Chapter 11 pt. 1: Measuring
“Intelligence”

Measuring Intelligence
Intelligence
Tests: tests for
assessing a person’s mental
abilities and comparing them
with the abilities of other
people, by means of
numerical scores.
Origins of Intelligence Tests
Alfred Binet, a french
psychologist, is most often
considered to be the pioneer
of the intelligence testing
movement.
 What was Binet’s purpose for
developing his tests?
 Assumed children follow the
same course of intellectual
development, but some
development faster and
slower then others

Alfred Binet and Intelligence
Tests
Binet’s looked to identify a child’s:
 Mental Age: chronological age that most
typically corresponds to a given level of
performance.
 A child who does as well as the average 8year-old is said to have a mental age of 8.
 Binet did not believe his test measured inborn
intelligence.
 Tests predicted how well the children
handle schoolwork
 Purpose was to ID children who need help

Lewis Terman and Intelligence
Tests
 Lewis
Terman, an
American psychologist at
Stanford, adapted Binet’s
test in an attempt to
measure what he thought
was inherited
intelligence.
 Stanford-Binet: refers to
the widely used revision of
Binet’s original
intelligence test.
IQ Tests
In an attempt to measure inherited intelligence,
tests developed the “IQ.”
 IQ: (intelligence quotient): defined
originally the ratio of mental age (ma) to
chronological age (ca) multiplied by 100
IQ = ma/ca x 100)
Not used today; not accurate for adults

 on
contemporary tests it is the average
performance for a given age is assigned a
score of 100
Eugenics
The Normal Curve
Number
of
scores
Sixty-eight percent
of people score
within 15 points
above or below 100
Ninety-five percent
of all people fall
within 30 points
of 100
55
70
85
100
115
130
Wechsler intelligence score
145
“Intelligence” is Hard to Define
 Intelligence
is often defined as the
ability to learn from experience, solve
problems, and use knowledge to adapt
to new situations.
 Intelligence is not a “thing” it is an
abstract concept…an IQ is simply a
score on an intelligence test.
 What types of things are usually NOT
measured on an IQ test that might
illustrate “intelligence?”
Is Intelligence a Singular Ability?
To measure general ability within specific
mental abilities a statistical method is used
called:
 Factor Analysis: used to identify clusters
of related items (called factors) on a test;
used to identify different dimensions of
performance that underlie one’s total.
 Ex: People who do well on vocabulary items
also usually do well on paragraph
comprehension…which are both related to
the verbal intelligence factor.

Charles Spearman and The GFactor
 General
intelligence (g):
Spearman’s belief that
there was a factor that
underlied specific
mental abilities and was
therefore measured by
every task on an
intelligence test.
 Specific intelligences
tended to be positively
correlated.
Broadening Theory of
Intelligence
 Savant
Syndrome: a
condition in which a
person otherwise
limited in mental ability
has an exceptional
specific skill.
 Many
are autistic
 4/5 are male
 How
does this relate to
the g-factor?
Howard Gardner and Multiple
Intelligences
From a biological point of view,
Gardner has noted that brain
damage often may diminish
some abilities but not
others.
 Gardner argues humans do not
have an intelligence but instead
multiple intelligences which
are relatively independent of the
others.

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences
Gardner argues there are 8 intelligences:
1. Verbal Linguistic
5. Auditory-musical
2. Logical-mathematical 6. Interpersonal
3. Visual Spatial
7. Intrapersonal
4. Body-kinesthetic
8. Naturalistic
What do traditional IQ tests measure?

Robert Sternberg and “Successful
Intelligence”
Sternberg looked to overcome the fact that
although IQ tests predicted school tests
relatively well, they did less well predicting
vocational success.
 Sternberg’s 3 Aspects of Intelligence:
1. Analytical Intelligence: (academic
problem solving)
2. Creative Intelligence: (reacting to new
situations and creating new ideas)
3. Practical Intelligence: (often required
for everyday tasks, “common sense”)

More “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
-critical part of social intelligence
Multifactor Emotional Intelligence
Scale (MEIS)
Measures how ppl:
1. Perceive emotions
2. Understand emotions
3. Regulate emotions
Intelligence and Creativity

Creativity- ability to produce ideas
that are both novel and valuable
5 Parts
1. Expertise
2. Imaginative Thinking Skills
3. Venturesome Personality
4. Intrinsic Motivation
5. A Creative Environment
Remote Associates Test
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Call Pay
End Burning
Man Hot
Man Wheel
Blue Cake
Motion Poke
Stool Powder
Line
____________
Blue
____________
Sure ____________
High
____________
Cottage ____________
Down
__________
Ball
____________
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Phone
Book
Fire
Chair
Cheese
Slow
Foot
Is Intelligence Neurologically
Measurable?
 .15
correlation
between head size and
intelligence score.
 .44 correlation between
brain size and
intelligence score.
 What all effects the size
of your brain?
Is Intelligence Neurologically
Measurable?
 Einstein’s brain was
15% larger in the
parietal lobe’s lower
region…center for
mathematical
processing and
spatial information.
 But smaller in some
other regions.
Is Intelligence Neurologically
Measurable?
 Brain
Glucose Consumption:
high performers on tasks consume
LESS glucose when performing
cognitive tasks.
Is Intelligence Neurologically
Measurable?

Perceptual
Speed: 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?