Intelligence
Chapter 10
Unit 11
AP Psychology ~ Ms. Justice
BIG IDEAS
What is Intelligence?
Assessing Intelligence
The Dynamics of Intelligence
Genetic & Environmental Influences on
Intelligence
What is Intelligence?
Intelligence (in all cultures) is the ability to learn
from experience, solve problems, and use our
knowledge to adapt to new situations.
In research studies, intelligence is
whatever the intelligence test
measures. This tends to be “school
smarts.”
1: What argues for and
against considering
intelligence as one
general mental ability?
Intelligence: Ability or Abilities?
Have you ever thought that since people’s
mental abilities are so diverse, it may not be
justifiable to label those abilities with only one
word, intelligence?
General Intelligence
The idea that general intelligence (g) exists
comes from the work of Charles Spearman
(1863-1945) who helped develop the
factor analysis approach in statistics.
Athleticism, like intelligence, is many things
General Intelligence
Spearman proposed that general
intelligence (g) is linked to many clusters
that can be analyzed by factor analysis.
For example, people who do well on
vocabulary examinations do well on
paragraph comprehension examinations,
a cluster that helps define verbal
intelligence. Other factors include a
spatial ability factor, or a reasoning
ability factor.
2: How do Gardner’s
and Sternberg’s theories
of multiple intelligences
differ?
Contemporary Intelligence Theories
Howard Gardner (1983, 1999) supports the idea
that intelligence comes in multiple forms.
Gardner notes that brain damage may diminish
one type of ability but not others.
People with savant syndrome excel in abilities
unrelated to general intelligence.
Gardner: Multiple Intelligences
Table 10.1,
p. 408
Gardner speculates about a ninth intelligence—
existential intelligence, or the ability to think about
the question of life, death and existence.
Sternberg: Multiple Intelligences
Robert Sternberg (1985, 1999, 2003) also agrees with
Gardner, but suggests three intelligences rather
than eight.
1.
2.
3.
Analytical Intelligence: Intelligence
that is assessed by intelligence tests
(academic problem-solving).
Creative Intelligence: Intelligence that
makes us adapt to novel situations,
generating novel ideas.
Practical Intelligence: Intelligence that
is required for everyday tasks (e.g.
street smarts).
3: What is creativity and
what fosters it?
Intelligence and Creativity
Creativity is the ability to produce
ideas that are both novel and
valuable.
It correlates somewhat with
intelligence.
Intelligence and Creativity
Five Components of Creativity: (p. 411)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Expertise: A well-developed knowledge base.
Imaginative Thinking: The ability to see things in novel
ways.
A Venturesome Personality: A personality that seeks
new experiences rather than following the pack.
Intrinsic Motivation: A motivation to be creative from
within.
A Creative Environment: A creative and supportive
environment allows creativity to bloom.
4: What makes up
emotional intelligence?
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive,
understand, manage and use emotions
(Salovey and others, 2005).
Emotional Intelligence: Components
Component
Perceive emotion
Understand emotion
Manage emotion
Use emotion
Description
Recognize emotions in faces,
music and stories
Predict emotions, how they
change and blend
Express emotions in different
situations
Utilize emotions to adapt or be
creative
Page 412
Emotional Intelligence: Criticism
Gardner and others criticize the
idea of emotional intelligence
and question whether we
stretch this idea of intelligence
too far when we apply it to our
emotions.
Emotional Intelligence
# 1 – 33
1 = strongly disagree
2 = disagree
3 = neither disagree nor agree
4 = agree
5 = strongly agree
Emotional Intelligence Scale Scoring
• Reverse the numbers that you put in response
to items 5, 28, and 33
• Add the numbers in front of all 33 items
• Mean score = 131 for females and 125 for
males
• Higher scores = greater optimism, less
depression and less impulsivity
5: To what extent is
intelligence related to brain
anatomy and neural
processing speed?
Recent Research
• Einstein’s brain was average size,
but his parietal lobe’s lower region
(center for mathematical and spatial
information) was 15% larger than
average
• Highly educated people die with 17% more
synapses
• Higher intelligence scores are linked with more
gray matter (neural cell bodies) in areas involved
in memory, attention, and language
6: When and why were
intelligence tests created?
Assessing Intelligence
Psychologists define intelligence testing as a
method for assessing an individual’s mental
aptitudes and comparing them with others using
numerical scores.
Alfred Binet
Alfred Binet developed
questions that would predict
children’s future progress in
the Paris school system.
Binet hoped the test would
be used to improve
children’s education, but
also worried that the test
would be used to label
children & limit their
opportunities.
