Myers’ PSYCHOLOGY
(7th Ed)
Chapter 11
Intelligence
James A. McCubbin, PhD
Clemson University
Worth Publishers
1
Origins of Intelligence
Assessments/Inventories (“Testing”)
 Plato: Saw & noted
individual differences
 Intelligence Test:
*Binet (1905 +-)
 method of assessing
an individual’s
mental aptitudes &
comparing them to
those of others, using
numerical scores
 Testing Paris school
kids to ID those who
were low & needed
help
2
 Mental Age
 measure of intelligence test performance
devised by Alfred Binet, Paris, late 1800’s
 Why? to ID slower kids in Paris school system to
help them do better
 chronological age: actual age
 mental age: if a child does as well as the
average 8-year-old is said to have a of 8
 Stanford-Binet: widely used American revision
of Binet’s original intelligence test (1914-15)
 revised by Terman at Stanford University
 Stern designed the intelligence quotient
(IQ)

3
 Intelligence Quotient (IQ)
 Originally, ratio of mental age (ma) to
chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100
 IQ = ma ÷ ca x 100 (ma/ca x 100)
 on contemporary tests, the avg performance for a
specific age is assigned a score of 100
 Most intellg. tests (including the Stanford-Binet) no
longer compute an “IQ” score (reification: p. 422)
 What IS Intelligence?
 ability to learn from experience, solve problems, &
use knowledge to adapt to new situations
 Is determined by a social definition & varies from
culture to culture, era to era
4
What is Intelligence?
 Factor Analysis
 statistical procedure that identifies clusters of
related items (called factors) on a test
 ID’s different performance dimensions that
underlie our total score
 These factors indicate a basic ability level
 Eugenics: Terman & others belief that genetics
was the predominate factor in IQ
--was a “scientific” sort of racism…no major basis
in modern psych…Basically said some races, etc.,
were genetically better than others.
Who used these ideas?
5
Spearman’s G Factor:
 Spearman’s General Intelligence (g
factor)
 Spearman & others said one single
factor (a general factor) underlies
specific mental abilities
 This factor is measured by every task
on an intelligence test
 g = general
6
Most commonly administered
intelligence assessments:
WISC-IV: most commonly used IQ test
for ages 6-16
WAIS -III is for adults.
WIPPSI-III is for preschoolers.
Others also use the Stanford-Binet, 5th
edition, or the Kaufman ABC-II battery
for children.
NOTE: Roman numerals reflect the
multiple revisions of the tests since
7
their original versions.
Are There Multiple Intelligences?
 Savant Syndrome
 condition in which a person otherwise limited in
mental ability has an exceptional specific skill…
--often (NOT always..) related to autism
 Computation
 Drawing (EX below)
 Social Intelligence
 the know-how involved in comprehending social
situations & managing oneself successfully
 Emotional Intelligence
 ability to perceive,
express,
understand, &
regulate emotions
p.426
8
Intelligence & Creativity
 Creativity: the ability to produce novel and
valuable ideas…
 Those = creative usually have at least avg. or
above avg. g factor
 Things that make this possible:
 Expertise (have knowledge base)
 imaginative thinking skills (outside the box)
 venturesome personality (take chances)
 intrinsic motivation
 creative environment
9
Brain Function and Intelligence
 People who can
perceive the
stimulus very
quickly tend to
score somewhat
higher on
intelligence tests
 P. 430:
processing
speed,
perceptual
speed &
neurological
speed are all
involved
Stimulus
Mask
Question: Long side on left or right?
10
Assessing (“Testing”!!) Intelligence
 Aptitude Test: designed to predict a person’s future
performance
 looks at abilities…what you should be able to do
 aptitude is the capacity to learn
 Achievement Test
 test designed to assess what person has learned
 Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
 most widely used intelligence test
(WWI)
 2 subtests 1) verbal 2) performance (nonverbal)
 WAIS-R = revised adult test;
 WISC-R = revised kids’ test
11
Weschler added
Performance Component in 1939 b/c of
problems assessing those w/ some verbal
disadvantages
Assessing Intelligence:
Sample Items from the WAIS
VERBAL
PERFORMANCE
response
Picture Completion
Picture Arrangement
Block Design
Object Assembly
Digit-Symbol
Substitution
General Info
Similarities
Arithmetic
Reasoning
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Digit Span
From Thorndike and Hagen, 1977
12
WAIS-R EX’s: Visual Analogies…..block design…..
