Clever as a Fox?
A Look at Intelligence
If you’re so
smart…what exactly
is intelligence?
Some ideas
• "Intelligence is the ability to recognize connections.“ - Carolus
Slovinec
• "To respond like a human being" -Alan Turing
• "The entropy of control responses" - G.N. Saridis
• A very general mental capability that, among other things, involves
the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly,
comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from
experience. It is not merely book learning, a narrow academic skill,
or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper
capability for comprehending our surroundings—"catching on",
"making sense" of things, or "figuring out" what to do.
– "Mainstream Science on Intelligence“ signed by 52
researchers in 1994
Multiple intelligences…better than
multiple personalities.
• Theory proposed by Howard Gardener that
there are several different types of intelligences
and that each person has their own “cognitive
profile.”
• Intelligence based on 8 criteria.
• Focused on case studies of individuals with
specialized intelligence (child prodigies, autistic
savants), people with brain damage in certain
areas, evolutionary relevance of certain
capacities, the existence of symbolic notation
8 types of intelligences ..not quite
31 flavors
• Bodily-Kinesthetic- movement and doing. Muscle
memory. Athletes, dancers, actors, comedians ..etc.
• Interpersonal- relationships!
Usually extroverted and
sensitive to others emotions. Politicians, managers, teachers…
• Linguistic- control of language.
Learn best through
notes/reading. Good at explaining/foreign language. Writers,
lawyers, philosophers, politicians and teachers.
•
Logical-Mathematical- logic, reasoning,
abstraction and numbers. Ability to perform difficult
calculations. Scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors
and economists.
4 more years…4 more
intelligences!
• Naturalistic- nature, nurturing and relating information
to one's natural surroundings. Ability to grow things and
nurture animals. Scientists, naturalists, conservationists,
gardeners and farmers. One of the “fuzzier” and newer
intelligences.
• Intrapersonal- introspective. Self aware of own
emotions, goals, and motivations. Philosophers, psychologists,
theologians, writers and scientists.
• Spatial- vision and spatial judgments. Overlap with
mathematic intelligence. Artists, engineers, and architects.
• Musical- Rhythm, music, and hearing.
Absolute pitch or
play instruments. Musicians, singers, conductors, and
composers.
•Where does
intelligence come
from?
(Or in other words, did you do the reading?)
Non-traditional intelligences.
• Savant syndrome describes a person having a severe
developmental or mental handicap with extraordinary mental
abilities not found in most people. This means a lower than average
general intelligence (IQ) but very high narrow intelligence in one or
more fields.
• Male savants outnumber females by 6 to 1, slightly higher than
autistic disparities.
• Can have extensive memory, be “mental calculators.” Usually
abilities are concrete, non-symbolic (right hemisphere.)
• Some savants have obvious neurological abnormalities but the
brains of most savants are anatomically and physiologically normal;
at least, there is no abnormality that modern science can detect.
Kim Peek
• Inspiration for the Rain man.
• Was born with macrocephaly
and the bundle of nerves
connecting the two
hemispheres of the brain were
missing.
• He reads a book in about an
hour and remembers
approximately 98% of
everything he has read.
• Sense of humor emerging
since 1994.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=AfDEAIszuQI
How do we measure intelligence?
Can we use a ruler?
• As early as 2200 B.C, Chinese emperors used
large scale aptitude tests to select civil servants.
• Alfred Binet and Theodore Simon developed the
precursor to modern day intelligence tests in
1905.
• The most widely used measure of intelligence
today is the IQ test. (Standardized and Norm
referenced at 100.) There are several different
types.
IQ? No you Q!
• The IQ test was not originally developed to
measure intelligence. Although some argue that
it does not represent all forms of intelligence, it is
a very accurate predictor of educational and
often occupational success.
• How important is your IQ? Can you increase
your intelligence? What are some of the
controversies facing the IQ measurement?
The Mozart Effect…does it fall “bflat” on it’s face?
• In 1993, researchers at the University of California
discovered that after listening to 10 minutes of a Mozart
sonata, the average IQ of 36 college students improved
by 8-9 points and lasted 10-15 minutes.
• Similar neural firings in the cerebral cortex, when
listening to music and performing spatial tasks. (Warm
up neurons.)
• No tests have been performed on babies to see if their
spatial intelligence improves with music. However, in
1998, the Governor of Georgia proposed to spend
$105,000 to provide newborns free classical music CDs.
IQ on the rise!
• Flynn Effect- IQ scores have increased from one
generation to the next for all of the countries for
which data existed. (5-25 points!)
• Some of the tests with the greatest increases
are those which are “culturally reduced”
(minimize influence of education.)
• Why? IQ not a good measure? Education?
Societal changes? Better nutrition?
The Bell Curve, ring a bell?
• Herrnstein and Murray published book in 1994
which re-united the nature vs. nurture debate.
• Argued that IQ has a greater influence on life
experiences than Socioeconomic status.
• Also argued that since intelligence was mostly
inherited, money was wasted in interventionalist
policies.
• Country composed of “cognitive classes” and
“genetic capital” was being eroded by overreproduction of the less intelligent population.
Intelligence Questions from Mensa
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
24 H in a D
26 L of the A
66 B of the B
52 C in a P (W J)
90 D in a R A
100 C in a D
13 is U F S
1000 Y in a M
60 M in an H
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
9 L of a C
6 is H a D
101 K on a S K
25 P is 1 Q
N C be D to 0
4 S of the Y
2MaP
7DS
9 M of P
Fun Website
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_multiple_intelligen
ces
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autistic_savant
• http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/bellcurve.shtml
• http://www.indiana.edu/~intell/flynneffect.shtml
• http://www.gnxp.com/blog/2007/04/intercourse-andintelligence.php
• http://wilderdom.com/personality/L41IntelligenceNatureVsNurture.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bell_Curve
• http://www.mensa-test.com/