Lewis Terman
In the US, Lewis Terman
adapted Binet’s test for
American school children
and named the test the
Stanford-Binet Test.
William Stern introduced
the following formula to
derive a person’s
Intelligence Quotient (IQ):
Today, “IQ” is still used as
shorthand to represent an
intelligence test score – or a test
taker’s performance relative to
the average performance of
others the same age.
7: What’s the difference between
aptitude and achievement tests,
and how can we develop and
evaluate them?
Achievement vs. Aptitude
• Achievement tests – measure
what a person has learned
• Aptitude tests – predict a person’s future
performance (aptitude = the capacity to
learn)
David Wechsler
Wechsler developed the
Wechsler Adult
Intelligence Scale (WAIS)
and later the Wechsler
Intelligence Scale for
Children (WISC), an
intelligence test for
school-aged children.
It is now the most widely
used intelligence test.
WAIS
WAIS measures overall intelligence and 11 other
aspects related to intelligence that are designed to
assess clinical and educational problems.
WAIS: Verbal
from
Figure
10.5,
page
419
WAIS: Performance
from
Figure
10.5,
page
419
WAIS: Spatial
from
Figure
10.5,
page
419
WAIS: Object Assembly
from
Figure
10.5,
page
419
WAIS: Digit-Symbol Substitution
from
Figure
10.5,
page
419
Principles of Test Construction
For a psychological test to be acceptable it must fulfill
the following three criteria:
1. Standardization – defining meaningful scores by
comparison with the performance of a pre-tested
group
2. Reliability – the extent to which a test yields
consistent results
3. Validity – the extent to which a test
measures or predicts what it is
supposed to
8: How stable are intelligence
scores over the life span?
Stability of Intelligence Scores
• The stability of intelligence test scores increases
with age
• By age 4 scores fluctuate somewhat but begin to
predict adolescent and adult scores
• By age 7 scores become fairly stable and
consistent
9: What are the traits of those at
the low and high intelligence
extremes?
Extremes of Intelligence
A valid intelligence test divides two groups of people
into two extremes: the mentally retarded (IQ 70) and
individuals with high intelligence (IQ 135).
These two groups are significantly different.
High Intelligence
Contrary to popular belief, people with high
intelligence test scores tend to be healthy, well
adjusted, and unusually successful academically.
MENSA
“Membership of Mensa
is open to persons who
have attained a score
within the upper two
percent of the general
population on an
approved intelligence
test that has been
properly administered
and supervised.”
www.mensa.org
Mental Retardation
Mentally retarded individuals required constant
supervision a few decades ago, but with a supportive
family environment and special education they can
now care for themselves.
Table 10.3, p. 425
Rosa’s Law
Passed in 2010, the law removed the terms
"mental retardation" and "mentally retarded"
from federal health, education and labor
policy and replaced them with
“individual with an intellectual disability” and
“intellectual disability.”
10: What does evidence reveal
about heredity and
environmental influences on
intelligence?
Genetic Influences
Studies of twins, family members, and adopted
children support the idea that there is a significant
genetic contribution to intelligence.
Page
428
Environmental Influences
Studies of twins and adopted children show the following:
1. Fraternal twins raised together tend to show
similarity in intelligence scores.
2. Identical twins raised apart
show slightly less similarity
in their intelligence scores.
Environmental Influences
•Early neglect from caregivers leads children to
develop a lack of personal control over the
environment, and it impoverishes their
intelligence.
•Schooling is an experience that pays dividends,
which is reflected in intelligence scores. Increased
schooling correlates with higher intelligence
scores.
11: How and why do gender and
racial groups differ in mental
ability scores?
Ethnic Similarities and Differences
To discuss this issue we begin with two disturbing
but agreed upon facts:
1. Racial groups differ in their average
intelligence scores.
2. High-scoring people
(and groups) are more likely
to attain high levels of
education and income.
Reasons Why Environment Affects Intelligence
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Races are remarkably alike genetically.
Race is a social category.
Asian students outperform North American students on
math achievement and aptitude tests.
Today’s better prepared populations would outperform
populations of the 1930s on intelligence tests.
White and black infants tend to score equally well on tests
predicting future intelligence.
Different ethnic groups have experienced
periods of remarkable achievement in
different eras.
12: Are intelligence tests
inappropriately biased?
The Question of Bias
•Aptitude tests are necessarily biased in the sense
that they are sensitive to performance differences
caused by cultural differences.
•However, aptitude tests are not biased in the sense
that they accurately predict performance of one
group over the other.
•A stereotype threat is a self-confirming concern that
one will be evaluated based on a negative
stereotype.
•This phenomenon appears in some instances in
intelligence testing among African-Americans and
among women of all colors.