pic sequencing…..WAIS-R performance assessment kit
13
14
Assessing Intelligence
 Standardization
 defining meaningful scores by comparison w/ the
performance of a pre-tested standardization
group to create a norm
Normal Curve
 symmetrical bell-shaped curve that describes the
distribution of many physical & psych. attributes
 most scores fall near the avg, & fewer & fewer
scores lie near the extremes 
15
Study sessions for MARCH
Sat. March 24
12:00 – 1 :30
AP Psy
1.5
Thurs. March 29
3:45 – 5 :00
AP Psy
1.5
Sun. April 1
2 :00 – 4 :00
AP Psy
2.0
Wed. April 4
5:30 – 7 :00
AP Psy
1.5
Sat. Apr.7
11:30 – 1:30
AP Psy
2.0
Sat. Apr.14
1:30 – 3:30 (after ACT) AP Psy
2.0
16
Normal Curve:
(aka at times as the bell curve
17
Kids getting smarter?! Who’d a thunk it…
Flynn effect: Consistent worldwide rise in IQ
scores, even though achievement scores like
SAT dropped …WHY?

18
Why Flynn Effect (James Flynn, 1987, 1999) occurs…
It’s a mystery…but could be lots of things…
 Test sophistication: assessments are better
now…more accurately assess
 Nutrition: taller, smarter, longer life expectancies
 More formal educations for more ppl
 More stimulating environment b/c of t___?
 Less kid-diseases that might cause handicaps
 Smaller families = more parental resources (time,
money, effort) on each kid
------------So....Why are SAT scores down? Probably b/c
more ppl and more diverse ppl taking SAT now
instead of just the middle & upper middle class.19
Assessments of Intelligence (aka Testing)
 Reliability & Validity
 Reliability: extent to which a test yields consistent
results assessed by consistency of scores in 3 ways:
 two halves of the test
 alternate forms of the test
 retesting
 Validity: How well a test measures or predicts
what it is supposed to
EX: Does SAT predict success in the 1st year of
3 aspects to validity…
Content validity
Predictive validity
Criterion validity
college?
20
Assessing Intelligence: 3 major considerations:
1. Content Validity: extent to which a test samples a
behavior that is of interest
EX: Driving test that samples driving tasks…
DOES it evaluate the content you want to look at?
2. Criterion validity
 Some behavior that a test is designed to predict
EX: Are college grades being predicted by SAT
performance? …or...
In driving, do 3 pt. turns, parking, handling the
car in tight spaces, etc., represent things you will
need to do while driving?
 the measure (part of the operational definition)
used in defining whether the test does have
predictive validity
 Criterion is what they are shooting for, trying to
21
do
3. Predictive Validity
 success w/ which a test predicts the behavior
it is designed to predict
 assessed by computing the correlation
between test scores and the criterion
behavior (behav. you’re interested in)
 aka criterion-related validity
 This is whether it can give good predictions
RE: the behavior looked at… or not
EX: DOES the SAT predict success in
college? Generally, yes.
BUT…GRE (graduate record exam)…not
as much b/c all are higher performing…22
Assessing Intelligence: (436)
Relating body wt. & success to predict…
The larger the sample the better it can predict
Football 10
linemen’s
success
9
 As the range of
data under
consideration
narrows (goes
Greater correlation
over broad range
of body wts. (Lg. #)
8
7
from larger to
smaller range), its
6
Little
correlation
w/in
restricted
range (sm. #)
5
4
3
2

1
0
180
predictive
power diminishes
250
290
BTW: What is this
type of graph
called?
Body weight in pounds
23
The Dynamics of Intelligence:
The Low extreme of Intelligence:
 Mental Challenged (formerly 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…mom’s age…
24
The Dynamics of Intelligence:
Know this chart! (p. 439)
25
Heritability: the proportion of variation
among individuals that we can attribute to
genes; variability depends on range of
populations & environments studied
 Intelligence
heritability
= about
50%
 The most
genetically
similar
people have
the most
similar
scores
26
Genetic Influences: Psychologists look at
both twin studies plus
biological parents vs. adoptive parents studies
27
The Schooling Effect:
IQ’s tend to rise during the school year…& drop during
Environmental Influences:
summer…& drop after schooling stops…
So…a good argument for year-round school?
