Intelligence
Chapter 7
Intelligence
 The
global capacity to think
rationally, act purposefully, and deal
effectively with the environment.
 Not necessarily, “…book smarts”
 “To judge well, to comprehend well,
to reason well, these are the
essential activities of intelligence.”
Alfred Binet
 Needed
to identify students who
would require special help
 Theodore Simon assisted with
developing a test to measure
different mental abilities
 Focused on elementary mental
abilities like memory, attention,
ability to understand similarities and
differences
Binet (continued)


Developed the idea of
a mental age
Did not believe he was
measuring an inborn
level of intelligence;
believed the score
could vary over time
and be affected by
external factors like
motivation
Lewis Terman
Translated and adapted Binet’s test
 Developed the intelligence quotient; divide
the individual’s mental age by the
chronological age and multiply by 100
 Demonstrated in a longitudinal study
including 1500 California children with
genius-level intelligence that high IQ is
not necessarily associated with social
and/or physical ineptness

World War I
 Army
Alpha and Army Beta test used
to screen 2 million army recruits
 Wide use after the war by civilians
 Used among immigrants; testing
experts tried to influence Congress
to limit certain nationalities deemed
“unfit”
David Wechsler
Most commonly administered test
 11 subtests measuring different abilities
 Verbal score which is representative of
scores on vocabulary, comprehension,
knowledge of general information , and
other verbal tasks
 Performance Score reflective of scores of
tests requiring identifying the missing part
in incomplete pictures, arranging pictures,
or arranging blocks to follow a pattern.

Wechsler (continued)

Added features…
– Profile of a person’s strengths and
weaknesses
– Potential to screen for learning disorders
– Culture may play a role in performance on
the verbal subtest
– Scores were calculated using the scores of
others in the same general age group as a
comparison; average score is statistically
fixed at 100 with a standard deviation of
+/- 15.
What are the
characteristics of a good
test of intelligence?
Test Construction
 Standardization
-Norms are
established based on a
representative sample and scores are
compared to these norms
 Reliability – must consistently
produce similar scores on different
occasions
 Validity – it measures what it is
supposed to measure
Theories of Intelligence
 “g
factor” – a single measure of
cognitive ability; Charles Spearman
 “primary mental abilities” –
(numerical ability, reasoning,
perceptual speed, etc); Louis
Thurstone; more concerned with the
pattern of different abilities versus a
single quotient
Theories of Intelligence (continued)
 “multiple
intelligences” – developed
idea based on the observation that
some abilities are lost while others
are maintained following brain
damage; intelligence is reflective of
“…the ability to solve problems, or to
create products, that are valued
within one or more cultural
settings.”; Howard Gardner (see
page 312)
Theories of Intelligence (continued)
 “successful
intelligence” – three
types of mental abilities
– Analytic – picking a problem solving
strategy and applying it
– Creative – drawing on existing skills and
knowledge to cope with new situations
– Practical intelligence – “street smarts”
 Robert
Sternberg