Intelligence
Learning Goals:
Describe what intelligence is
Explain how intelligence is measured and what the limitations of intelligence tests are
Identify four neuroscience approaches to the study of intelligence
Evaluate theories of multiple intelligences
Discuss the characteristics of mental retardation, giftedness, and creativity
Analyze the contributions of heredity and environment to intelligence
1) I. The Nature of Intelligence:
a) Intelligence is an abstract concept that can be measured only indirectly.
2) II. Intelligence Testing:
a) Sir Francis Galton
b) Alfred Binet
c) William Stern -intelligence quotient (IQ),
d) Today the most widely used intelligence tests are the Stanford-Binet test and the
Weschler scales.
e) Criteria for good intelligence test:
i)
Reliability
ii) Validity
iii) Standardized
iv) Group intelligence tests may be more economical and convenient, but they do not
allow the examiner to assess the subject’s level of comfort with the test, nor do they
allow the examiner to establish rapport with the subject.
v) Commonly administered group tests include aptitude tests such as the SAT, which
predicts a subject’s ability to learn a skill, and achievement tests such as a general
psychology test designed to assess skills already learned.
3) Cultural Bias in Testing:
a) Earlier IQ tests favored middle-class, urban, White people.
b) Attempts to make testing more accurately reflect a person’s intelligence have given rise
to culture-fair tests.
c) Creating culture-fair tests remains difficult.
4) The Use and Misuse of Intelligence Tests:
a) Using intelligence tests as the sole indicator of intelligence is an example of misuse.
b) It is vital that intelligence tests be viewed for what they are—tools that must be used in
conjunction with other data in assessing the abilities of any given individual.
5) Neuroscience and Intelligence:
a) Attempts to discover the biological basis of intelligence have included studies about
head and brain size, information-processing speed, electrical activity in the brain, and
energy consumption in the brain.
b) These studies provide correlational data that may or may not be causal.
6) Theories of Multiple Intelligences:
a) Psychologists have long debated whether intelligence is composed of one general or a
number of specific abilities.
b) Spearman and Thurstone
c) Gardner and Sternberg
d) Multiple approaches have been successful in stimulating psychologists to think more
broadly about the concept of intelligence and to apply those concepts to education
where curriculum is constructed to address more than one domain of intelligence.
e) Peter Salovy and John Mayer
f) There continues to be controversy about whether people have a general intelligence.
There also continues to be controversy about what the specific intelligences are.
7) The Extremes of Intelligence and Creativity:
a) Mental retardation
i)
Organic causes
ii) cultural-familial causes
b) A gifted individual has an IQ well above average and/or a superior talent in a particular
skill area.
c) In contrast to many myths surrounding giftedness, gifted individuals are generally well
adjusted and mature.
d) The passion to master a particular domain is characteristic of most gifted individuals.
e) Creativity
f) Creative thinking involves an immersion in the problem, the ability to brainstorm through
the use of divergent thinking processes, and the ability to effectively evaluate and
elaborate on solutions
or ideas.
i)
Divergent thinking
8) The Influence of Heredity and Environment:
a) Genetic factors
b) Culture plays a substantial role in developing innate abilities.
c) Arthur Jensen
d) Today most psychologists view intelligence as determined by both genetics and
environment.
e) Although racial and ethnic differences exist among individuals’ performance on
intelligence tests, the consensus is that available data do not support a genetic
interpretation.
f) Many intelligence tests are culturally biased, and the construction of culture-fair tests
has proved to be a formidable task.