...Asian students vs. N. American students?
28
What’s
wrong
with this
picture???
29
Group Differ. & Environ.Factors: The Seed Analogy:
Group differences & the impact of environment:
 Same seeds (genetics)
 …but different soil…levels of fertilizer…water….sun
 these = so a differing environ.
Would they grow the same?
Variation within group
Variation within group
Seeds
Poor soil
Fertile soil
Difference within group
30
Group Differences: Gender
KNOW the general male & female tendencies
toward certain abilities… (from info p.448-9)
Do these stronger abilities apply to ALL males or
females?
The Mental Rotation Test : spatial understanding
Which of the other circles contain a configuration of
blocks identical to the “standard” fig. (left)?
Standard
Responses
31
Stereotype Threat
 Self-confirming concern/belief: negative stereotypes
give us “true” evaluation
 Relates to “self-fulfilling prophecy” & placebo effect:
believing something IS true increase chance it happens:
“I will probably score low” = scoring lower
Students told they are at a disadvantage on a test tend to
do worse than those who are told the test should be
one they do well on…
EX’s: “You are not likely to do as well on this as usual…”
…OR “You should do very well on this b/c it is written
in a way that will show your strengths…”
Also Afri.-Amer. or females taking test w/ only that group
perform better than in mixed groups
Summary:
What you think & believe about YOU affect how you
32
perform!
High vs. low extremes of intelligence:
 Myth: High IQ kids are mal-adjusted, weird,
socially inept….this is NOT TRUE
-There is a high correlation for high IQ & healthy,
well-adjusted, academically successful adults…
Most thrive, though some are isolated more as
kids b/c they don’t fit in w/ immature other kids
 Remember: “giftedness” is a socially defined trait
& not a “naturally occurring trait” like eye color
or height (what is this called?)
 Brain size (relative to body size) IS slightly
positively correlated to intelligence
33
Big debate: tracking
(segregating by ability level):
 Often = low income &
minority put into low
levels, which encourages
the stereotype threat…
which...tends to widen,
not shrink, the gap
betwn. lo & hi especially in
elementary school
Best idea may be, like China &
Japan:
 Avoid tracking thru
elementary
34
Theories of Multiple Intelligences (pp. 424-426)
Is there 1 kind? …or 2? …or 3? ..or 8?
Spearman: 1 basic general intel. (g factor)
Gardner: said there are 8:
-verbal
-movement (kinesthetic)
-math
-understanding ourselves (emot.)
-music
-understanding others (emot.)
-spatial analysis/visual -understanding our physical
(art)
environment (“street smarts”)
Sternberg’s Big 3:
-analytical: academic problem solving—1 right answer
-creative intell.: react to novel situations & use novel
ideas
-practical intel.: deal w/ everyday problems, come up w/
multiple solutions
35
“Hey, I don’t have time to exercise!!”
36
Some review ?’s
How does head size correlate with
intelligence? (p. 429)
Can you assess an infant’s possible
intelligence?
37
 Artificial Intelligence (AI)
 designing & programming computer systems to…
 …do intelligent things
 …simulate human thought processes (parallel)
 intuitive reasoning
 learning
 understanding language
(272 Baron’s)
 Computer Neural Networks
 computer circuits that mimic brain’s
interconnected neural cells & perform tasks much
like humans…
 learning to recognize visual patterns
 learning to recognize smells
38
PPL to know RE: Intelligence
& intelligence assessments:
Binet
Flynn
Gardner
Spearman
Sternberg
Terman
Wechsler
39
Scoring Assessments
Emotional Intelligence Assess.:
On Items 5 28 33
(If put 1, change to 5 2 = 4 3 stays 3 4 =2 5 = 1
Then ADD all together…those #’s you changed + #’s you had
at beginning for those NOT changed
-------------------------------1. Friday
11. JANE
2. PY (silver anniversary) 12. 9:00 PM
3. 25
13. b (both grow in ground)
4. anniversary
14. a. Alternate #’s go up by
2 & down 1 (from 1 – 10)
5. MENSA
15. e: only on not man-made art
6. b
16. PARACHUTE
7. b
17. 5
8. b
18. c
9.TOM
19. LAND
10. HOUSE
20. # of lines goes down opposite w/
stick & stick alternates lo L/top R
40