 Twin studies show that
identical twins reared
together have almost
identical intelligence
scores
 Adoptive children’s
intelligence scores tend
to resemble those of their
birth parents rather than
adoptive parents.
Environmental
 Intelligence score of
identical twins raised apart
is less similar than scores
of pairs raised together.
 Other studies have shown
that children raised in
impoverished or enriched
environments or different
cultures show that
experiences influence test
performance.
Gender Differences
Females
 better spellers
 more verbally fluent and

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

can remember more words
better at nonverbal
memory
more sensitive to touch,
taste, and color
better at math computation
higher emotional
intelligence - empathy
Males
 better at math problem
solving
 Superior spatial
intelligence
 more underachievers
The Question of Bias
 Scientific bias – however, intelligence tests, like the SAT, are not
biased in the fact that they are less valid for some groups.

The predictive validity of the SAT (as in whether it accurately predicts
future behaviors) is the same for men and women, blacks and whites,
and the rich and poor.
 Stereotype threat – the self-confirming belief that one will be
evaluated based on a negative stereotype.
 Are intelligence tests discriminatory?
 Yes – they are designed to distinguish individuals apart from their peers.
 No – they are not designed to distinguish individuals based on political,
racial, or ethnic backgrounds
 Crash Course – Intelligence 2